Higher quality at a lower cost” is the
mantra of today’s manufacturing world-wide
and they’re looking at different technology
to assist in this endeavor. With all the different
SPC applications and various platforms they
run on, we're often asked by prospective clients
looking at our Statit e-QC application, "Why
a web-based system?"
Over the years, we've consistently heard from
customers that they are realizing a number of
benefits from the Statit e-QC application: accessibility;
flexibility; centralized administration; scalability;
and the interactive nature of the web.
Accessibility
The days of not having enough data are long
behind us. Most companies now have enormous
amounts of data, but it’s located or stored
in areas that are typically not available to
users, in a way that lets them quickly and easily
spot trends, anticipate problems, and identify
underlying causes.
According to Dirk Dean, Field Quality, Hitachi
Computer Products America, Inc., "The historical
information is available but is trapped in databases,
reports and other electronic data storage locations
and is not easily available to the line operators.
If the 'Quality Performance History' information
could be available to the operators as it was
needed, it would allow them the opportunity
to prevent potential future defects. Since the
implementation of Statit e-QC on the production
line reporting system, the quality of the production
lines has been significantly improved for defective
PCBAs."
The improved access to data provides for a
more timely and thorough examination of process
and quality data. Web pages can integrate control
charts and process capability reports, as well
as include numeric data for more in-depth analyses.
Each user is provided greater information and
better communication of the process and product
performance.
With the Statit e-QC web solution:
Flexibility
The challenge is to provide a software solution
that is cost-effective; configurable to meet
a wide range of information needs and skill
levels; easy to use, support, and access; and
still powerful enough to provide in-depth quality
analysis information.
Dave Staelens, Manager of I.T. for New Hartford
and Dunkirk, Special Metals Corp. had this to
say after implementing the Statit e-QC solution:
"The Statit e-QC software has allowed Special
Metals to begin reporting from a common toolset,
with the ease-of-use for a point-and-click type
interface, to the full blown power of a macro
programming language to truly get into the nuts
and bolts of the system. The tool allows engineers
to build and prototype their reports from any
delimited file source, ODBC compliant database,
or even exported SAS data sets, and from the
various data sources at once. The output is
then a unified look and feel for everyone, without
worrying if they have UNIX window emulators
installed, licenses for just viewing, or other
issues with third party software. The software
is flexible enough to handle just about anything
we can dream up, and the Statit support team
has been phenomenal with rapid responses and
examples of how to pull off some of the harder
issues. Many charts that the engineers were
doing by hand daily in Excel or by paper are
now automated and will notify them in real-time
of an issue. Work is in progress to integrate
the reports within our shop floor application
which will alert workers, as well as engineers,
immediately of issues so they can react in real-time,
instead of after the fact."
The scalability of web-based SPC applications
is beneficial when expanding your quality reporting
initiatives. Major factors include reducing
the time and overhead cost of adding users when
compared to your traditional client/server or
desktop applications. Web-based applications
also streamline the increased analytical capabilities
available to users by providing faster and easier
access.
Central Administration - Lower Support and
Deployment Cost
Implementing a web-based SPC system significantly
reduces overall cost of ownership compared to
that of a desktop or client/server application.
Web-based systems need only be installed on
the server, placing minimal requirements on
the end-user workstation. This makes maintaining
and updating the system much simpler. With web-based
applications, updates are applied to one central
location, allowing ALL users to benefit immediately
from the update, without requiring the user
to take any action, and without wasting the
user's precious time with downloading/installing
updates.
Web-based applications run on a web server
rather than on the user's system. This allows
the vast majority of the application's memory
and system requirements to be handled by the
server. By residing and running off the web
servers, memory requirements are very low for
the application's users. This can save even
small companies thousands of dollars in computer
equipment!
Interactive Reporting
With Statit e-QC's reporting you're never more
than a mouse click away from more information
on your SPC reports. Data tips are a standard
feature in Statit e-QC that allow the user to
simply mouse over data tips on the chart to
display additional information on the period,
lot, etc. (See Figure 1 below)
Figure 1: Data Tips
Depending on your data, you also have the ability
to drill down through your reports and data.
Many Statit e-QC users have implemented dashboards
providing them with high-level views of their
processes, products, facilities, etc. This enables
you to obtain a quick glance at the status of
your process and quickly drill-down to areas
of concern or question. (See Figure 2 below)
Figure 2: Drill-Down
Statit e-QC also allows you to write comments,
corrective actions or assignable causes directly
on your chart and with proper permissions, write
that information back to your database, CAPA
system or applications. (See Figure 3 below).
In the example below, Statit e-QC customer,
Nestle, had three goals in mind with this report.
One, they wanted to be able to include comments
on the chart. Two, when there was any assignable
cause (red check mark), they wanted to note
that on the chart and have Statit automatically
pull that point from the control limit and center
line calculations. Three, if there was a change
in the process or new process started, they
wanted to show when that change occurred and
track that process going forward. They we able
to achieve all of these with the simple chart
and user interface below.
Figure 3: Annotation and
Comments
It's fairly evident that the focus of selecting
and implementing a web-based, enterprise-wide
SPC system cannot be on the charts and graphs
alone. These are elements that are found in
every SPC system. One must consider the requirements
and technology needed to access the company's
legacy databases and provide easy access to
the data and reporting needs regardless of the
user's skill level.
For a high-level overview of the Statit e-QC
application, check out our Guided
Tour. You may also view
the full application with many live customer
examples.
If you would like additional information, please
call our Sales staff at (541) 752-4500 or send
email to
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