Hansen Engineering's Quality Assurance Departments primary function is to establish systems, procedures, and controls to ensure that all of our customer’s requirements and specifications are met. Inherent in these systems, procedures, and controls are programs that continuously strive to improve our product quality and manufacturing processes. Hansen's Quality Department helps provide the assurance to our customers that they have a supplier who not only provides a guaranteed quality product, but who is also able to meet the immediate needs and compliance to the customer’s issues.
Hansen Engineering constantly monitors internal quality performance as well as quality statistics from our customers. The end result is to build rather than inspect quality into the product. This reduces inspection costs, which results in more product value.
Statistical Process Control (SPC) is an element of our Continuous Quality Improvement Program at Hansen. Historically, Quality Managers have evaluated integrity of the manufacturing process by inspecting the finished product at various points throughout the manufacturing cycle. SPC turns that notion on its head by evaluating the process rather than the product.
Hansen has benefited from SPC through employee training and significant use of computer and hardware support. Real-time SPC at the machine centers is accomplished through the use of probes and inspection tools. The tools and probes are directly linked to a PC with SPC Software that exports the information to a Database on our intranet. CMM Inspection data is also processed through the software and archived on the intranet. This Database is available to Key Production and Quality Personnel for review and assessment.
The ability to monitor a machine centers performance gives us the opportunity to revise maintenance schedules and job assignments. It also increases the visibility of reoccurring problems that hamper process performance or detract from part quality by recording Causes and Corrective Actions Taken.
Simply put, by statistically monitoring the production processes and maintaining those processes within predetermined parameters, quality can, indeed, be built into the product.
