APS Materials Uses Synergy 1000 Because Their Customers Require It
Executive Summary: APS Materials Inc. has been creating thermal spray solutions for the biomedical, aerospace, automotive and semiconductor industries for 35 years and has locations in the U.S. and internationally.
Case Study | Aerospace / Defense, Automotive, Case Studies, Culture of Quality, Industry, Operations, Outcome, Resources, Role, Software, Synergy 1000
The Challenge
- Customers require SPC reporting
The Solution
The Results
- APS Materials saves 100 man-hours a year
- APS is able to add several hundred data tables
The Details
APS Materials has been creating thermal spray solutions for the biomedical, aerospace, automotive and semiconductor industries for 35 years and has locations in the US and internationally. APS Materials Uses Synergy 1000 SPC Software to meet customer demands as well.
“The coating procedure is a very high quality process to meet the requirements of our customers. Using Synergy 1000, we can check the statistical certainty of our processes in real-time.”
Robert Willson, VP of Operations for APS Materials
Because of the exacting nature of the spray coating they produce, APS Materials must ensure that their products are within the specifications of the customer. “We test for the tensile or bonding strength of the coating and that certain metallurgical characteristics; like porosity, roughness, and thickness, are within the specifications in the coatings we produce,” said Willson.
“The important measure at APS is Process Capability Index (Cpk). Our customers routinely require that in our processes, the coatings results stay a certain number of standard deviations from the required minimum and maximum. Prior to implementing the Synergy 1000 Statistical Process Control (SPC) software, we had to calculate the Cpks using formulas in Excel,” Willson explained.
How does the Synergy 1000 SPC software help in this process? “The Cpk reports in Synergy 1000 are vitally important to us for reporting to our customers that our coatings are within the agreed upon specifications,” explained Willson. “With these reports, we can internally identify situations in advance and keep our processes in control.”
Willson estimates that since implementing Synergy 1000, they have saved approximately 100 man-hours a year. “What I really appreciate about Synergy 1000 is the ease of use,” Willson commented. “It is much more efficient than the Excel process we used in the past.” Using Synergy 1000, Willson has been able to add several hundred new data tables.
"The important measure at APS is Process Capability Index (Cpk). Our customers routinely require that in our processes, the coatings results stay a certain number of standard deviations from the required minimum and maximum. Prior to implementing Synergy 1000, we had to calculate the Cpks using formulas in Excel.”
— Robert Willson,
VP of Operations for APS Materials