How Can SPC Software Assist You in Managing Your Supply Chain?

Manufacturers’ today report that their biggest metric determining the success of their business is customer satisfaction. Customers are demanding traceability documentation for their manufacturers. To meet this demand, manufacturers need instant visibility into not only their own production process, but SPC data from suppliers before the product is shipped as well as data from remote facilities. Statistical Process Control (SPC) has the tools, techniques and the data-driven approach to positively affect the supply chain quality management giving employees the ability to address quality issues before they occur, reducing costs, providing a realistic measurement for continuous process improvement and customer satisfaction.

Here is how SPC Software can aid a corporation’s supply chain:

Architected With the Entire Supply Chain in Mind

Industry leading SPC software must incorporate SPC data from every stage in the manufacturing processing process. They must be monitoring in real-time everything from supplier SPC data to ensure materials are within specification before shipped, to data on their own production process, any sister or remote location involved in the process, as well as the necessary complete documentation the customers require. Industry-leading SPC software applications have developed software that utilizes Microsoft .NET development tools and Web applications to meet the needs of today’s global manufacturer.

However for the supply chain quality management to perform consistently, the selected quality system should be implemented consistently across all suppliers and remote locations. An on-premises model is currently the only way to guarantee security, acceptable performance, backup, integrity and centralized coordination for real-time global supply chain quality management. Here, internal IT staff allocates SQL Data Servers under the Windows platform to the customer’s production facilities. Servers under the Web platform are reserved for suppliers and mobile users who need remote connections to the system, creating in effect a “private cloud environment.” Thus, each plant and supplier has its own secure SPC database under the jurisdiction of the customer’s IT resources.

Knowledge Transfer and Supplier Accountability

Suppliers often need access to customer standard operating procedures, engineering drawings and contract specifications during their production runs. Supply chain quality management systems should provide ready reference to visual aids directly within the application. Because this information is stored and maintained in the appropriate supplier SQL database, suppliers/users all work from the same set of policies, eliminating paper records and version conflicts. In the end, the customer benefits by seeing a reduction in travel to supplier facilities for training and supervision.

Benefits for Suppliers by Using Web Applications

For example, for each supplier you will:
• Enable supplier operators to prevent errors before they occur
• Allow supplier managers to monitor processes from anywhere
• Empower supplier managers to manage costs
• Eliminate time and cost of supplier shipping replacement orders
• Avoid costs incurred by delays to customer

Benefits for Manufacturers by Suppliers Using Web Applications

As a corporation, you realize a faster ROI related to your investment by:
• Lower travel time and costs related to train and monitor supplier personnel
• Notify supplier of out-of-specification materials before they are shipped to your location
• Diminish time spent on incoming inspections
• Eliminate delays in production due to out-of-specification materials
• Decrease personnel time spent dealing with supplier issues
• Reduce scrap, rework and product recalls
• Quicker introduction of new products
• Introduce complex products faster
• Preserve comprehensive data for customer traceability documentation
• Shorten on-the-spot conformance to requirements and quality prior to shipment
• Permanently retain all of suppliers data
• Worldwide view of your entire supply chain in real-time

Zontec created a document with more details about how SPC Software can assist corporations as they implement a global SPC solution for their entire supply chain. To find out more, click on the image.