Sometimes, we imagine we need to make trade-offs between creating the best quality product or settling for “pretty good” In today’s market, that’s not good enough. Fortunately, Industry 4.0 technologies make it both cost-effective and easier to create the highest quality products. You can reduce the cost of quality (COQ) for a high return on investment (ROI) by adopting digital solutions in manufacturing. Read on to learn how Industry 4.0 tech can reduce cost of quality (COQ).
What is Cost of Quality (COQ)?
The Cost of Quality (COQ) is how much any organization spends to churn out a high quality, defect-free product. The American Society of Quality (ASQ) explains that total COQ is compared against the “Cost of Poor Quality” (COPQ), or how a defective product will cost. Some different cost factors rolled into COQ include appraisal costs, internal and external failure costs, prevention costs, and any costs associated with production and quality control. The ASQ reports that companies may have COQ that rises to about 40 percent of annual sales revenue, while the COPQ for poor quality can cost up to 15 percent of sales. With the right tools, creating high quality products and eliminating defects for a lower COQ is a reality.
How Industry 4.0 Can Reduce Cost of Quality (COQ)
On average, companies will have to spend up to 10 times more to correct a quality issue after it reaches customers than if someone had stopped it in-house ahead of time. On the flip side, it costs approximately a tenth of that to invest in solutions that would prevent issues like that, as reported by ISO update. These are some key ways Industry 4.0 gives manufacturing firms the technology to reduce the cost of quality while boosting quality simultaneously:
Focus on Prevention
By analyzing data effectively, decision makers can find and remedy potential quality problems before they manifest as troublesome defects in the end product. Preventing quality problems requires investment in quality management processes, and can bring an impressive ROI in terms of customer loyalty and sales, as well as not having to spend big bucks to remedy defective products and the problems they could cause.
One way up your defect prevention efforts is to invest in technology that quickly analyzes data, identifies leading indicators, and sifts through the background noise to pinpoint potential problems long before they show up in the product. New technological solutions can actually put your workers on the front lines of this effort, which gives them a sense of ownership in eliminating potential defects and boosting quality. When they can report issues effectively through good communication channels, this prevents having to scrap or rework entire lines of production.
Train Workers on Quality Standards
Workers want to do a great job when they understand how and why the quality standards exist, and how to fulfill them properly. This is not a question of simply training them one time after they’re hired. With the right digital technologies, not only can training continue up-to-the-minute, every day, but it can help workers become part of the effort and desire to excel at the quality standards. This makes them an essential, active part of the driving force behind ensuring that products meet or exceed company standards themselves, which makes achieving process compliance a matter of course, concurrently lowering the COQ and raising the ROI on investing in advanced technologies and solutions that improve quality across the board.
Invest in Industry 4.0 Software
A software that laser focuses on quality assurance can collect insightful data about how your operations and processes impact quality, so you can see the way forward to improving quality and lowering the cost of quality at the same time. A solution like Anvl can sift through operations and quality data in real time, pinpointing issues and reporting them between supervisors and workers instantaneously through live feed notifications and alerts. This faster reaction time shuts down defects and speeds the quality improvement process in manufacturing processes of all kinds. It also helps you pick up on trends and foresee potential quality issues before they occur, making your company more agile and adaptive in improving quality.
Anvl’s Quality Solution
To thrive in tomorrow’s manufacturing world, you need the best quality control procedures on your side, and you need tools to take it beyond the ordinary. Anvl provides an innovative mobile solution for workers to maintain process compliance and catch quality defects proactively. Click here to request a demo and contact one of our experts today to find out more.
