Customer desire is the singular driver of the manufacturing sector. Not only does it dictate volume and output – it shapes products and defines how they are made. Ultimately, customer demand underpins the success of every individual manufacturer.
This is all very obvious. The thing that underpins it all is people. But we become blind to it in the day-to-day as time and resource is utilised to overcome shop floor challenges.
Why do I make this point? Well, people only have two things in mind when deciding what to buy – cost and quality. Quality is the only variable under the full control of the manufacturer. At least that’s the theory. The reality on the ground is somewhat different.
Hexagon’s Advanced Manufacturing Report revealed that 32% of manufacturers experience unanticipated quality issues. 17% also report poor product quality as a primary business challenge. Clearly, a gap exists between intent and outcome and we need to address it with urgency.
To help businesses across the manufacturing landscape do exactly that, we created the Quality ebook. At Hexagon we believe that quality is fundamental to manufacturing success. It is a singular tactic to accomplish all of your business goals making it the biggest needle mover in our sector.
Our ebook exists to help you develop a path to consistent quality by building a top-level strategy and empowering you to execute it by creating a digital thread that links assets and unlocks insights to put data to work.
What causes issues in manufacturing quality?
Factories are most commonly part analogue, part digital. With the value chain broken down into specialism areas, many manufacturing ecosystems are characterised by systems of point solutions and technology silos.
The single biggest detractor for quality in manufacturing is the fact that quality issues have places to hide. Gaps in the value chain that exist between people, software, teams and departments are the perfect place for quality issues to lie undetected. A value chain that isn’t connected makes getting to the root cause of quality issues incredibly difficult.
Right now, quality is busy work for our sector. It takes time to trace the source of issues. When a quality issue arises, it is important to implement a standard approach to solving nonconformances and corrective actions. Driving root cause analysis will ensure process changes are captured and communicated to colleagues. This is evidenced by reduced scrap, waste, rework and costs to remediate quality escapes.
Add seamless connectivity to your ecosystem and you can take this to another level entirely. Industry 4.0 goals depend on the attainment of Quality 4.0 principles, especially to create a digital conduit that connects and empowers the manufacturing ecosystem with shareable, actionable intelligence and data. By connecting our people, systems and data, and empowering them to work seamlessly towards a common goal, we go from being reactive to proactive.
The solution is to stop defending and go on the offensive. We do this by connecting everything, designing out quality flaws from the very earliest concept and streamlining the efforts of our entire organisation towards quality.
Shift left, the supply chain and top floor business processes
Shift left is part of the answer. 43% of manufacturers agree that prioritising quality and manufacturability earlier would most benefit their manufacturing process. But other factors like time-to-market and pace of innovation are also important. 39% of manufacturers say that improving the quality of new products faster is a top priority within the next three years.
Quality in the truest sense though, is the result of a business that is running at peak. Connected organisations are operationally slick They involve all stakeholders including designers, production staff, the quality management team, suppliers and most importantly, customers.
With the supply chain providing an estimated 80% of the value of manufactured products, ensuring supplier quality is just as important as all these other quality factors.
Taking a whole of business approach like this is the answer. Synergies and efficiencies can be created when production and operational cycles are treated as one and connected as part of a seamless, circular data flow.
Customers drive quality and dictate your success
In life quality is a simple concept that we all understand. From the food we choose to the TV shows we decide to watch – we each make quality decisions every day in our personal lives as consumers.
While quality is a million things to manufacturers, it’s one simple instinctive thing to customers – a feeling. As manufacturers our sole purpose is to create this feeling. It’s the fundamental basis of strong commercial performance.
No matter what we make, where we sit within the supply chain, how we take our goods to market, or whether our brand is modelled for low-cost, volume or prestige – every manufactured component, part or product is made for people and needs to outperform its competition.
The way we talk about quality in our sector has to change. Quality isn’t just micron level detail. It isn’t a room at the end of the process. It’s the most important decision factor for people. Quality is something people seek again and again. It’s the biggest differentiator between manufacturers. It separates those that aim to satisfy with those that shoot for the stars.
Develop a strategy for manufacturing quality that truly moves the needle for your business
Hexagon’s quality ebook will help you develop a strategy for quality that connects your business. With clear action steps, insights and tips, we will show you how to develop a seamless ecosystem that supercharges quality across your value chain, unlocking multiplier gains at every stage.
Download the report and start your transformation today.
