Whilst the FMCG manufacturing industry is slowly moving towards full automation, including the use of autonomous robots and AI, human error still remains a common factor.
Mistake-proofing or Poka-Yoke, a foundation tool in Lean Manufacturing, plays an important role in minimizing the risk of human error. The three primary approaches to error-proofing include:
Three key concepts in error-proofing (poka-yoke)
We prevent mistakes:
We facilitate:
We detect:
Our approach to quality management is closely aligned with error-proofing principles, leading to a paperless factory where quality assurance and data visibility are built into manufacturing processes and are continually improved.
Our approach to paperless quality management and its alignment with error-proofing (poka-yoke)
Happy customers! With properly controlled processes comes consistently high product quality, which in turn ensures satisfied customers and consumers, as well as protection for your own brand.
Data visibility! A high level of data visibility, using mobile devices and big screens across the factory, enables you to:
Cost savings! Better quality means fewer in-process rejects, less rework and protection from batch rejections at the retailer end, or worse, entire product withdrawals (EWP).
Quite simply, better visibility of data leads to better processes that produce less waste and have a positive impact on production cost, which leads to satisfied customers!
Increased data visibility and real-time quality assurance are just two components in our approach to helping manufacturers to reduce wastage and to improve performance. Have a look below!
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We use automation to prevent non-conformances and reduce the cost of manufacturing at the same time | We combine the benefits of Average Quantity Law with SPC and Process Capability, ensuring that optimum control can be achieved – even where high levels of variation exist in the process | Automated, accurate, real-time information enables your team to make decisions where and when they are needed – based on facts, not opinions. |
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Making the right decisions at the right time has a huge impact on performance improvement, quality consistency, and customer satisfaction. Harford’s TrafficLights reporting tool visualises all relevant KPIs in real-time | No more paperwork! Scheduled quality assurance checks with instant verification and corrective action advice to improve quality consistency, invoke right first time principles and provide a fully traceable audit trail | Quick and focused reviews of performance data during the shift enable mid-course corrections and immediate small-scale fixes that collectively result in significant improvements in performance |
Our mission is to help manufacturers manage risk, reduce wastage and improve performance.