Aspects to Remember While Conducting Inspections During Production

During production inspection is considered to be the most important process while conducting a thorough quality control check. Inspecting finished products is crucial but it is also too late for implementing serious alterations if any faults are identified. Also, the cost and effort involved in making the product become a waste. If the whole order gets canceled due to defects, then the factory needs to bear the loss. Moreover, these issues are irreparable once they cross the delivery deadline. Such a situation indicates a waste of time and money, the reputation damage is also pretty high. Hence, the need to have inspection during production to spot such problem areas and rectify them.

The basic objectives of having during production inspection are to:

1. Identify the defects in a product during the manufacturing phase and re-work on them without any delay.

2. Recognize the issues spotted and rectify them in the next set of production.

After inspection of the problem areas, it is important to frame a correction plan so that the issues can be documented to avoid similar mistakes in the future. The best time to conduct an inspection during production depends mainly on the product type. But the basic requirements to figure out the ideal time are:

1. The years of experience the factory has in producing such products.

2. The time frame to deliver finished products (this should not exceed 10 days).

Now that you have a fair idea about the ideal time to conduct an inspection, let us tell you the tricky areas that you might face. It is important to avoid such problems and yet get accurate results.

1. Checking Way Too Early – The first set of products that you receive may not necessarily be the basis for judging the average quality of products that come in later. It is, therefore, advisable for the factory to conduct their internal quality check thoroughly after the first few processes have been completed. They need to first assess their problem areas and conclude whether the products are good to be shipped or not. After the first few processes, there comes continuity and that is the perfect time to inspect.

2. Checking Late – Finished products obviously need to be inspected before getting shipped. But in this phase, it is mainly the loading inspection that needs to be done. Checking quality of the products during this stage makes no sense because it is already too late. Altering the products after finding faults is not possible any more. So make sure you avoid checking products after it is complete. Quality issues found in finished products indicate that this problem is present in the entire order now.

Having inspection during production is definitely important in maintaining good business reputation. But inspection professionals need to have a well defined plan of action when inspecting in the middle of the production. This framework will help them inspect better and the results will be accurate.