Continuous Quality Improvement is key to becoming a leading edge manufacturer with sustained success. ECI has been helping manufacturing plants successfully apply sound Continuous Improvement processes and strategies since 1984. If you take a quick look at our client list, you'll notice that some of the world's most successful HVAC, refrigerator and electrical appliance manufacturers have trusted ECI as their Total Quality partner.

Take a few moments to consider how ECI's Integrated Process Control System (IPCS) can assist your plant in implementing your continuous quality improvement strategy.

Instead of waiting for monthly reports, more manufacturers are seeing the need to manage their production lines with real-time information. This enables them to respond to problems immediately, avoiding costly downtime. ECI's OverView™ TAKT Time and Production Monitoring System provides assembly line supervisors and operators with a real-time visual indication of their line's progress in meeting continuous quality improvement quotas. The actual production quantity, the target (desired) quantity, the actual TAKT Time and the remaining TAKT time now in progress are all displayed in real time, and refreshed at customer specified intervals. Information for each display on each assembly line may be viewed remotely from any computer on the network running ECI's Interlink™ Office software.

While real-time information is important, it is equally vital to be able to retrieve and analyze collected and stored data when considering continuous quality improvement. ECI's Integrated Process Control System logs all collected data to a Microsoft® SQL Server® database by model/serial number. ECI's InterLink Office software then allows plant management to access and analyze that data so they can continually improve their processes and tighten their testing parameters. ProMonitor™, another ECI utility, is a Production monitoring software used by anyone wishing to view the details and line status of each assembly line running InterLink™. With ProMonitor you can collect data from every integrated station and know what tests have been run, how many units have passed, first pass rates, station utilization, takt times, failure codes, production line efficiency, operator performance, and more. By analyzing detailed information about all of your stations, processes and operators, plant management is able to evaluate areas where improvement could made in production efficiency and in future product revisions.

The Shipping “Watchdog” Principle is best exemplified by ECI’s PackOut™ module. PackOut™ the ECI Watchdog guarantees that consumers receive the best quality product manufacturers can provide. An all-encompassing crosscheck through all processes, PackOut is the final assurance that each unit has passed all previous quality tests. No defect gets through. Electrical interlocks prohibit final packing and shipping until all tests have been passed, significantly enhancing your continuous quality improvement efforts. For instance, if the Watchdog detected that a unit bypassed a final leak test, the shrink wrapping machine would refuse to work for that serial number. This gives the consumer a consistent level of quality--guaranteed.

When ECI first introduced the Watchdog principle to our clients, we faced some resistance by operators who were concerned about meeting daily quotas. But as quality management noticed the significant drop in warranty claims, it was mandated in no uncertain terms that the ECI Watchdog could not be bypassed. Our customers have informed us that, with the aid of the ECI IPCS, they consistently approach zero D.O.A.'s (Dead on Arrivals) and have dramatically reduced warranty claims.

If you would like to learn more about how ECI can help your plant implement an effective system of Continuous Quality Improvement, request our free Information Packet and report: Ranking Technology Providers–How they stack up and what to look out for.

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or call 901-854-2123.