The (Proven) Path to Low Cost - High Quality Manufacturing 950820
When consumers began to demand more product reliability and product choices and producers searched for ways to satisfy them, companies had to reinvent manufacturing techniques and objectives.
To accommodate “the needs and wants of the customer” and “doing it right the first time,” has quality and cost considerations right at the center of it all.
Obviously, the manufacturer capable of producing a quality product productively and economically, has the edge in a competitive marketplace.
It is a misconception to assume, that quality and cost are diverging criteria. In fact, there are numerous proven tools, systems and processes, if applied properly and systematically, that lower manufacturing costs by simultaneously increasing product quality.
Individually, they are good - together they are formidable.
The path to Low Cost - High Quality leads to:
PROCESS-ORIENTED MANUFACTURING - A given process determines performance and precision. Their correlation is such, that an increase in one, usually brings with it a decrease in the other. Only the switch to a different process can yield an increase in both performance and precision.
APPLIED CONCURRENT ENGINEERING - Patching up and reworking are costly. Eliminating production problems before they happen, can easily be applied with the right cooperative engineering principles
SIMPLIFYING MACHINING AND OPTIMIZING IT - Design Engineering and Production Engineering must direct their attention to the individual aspects of machining that determine its economical aspects.
SUBSTITUTING CUTTING TOOL TECHNOLOGY - Some machining processes have improved over others in recent years, hence substituting them just make sense. Case in point: hard turning vs. grinding, or slot milling vs. EDM, or fineboring vs. reaming and others.
ADVANCED TOOLING SYSTEMS - Intricately designed cutting tool systems open up avenues of unheard of proportions. One-pass machining, one-side machining and combination tooling improve manufacturing consistency and predictability.
THE FUTURE HAS ALREADY BEGUN - Manufacturing's goal of increasing quality and decreasing cost associated with it is a realistic goal indeed, if we only put the proven processes, systems and techniques in place.
