Total Control Systems (TCS) has for several years been selling a stand-alone quality control software module as part of its WIZDOM suite of software, at clients' sites, from growers to supermarkets, in North America, Europe and South Africa.

Tim Vivian, group technical director, TCS (UK) Ltd, explains the key benefits of using a computerised quality control system, using the TCS QC system as an example.

Wizdom QC runs on a pen-based computer. Since Microsoft's launch of its ëTablet PC' last year, these are now available from a number of manufacturers. With appropriate ruggedising, these computers are ideal for use out in the warehouse.

The latest radio technology ëWiFi' or 802.11b, allows these computers to be in continual contact with the corporate Local Area Network, so data is updated to a central database.

The Wizdom QC system can also use other hardware, such as the increasing range of devices using Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. And of course the Internet must always be included whenever you are looking at the communication of information from remote locations.

“IT WILL BE ON THE QC FORM ... “I'LL GO AND FIND IT”

The first problem with using paper-based QC is that the information is only accessible in one place. Before you can act on the information on the paper, you have to actually see the paper. If the sheet is still on the clipboard out in the packhouse, then you have to go and find it, or rely on a system of the inspector coming to find you. This costs your business time in chasing around after paper, and the risk of the paper, the only record, being lost in the process.

“HOW OFTEN DO WE GET THAT PROBLEM ... I'LL GET THE FORMS AND GO THROUGH THEM”

How often do your QC staff get asked for some kind of analysis of the paper forms? This means someone getting all the paper forms and adding up the information, or typing it into a computer so that the computer can add it up.

This is a cost to your business. The information hidden on the paper forms has cost you money to collect. It should be used to the maximum.

How often have you wanted the answers to questions like “I wonder what defects our top five suppliers are getting in QC inspection and how do they compare against the defects our other suppliers get?”

And how often have you decided that it is not worth going through the paperwork to find out. You then rely on gut feeling or word of mouth ñ in other words, guesswork, when all the time you have the information available to you that could answer your question. If only it was not written on thousands of disparate pieces of paper.

“IF YOU HAD TOLD ME THAT YESTERDAY ... I WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT IT”

In a paper-based system, feedback to suppliers relies on manual processes. These are generally based on fairly simple rules, for example if the damaged percentage is above X, the load will be rejected. The supplier knows about it then. However, if he knew that the damaged percentage had been steadily rising for the last two weeks, and that it had been hovering just below the rejection rate, then he could have done something about it before the load was rejected.

I know that most companies would contact a supplier long before a rejection happened, but I am trying to make the point that a manual system relies on people taking the appropriate preventative action, even when they are working flat out just carrying out the tests.

“SO WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE TO PAPER?”

If you want to get better value out of the costs that you incur collecting QC information, then you need to be able to share information, in a timely manner, through:

• Accuracy of data input

• Real, or near-real-time information availability

• Automatic processing of data

• Integration with other systems

• Data available for analysis to everyone.

The most cost-effective way to provide this it to give QC inspectors a computer. They can then enter results directly into the computer as they carry out the tests.

“BUT I ALWAYS FILL THE FORM IN LIKE THAT”

With paper-based quality, having a different form for each product inspected is a nightmare ñ stocks of each form must be available, inspectors must take the correct form with them, and results are hard to compare.

A computerised system, such as the TCS quality system, allows the inspector to enter a simple identifier of the batch being inspected. This could be a pallet number, or a purchase order reference.

The computer system can then check the database for information about the item being inspected. Pertinent data from the database, such as the product, the supplier, the QC status etc, can then be retrieved.

From form contents, held in the database, not on paper, the computer can display the correct tests for a particular product and test type. For example, the tests displayed on intake might be different to the tests displayed for an in-process inspection.

Certain tests can be mandatory. This means that “I forgot to do that test” can no longer be a valid excuse. The inspector is prevented from completing the inspection if the mandatory tests are not carried out.

Equally, if the range of valid responses is one to 10 then a response of 11 or above or lower than one can be prevented. This sort of checking makes sure that the information stored in the database is plausible, and makes it easier to analyse later.

“THE RESULTS ARE STILL CLIPPED TO MY CLIPBOARD”

Modern radio technology allows the inspection result to be sent straight back to the corporate database. The Wizdom quality system takes this one stage further and allows inspections to continue if the computer is out of radio range.

Synchronisation with the corporate database then takes place automatically as soon as the unit moves back into radio range.

The result of a quality inspection is then available to any authorised user of the corporate systems. In the case of the Wizdom quality module, the transfer of a QC inspection also updates the quality status of the lot in the main corporate database. This allows traders and operational staff to see stocks by quality status in a realtime system. No more selling goods ñ only to find that they failed the QC inspection earlier that day.

“WHAT WAS THE PRODUCT I SENT YOU YESTERDAY LIKE?”

With the inspection information stored in a database, there are endless opportunities to get value out of the data. How about an automatic fax to the supplier to tell them the quality of the goods they sent you? The Wizdom QC system does this, it even records against each test whether the product was in or out of specification, so the supplier can see that they passed spec in say, ësize', but failed on ëskin defects'.

Holding the information on a database allows any kind of analysis, limited only by the information you collected in the first place. All of those questions that you have wanted to ask, but were convinced that answer would take too long to work out, are now possible. It is even possible to dump a copy of the data into a spreadsheet and carry out what if analysis, safe in the knowledge that the raw data is still safe in the corporate database

“BUT IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE!”

QC already costs you money. Surely it is more cost effective to make the collection of inspection data as efficient as possible, and to use information that has been collected?

The benefits include:

• Reduced inspection errors

• Improved customer service

• Improved service to suppliers and growers

• Visibility of supplier quality

• Simplification of inspection process

So, computerised quality control is not expensive ñ it is the cost-effective option.