Quality Management in Plastics Processing

Robin Kent

• Publisher: William Andrew
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780081021262
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Quality Management in Plastics Processing provides a structured approach to the techniques of quality management, also covering topics of relevance to plastics processors. The book's focus isn't just on implementation of formal quality systems, such as ISO 9001, but about real world, practical guidance in establishing good quality management. Ultimately, improved quality management delivers better products, higher customer satisfaction, increased sales, and reduced operation costs.

The book helps practitioners who are wondering how to begin implementing quality management techniques in their business focus on key management and technical issues, including raw materials, processing, and operations. It is a roadmap for all company operations, from people, product design, sales/marketing, and production – all of which are impacted by, and involved in, the implementation of an effective quality management system.

Readers in the plastics processing industry will find this comprehensive book to be a valuable resource.

• Helps readers deliver better products, higher customer satisfaction, and increased profits with easily applicable guidance for the plastics industry
• Provides engineers and technical personnel with the tools they need to start a process of continuous improvement in their company
• Presents practical guidance to help plastics processing companies organize, stimulate, and complete effective quality improvement projects

Chapter 1

Introduction to quality management

Quality management was one of the most discussed topics in manufacturing industry in the late 20th century. Many plastics processors embarked enthusiastically on the pursuit of the ‘Holy Grail’ of quality and many companies are still trying to make sense of the confusion surrounding quality. The results for many companies have been disappointing and they are still confused about what quality really means and how they achieve it.

In a sense, this was because the discussion was diverted by the mechanics of implementing formal quality systems such as ISO 9001, either in the mistaken belief that these would deliver quality or simply to conform to the requirements of suppliers or specifications. The implementation of statistical methods that could actually deliver quality through effective process control became secondary to the filling out of forms to satisfy the requirements of the systems.

Thirty years ago, quality management and statistical process control were the ‘in things’ and there was great interest and activity in the subjects but today little has really changed at the grass roots level.

At many of the plastics processors that I visit, quality management still consists of a few final inspectors and the mention of statistical process control still draws blank looks.

This really has to change if you are going to be a successful plastics processor in the future.

At many sites, the real basics of quality seem to have been missed and have been substituted with lots of forms but little real management information or involvement. In this book we will go back to basics to provide the essentials for plastics processors in an easily accessible format.

This chapter looks at quality management in a broad sense to put the problems in perspective and to allow actions to be effectively targeted. It is designed to provide the essentials of the management framework for quality management.

Readers should not be tempted to rush into the practical aspects of quality management without first understanding the management framework.

“Of course we believe in quality - look at all the inspectors we employ.”

1.1 Where we are going

The destination

One problem at many sites is that they know that they want to have quality but they really have no idea of the steps that they have to take to get there. They set off on the journey to quality with no real planning about where they want to go, why they want to get there (if anywhere), how they are going to go about it and how they will measure the progress they are making (if any).

Some sites set off by installing a ‘quality system’ (of any flavour) in the faint hope that this will somehow magically deliver quality, some install complex SPC systems, some increase the numbers of inspectors and others simply subject the quality manager to various arcane management tortures.

All of these partial and disjointed measures will inevitably fail. Some will fail more miserably than others, but all are eventually doomed (particularly subjecting the quality manager to management torture - as I am sure some of the readers will know from direct experience).

Even if a site has an operating and relatively successful quality system, there is always a need to improve quality and every site needs a plan (a road-map) to define where they are and where they want to be. Quality is often poorly defined (see Section 1.3) but still needs a road-map for the actions to be taken. The figure opposite shows some of the major areas, the processes and tools used, the benefits from using the processes and tools and the overall results of a properly functioning quality system.

This is about the whole company

A major issue is that quality is still sometimes seen as a ‘bolt-on’ to the other operations of the company. It is seen as a ‘good thing’ for the good times but optional in the bad times. The reality is that ‘quality’ needs to permeate the complete operation of the company. It is not a ‘production’ issue, it is a management issue for the whole company.

Collis Potter Huntington (see sidebar) was determined that the Newport News shipyard would be known the world over for ‘good ships’ and this philosophy has been consistent since 1886. The company is still a major supplier of ships to the US Navy even when other shipyards around the world have failed - the focus on ‘good ships’ has been the ethos to drive the company forward. How many other companies could make such a statement and live by it? How many other companies have been around since 1886?

Focusing on profit alone may make a company profitable in the short-term but, as too many companies have found out, does not guarantee that the company will survive in the long-term. Focusing on quality will not only deliver ‘good ships’ but also sustainable long-term profits. This means that companies need to see quality not as a cost but as a benefit and to realise that improving quality can also improve profits in both the short and the long-term.

“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don’t much care where.

The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

Alice: …So long as I get somewhere.

The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

The road-map

The road-map identifies the wide range of skills and activities that are necessary to achieve quality and even this is limited by space. The road-map shows the type of things that you will have to do to reall...