The 2014 IPC Annual Electronics Assembly Quality Benchmark Study reveals many smaller electronics manufacturers fail to gather data on either the performance of their suppliers or the satisfaction of their customers. In contrast, an Aberdeen Group study, “Quality in Discrete Manufacturing,” reveals two thirds of manufacturers see customer satisfaction as the biggest driver for improved quality performance.
One reason behind this lack of attention to key metrics is almost certainly either these companies lack an ERP system, or the system they have doesn't support their quality management efforts. It's a fundamental precept of Quality Management that you can't improve what you don't measure and a strong ERP system provides a structure for making this happen. Here are five specific ways by which ERP helps maintain and improve quality.
1. Standardized procedures
ERP automates many business processes, from capturing orders and turning them in to production schedules to tracking inventory and managing shipping. This removes variability in each process and reduces the risk of error, complementing the policies and procedures of ISO 9000.
ISO 9000 drills down to the level of work instructions, and even here the linkage with ERP is clear. In electronics, IPC standards define how many soldering and assembly operations should be performed, and ERP provides the system for defining and maintaining routings and instructions covering these steps.
2. Traceability
Lot numbers and work orders can be tracked through production with date and time of each manufacturing process being recorded. This creates traceability extending forward to individual customers (so you know who received which batch) and back to vendors (so it's possible to quickly identify and quarantine suspect items or materials).
3. Production statistics
An ERP system should track each order as it flows through production, providing records of how many pieces moved from operation to operation, how long each step took and how much time was spent queuing. Test and inspection results should also be captured, building a wealth of data on yields to direct and drive quality improvement efforts.
4. Vendor management
Few industries have supply chains as convoluted as those found in electronics manufacturing, which is why it's essential your ERP system extends upstream to suppliers. The right system here underpins quality by making it easy to build a history of what's purchased from each source, plus prices, supplier performance, order dates, deliveries, batch numbers and inventory levels. Ideally, the system links to PLM, connecting the BoM with Purchasing and ensuring records stay current as designs evolve and are released.
5. Data integrity
Without data you're blind as to the direction your business is heading, but that's probably better than having incorrect data. When production statistics, yields and BOMs are wrong there's a high risk of making incorrect decisions. Quality will suffer as incorrect materials are pulled from inventory, wrong coatings applied, and shipments go out incomplete. ERP replaces the myriad spreadsheets often used in smaller businesses with centralized data location. When everyone's working from the same source, visibility is improved and errors are reduced—even eliminated.
Supporting excellence in quality
In today's competitive environment everyone is focused on giving customers products that meet their expectations. Tools like ISO9000 provide a structure for delivering quality and ERP helps with procedures and data capture. Quality improvement efforts depend on data, which must be both accurate and timely if it's to be helpful. ERP captures this data throughout the manufacturing process and supports the drive for 100% yields, positive first-time test results and the elimination of rework. Without ERP, maintaining excellence in quality is harder to achieve.
