How to Measure Quality Perfomance in Production Management
Production management is usually concerned with the amount of product that is being produced. A production rate indicates how many products are completed in a particular time period, often one day. If quality suffers at the expense of increased production rates, the cost of making that product can rise dramatically, and profits can suffer. Monitoring quality indicators while varying work instructions can lead to both increased production rates and improved product quality, which improves the bottom line.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Decide on quality indicators for the production line. One quality indicator could be defects per product produced. These are defects found in the testing processes that occur at different stages in the production line. Another quality indicator is the service call rate. This is how frequently a product requires service within the first 30 days of purchase.
-
2
Set up a marker board near the end of the production line. Create a table on the marker board that shows the quality indicators and the current number for each indicator. This way, everyone working on the production line as well as management can see daily what the quality performance of the production line is.
-
-
3
Conduct audits of the production line and ask employees what kind of quality problems they see. Production workers are often more aware of the daily quality issues that occur than management. Add these quality indicators to the marker board.
-
4
Revise work instructions so that production line workers address the quality issues and take steps to eliminate the defects. Although it's good to catch defects before a product is shipped, it's better to prevent the defect from occurring at all.
-
5
Update the quality marker board daily with previous day's results. Keep a record of the numbers so that trends can be evaluated. Continue this process on a permanent basis in order to continually monitor quality and watch for any drop in quality so it can be quickly corrected.
-
6
Solicit input from production workers three or four times a year for ways to improve processes and work instructions to help correct quality issues, improve efficiency and cure defects. Production workers are involved with the hands-on aspects of making the product and often have excellent insights for improvement.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use a red marker if you want to highlight certain numbers or categories on your marker board.
Workers will tend to forget to update the marker board numbers if production rates go up, especially near the end of fiscal quarters.
Resources
- Photo Credit morguefile
