Ensuring quality is vital to metal fabrication. If a part needs to be precise, reliable, and consistent, then it must be controlled at every stage of production. And in fabrication, there are plentiful ways for things to go wrong. When we say that we adhere to quality assurance, we aren't promising a magic sauce or an incantation that works at the very end of the process. We are following a standard that is among the best in our industry, representing both the spirit and the letter of quality assurance. We ensure that every part of metal meets the specifications laid down by our customers, and we do that by controlling the steps that lead to the final conversion.
We make parts from drawings. We begin with our computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software, then return to our computer-aided design (CAD) software to ensure what we made is correct. The parts we make are at their best when both our CAM and CAD software do an excellent job of functioning. Quality is assured through both of these tools, and certainly, if something appears incorrect in the inspection it only sends us back to these two tools. Quality in this case is essentially ensured through the software we have precision engineered to ensure precision in the parts we make. This is a very fundamental shift—that a part's quality can be insured through the section of the part's very digital twin we inspect.
Because these erstwhile tools were incapable of vision or knowledge, supervision by more intelligent inspection methods has become the order of the day. These up-to-date methods can achieve a much higher level of assurance of good or bad product quality with a sort of elapse-time mental agility that is undetectable by any former inspection method, intelligent or not. The word optimization is the other big word in quality. It does not mean only maintaining control over the immense number of variables that can affect quality. It also means making significant strides in the overall quality mindset.
Tremendous amounts of data are collected by these systems, allowing for routine instant analysis and, if necessary, interventions. And if humans were ever the weak link in this system, they no longer are. The monitors and the variety of the people who help interpret the data keep the manufacturer from falling short in nearly every way you can think of. What builds the backbone of any good quality assurance plan is the skilled operator or inspector, the person placed strategically in the system's design to guard against human error in the variety of ways that happy accident or momentary lapse can lead to undesirable consequences. Continuous training props up that good quality assurance plan.
Quality control throughout the entire manufacturing environment in the fourth industrial revolution is not just an afterthought; it is a fundamental part of the smart factory. Smart manufacturing systems rely on a level of interconnectedness that allows them to check and ensure the quality of all steps in the process. But what controls "smartly" depends on what model the system is using. Smart models permit predictions. Consequently, the model used and the predicted quality of the process become fundamentally intertwined.
While quality assurance is well understood in a context of smart factories, it is only half of the two-part equation necessary for achieving high quality. The human factors that are relevant not only to task performance but also to the thinking required to be part of a smart system are the other side of the equation. That quality control is better thought of as a daylong unbroken phase rather than a simple step. Furthermore, metal quality control must be integrated with modern manufacturing processes.
Our commitment is not merely to attain but also to uphold the most exemplary quality. What we have established for the sake of maintaining quality is not solely for us or even our customers, though those are significant incentives. The quality control system that we engage with on a daily basis is also for the good of the ultimate users of our product.