The IT route to material conformance

At Burneside Mills in Kendal, Cumbria, Technical Fibre Products manufactures advanced non-woven textiles in Kevlar, carbon fibre, ceramics, titanium and other specialised materials.

These go into aerospace, fire engineering, automotive and other industries. Conformance issues are complex because of the enormous range of source materials, blends, thickness and weights. Differing monitoring criteria are often required for each product, while end-users demand exceptional conformance to specification and timely production of data to ensure the integrity of their own production.

At first TFP used a manual process for data gathering and interpretation. For each client and each production batch different process parameters were recorded, some manually and some automatically. This data was then collated to produce individual conformance certificates for despatch with the material - a procedure that involved a substantial amount of skilled manpower in a tedious and unrewarding task.

From a quality standpoint there were several issues to be addressed. The gathering of process data was essentially driven by the needs for certification. The need to capture data from several disparate plant and lab based locations, sometimes rekey it, analyse and interpret data, also introduced a potential source for error and inaccuracy.

The end result was that data could not be used easily to support management and quality initiatives.

In discussions between TFP engineers and colleagues at their sister company, specialist paper producers James Cropper, it emerged that similar issues arose in the paper mill. They therefore decided to find a software vendor who could address quality issues in both plants.

A common statement of requirements was produced and invitations were issued to vendors to offer a suitable solution for both processes.

The initial statement of requirements weighted software features in terms of importance. Essential needs were weighted higher than others that were merely nice to have. The IT department then invited presentations from several vendors.Following the first evaluation stage the systems were demonstrated to the key stakeholders: the management, the QA team and operators. This ensured a consensus view and agreement that the QIS system from Leyland-based QISoft met immediate needs and offered scope for future developments.

With the QIS system in place, a comprehensive range of data is now gathered around the plant and correlated with laboratory test data. The new system interfaces directly to the plant's Measurex process control system through ProcessLink, a dedicated interface management module. As each reel of material is completed, critical data streams automatically into the QIS system.

Data can also be collected automatically from test instrumentation and gauges via the LabLink interface module. This makes information from instruments such as weight balances, tensile testers and burst testers visible and accessible to everyone around the plant. Variations to target parameters are quickly and precisely pinpointed, non-conforming material identified and waste eliminated.

Quality certificates and reports are generated against each specific client's requirements and are now produced in a fraction of the time of the previous method. The company also has greater confidence in their accuracy and can easily show their derivation should a quality audit be necessary.

Technical Fibres was a beta test site for the latest version of the QIS software, which improves the speed, quality and depth of the data delivered and also gives more user-definable options.

More advanced tools for analysis, document management, reporting and quality assurance are included in QIS 5. Variations to specifications, for example, can be made more easily with full traceability and safeguards so that changes can only be made when approved by authorised personnel.

A significant bonus to TFP is that the improved communication and presentation facilities have streamlined the production of essential documentation.

'Many customers need real time quality data in highly specific formats,' explained Philip Latham, quality co-ordinator for TFP. 'This means we held special stationery for each client and printed individual certificates with each batch.' TFP now holds bit-map images of client logos and certificate layouts. It now faxes or e-mails conformance certificates, in precisely the format demanded by the clients, so that they have quality information to hand in the form they need.

TFP can now share even more data, in rich and relevant formats, with clients. Quality information data in graphical format can be stored and e-mailed to clients as supplementary reports. The new software will also contribute to improving production quality systems. A vast, readily accessible and easily interrogated archive of quality data is now available. This will enable exercises such as cost and capability analysis to be more easily performed than with the previous paper log.

Tim Perris is QISoft business development manager.