Repairing products is the core of what Cokeva does. Every detail of the unit undergoing the test and repair processes is captured in our quality information system, eQuantus. What is done with this information is the key to improving product quality.
Some customers show only a passing interest in the data. Sure, paretos of the quarterly information are created and shared. Any trends are noted and if there are significant negative trends, they are followed-up on.
The real value comes from the customers that are interested in a deep dive into the data. This is where you not only look at what is failing, but ask the question why it is failing and get to the root cause. Are the failures caused by an original manufacturing defect, a design flaw, parts that have reached the end of their useful life or is it just random failures? It takes extra effort and resources to dig through the data and follow-up with targeted activities to prevent the failure from occurring in the future, but it frequently has a very large return on the investment.
It reminds me of the Chinese parable on teaching a person to fish; give a person a fish, they eat today. Teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. Repair a unit today, you get the part back in the supply chain. Utilize the data that comes from repair and you prevent many more from failing in the part’s lifetime.
Recent Comments