Check fixtures have been a mainstay in manufacturing for decades now, allowing companies to verify that the parts they produce are within the required specifications or parameters. While check fixtures have their advantages, as technology continues to advance some major drawbacks have started to surface.
With the increasing popularity of processes like six sigma and lean manufacturing, a focus has begun to emerge around quality and the level of accuracy deemed “acceptable”. The six sigma principle, in fact, is built around the goal of producing parts that are 99.99966% defect-free. Similarly, lean manufacturing strives to eliminate waste in all its forms. Both of these processes require a method of measuring that will provide you with accurate, quantifiable results.
With check fixtures, a tool is built specific to a part to check whether the part is “good” or not by the fixture and the part nesting together. Aside from the fact that check fixtures are unique, meaning you need one fixture for every different part you produce, they are very costly to build, maintain and store. On average, one single check fixture could cost between $42,800 and $185,600 a year! That’s just for one part – what if you make multiple parts?
In addition to the high cost and inability to use the tool for more than one part, check fixtures only deliver qualitative results. This means you get a simple “go” (the part is good) or “no-go” (the part is bad) result. There is no additional data to tell you why the part is bad and furthermore, check fixtures can endure distortion over time and you may end up calling a good part bad because you can’t quite get it to fit. In tight tolerance situations, such as those that six sigma and lean manufacturing call for, you need a solution that will not only tell you accurately if your part is bad or not – but why and what needs to be done to correct it.
Learn more about what other options are available by attending the webinar, An Alternative to Check Fixtures.
I am not so sure that LSS has actually been successful in the business world. However, within DOD, it has been implemented with a heavy dose of bureaucracy, including numerous forms, reporting and rigid methodologies that require tollgate reviews that don't focus on advancing the goals of the project.
ReplyDeleteBut I believe that LSS is fundamentally flawed, because it places so much emphasis on listening to your customers prior to getting started with any meaningful improvement. Better to just focus on eliminating waste in the process, rather than fritter away effort on customer focus groups and surveys when they aren't going to add value.
Often, we know what must be done to make improvements, then take months to perform an LSS event and dissipate all the energy and focus that could have gone to make improvements.
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