Inspection in Manufacturing Processes: Why It is Important?

Inspections are critical to attaining manufacturing excellence – for products and processes. How well your inspection processes are streamlined can determine business success and customers’ confidence in your brand. Therefore, you should implement the next-generation Inspection Management solution to improve quality control and deliver defect-free products every time.

Inspecting products for flaws and reducing defects ensures quality control. Product inspections perform a vital role in producing flawless products in manufacturing industries. It is crucial to have quality control operations on your production regardless of how big your manufacturing company is. Product quality is ensured during production, shipping, and distribution. The quality checks performed by reputed manufacturers ensure that their products are of the highest quality. 

Inspections can be broadly classified into two categories, including: 

Product Quality Inspections 

Product quality inspections, an essential part of quality control, are carried out on-site at various stages of the production process and dispatch. Therefore, it is necessary to inspect your products before leaving the manufacturer’s premises to prevent quality problems and supply chain disruptions. 

Inspectors check your product to ensure it meets a range of requirements, including market standards, before shipping. You can select checklists online and customize them to your needs, which allows you to standardize and communicate your quality concerns to all parties involved in the inspection process. Alternatively, there are many inspection management software available that come with pre-defined checklists. 

Several methods exist for conducting product inspections, including pre-shipment, in-line pre-custom clearance inspection, etc. 

Process Quality Inspections 

An in-process inspection takes place at any point throughout the manufacturing process. Each section of the process is checked to comply with industry standards such as ISO 9001. 

During in-process inspections, the quality of the finished product is ensured by ensuring the process is followed before moving on to the next stage. 

In the long run, by resolving a production issue early on, you can save both time and resources. 

Related Article: Quality Management: 9 Important Functions of Inspection That Matter

Why should you perform equipment inspections in manufacturing? 

Inspections of equipment are not a burden. On the contrary, they provide the opportunity to increase productivity, cut costs, and gain a competitive advantage. 

Safety 

All equipment must undergo safety inspections before being used. A primary objective of safety is to protect employees’ health, but there are other compelling reasons to increase safety by routinely inspecting equipment. 

• The absence from work caused by workplace injuries lowers productivity. 
• Injury claims for workers’ compensation are frequently costly. 
• A regular inspection program protects liability and demonstrates due diligence. 
• If you don’t conduct equipment inspections as the law requires, you can face fines and potential liability. 

Maintenance

Performing regular inspections invariably reduces maintenance costs, positively affecting them. 

• The early detection of problems is crucial because they’re cheaper and easier to fix. 
• Equipment that has been improperly repaired is not used, causing more damage. 
• A regular inspection schedule can prevent equipment abuse. If an inspection doesn’t take place and an issue is ignored, then the idea will take hold among workers that “you own the problem.” 
• Inspector records provide maintenance managers with a means to identify and correct repetitive problems. 

Management

Management utilizes inspections to control costs and make critical decisions. 

• It is important to perform annual inspections to prevent accidents and demonstrate due diligence to protect one’s liability. 
• In the case of equipment downtime, the ability to reliably predict downtime can allow for more accurate budgeting and automated scheduling of equipment to minimize productivity loss. 
• Performing inspections determines the proper maintenance frequency. 
• It is possible to improve equipment procurement by reviewing inspection histories. 

Related Article: Quality Management: 9 Important Functions of Inspection That Matter

In-Process Inspections: What Do Inspectors Look For? 

The company’s quality inspection team ensures that products meet customer requirements and requirements. 

Specifications can take many forms, including: 

• Is the color of the sample the same as what was specified? 
• Does it meet the specified dimensions? 
• What are the grades and standards of the materials used? 

The company decides whether they can accept the product in question if it is determined it is not up to standard after inspection. 

Among the responsibilities of the appointed inspectors is to make sure that all products meet the necessary criteria, not just one. For example, a couple of defective items indicates a manufacturing issue. 

The inspectors will discover that the production process is faced with a significant issue if some pieces produced are of excellent quality, but some are defective. In such a case, production controls are not well defined. 

When critical issues arise, it is considered best to get to the root of the problem and fix it. 

When inspections uncover problems, what should be done? 

The factories are instructed to rework the manufactured products that have problems and ensure that the problem will not appear in the rest of the order. 

The reworking of faulty batches can be time-consuming and expensive, delaying delivery. Suppose you determine that a defective batch won’t harm the product’s applications and that the deviations shouldn’t harm it. You can probably let it go, or you may need to put in place a procedure to fix it for the remaining batches. 

In any case, it remains a problem and will be addressed in the next batch. It depends on how it is used. 

Fortunately, you have advanced Inspection Management Software to streamline all the inspection-related processes in a streamlined and standardized manner. 

Which Inspection Management Software to Rely On? 

One of the most reliable solution for modern businesses is Qualityze Inspection Management Solution. 

Designing and manufacturing a product relies on an inspection management process that is objective, reliable, and robust. You can ensure consumer satisfaction by monitoring the product’s quality throughout the manufacturing process. The Qualityze Inspection Management tool simplifies and streamlines the inspection process. The software enables you to perform inspections at various levels of the process, such as incoming, production, and pre-shipment. Set up an AQL table or use the preconfigured sample size. Using Qualityze Inspection Management, you can effectively and efficiently do the following:

• Initiate an inspection process. 
• Create a sample inspection plan. 
• Conduct pre, post, and ongoing production inspections. 
• Identify and document non-conformity. 
• Examine samples again. 
• Specify AQL and sampling requirements. 
• Identify and eliminate any risks. 
• Perform Digital Signature Validation. 

Related Article: A Quick Guide to Understand AQL for Inspections

For more information about the Qualityze EQMS Suite, or to schedule a free demo, please contact our customer success team at 1-877-207-8616 or info@qualityze.com, and we will be happy to assist you.