Using Synergy 1000, Cumberland Plastics Makes Continuous Process Improvements Daily

The Details

Cumberland Plastic Solutions is a world class leader in plastics injection molding utilizing innovative combinations of materials, the integration of manufacturing processes, as well as state-of-the-art technology and equipment. Cumberland Plastics is a provider of plastic solutions that works interactively with customers and suppliers as one team. By offering a full range of services from product design and tooling through production, Cumberland Plastics promotes a professional customer-oriented environment.”We are known for our plastic moldings for the automotive and lawn and garden industries. We also perform other applications such as vibration welding and sonic welding for other industries as well,”said Aditya Deshpande, Quality Assurance Manager for Cumberland Plastics Solutions.

Cumberland Plastics began looking for Statistical Process Control (SPC) software because they wanted to daily monitor their processes and make improvements. “We were using Excel for SPC and the process was very time consuming,”said Deshpande.

Cumberland looked at a number of packages and selected Zontec’s Synergy 1000. “We visited an existing customer to see Synergy software in production,” said Deshpande. “What sold us on the Synergy 1000 was how easy it was to set-up and it’s user interface.”

Cumberland has seen a dramatic difference since using Synergy. “Depending upon the product, what used to take anywhere from 4 to 5 hours to a day, we can now perform with a click of a mouse using Synergy 1000,“ said Deshpande. “Now, we can easily review 140 data points over 3 to 4 months.”

Using Synergy 1000 software not only saves Deshpande time, but also provides him the data he needs to show others where processses can be improved. “As Quality Manager, what used to take a day’s worth of work to determine our Cpk’s and our Ppk’s is now just a click of a mouse. Now I have a tool that enables me to analyze, report, and explain in an efficient manner the current state of our processes. I have the data to show where we can improve our processes,” said Deshpande.

One of the things that Deshpande likes about using Synergy 1000 is that they can now monitor their processes and avoid issues before they occur. “We are daily able to monitor critical characteristics in an effective, real-time, proactive, manner and predict if the processes or the tools are trending towards going out-of-control.”

Cumberland found that Synergy 1000 software also helps them with their customers. “Synergy 1000 has also helped with us with our customer satisfaction. For example, we are able to use the Certificate of Analysis report to pick the data from a specific time period, see how we are running and discuss what can be done to improve the process. We also use histograms and capability charts to show our customers our Cpk’s and Ppk’s,” said Deshpande.

Cumberland Plastics also believes Synergy 1000 can help with product development in the future. “We can see using the data from Synergy 1000 to examine if we can produce a new product using current processes, before we actually produce the new product,”said Deshpande.