The Role Of Quality Control In Automotive

Manufacturing

Automotive manufacturers have an inalienable responsibility to deliver high-

quality products. General manufacturing Quality Control (QC) is an effort that
reviews product quality intending to identify and eliminate defects. Discovering
and fixing the defects should typically happen before the products reach the
consumer. In unique cases such as Volkswagen in 2015, a defect will lead to a
recall or similar effort to address the issue after delivering the product.

Modern automotive manufacturing facilities consider Quality Control to be a

foundational part of their entire production process. The reason is that the
facilities can increasingly maximize the volume of products within a small time
window.

When a machine is responsible for the defect, the market will have to endure
thousands of substandard products. Usually, when this happens, it becomes a PR
disaster waiting to happen, or there are concerns about sales down the road.

What Modern Manufacturing Control is About

Quality Control is as important in the automotive industry as it is in construction,
machining, and other industries. The specific Quality Control practices may
differ; manufacturing is always about high volume and a low tolerance for
failure.

Machine failure during a production run is not a light breakdown issue. It’s an
event that could lead to a person’s death. The implications for human life is one
reason why Quality Control in the automotive industry is a large and intricate
process.
Most people are only familiar with crash tests, but those are not the only Quality
Control process in designing a car. There are multiple other tests to ascertain the
Quality of parts and the entire vehicular contraption. During prototyping, the
manufacturing facility engineers each piece of a vehicle to a specific engineering
standard. As soon as the prototype is complete, other exciting parts of the process
begin.

One of the numerous checks is testing the car seals involves filling the car cabin
with smoke. Extreme temperature tests (hot and cold) will determine the range of
climates the vehicle is able to withstand without melting or freezing into a block
of ice. Similar tests may check the smoothness of a ride on various terrains and
the kinds of shocks the vehicle can withstand without damage.

The outcomes can be grave when automotive manufacturers don’t follow

standard processes. We refer to that Volkswagen case again; the company’s
shortcut approach has meant years (possibly decades) of fighting to win back
consumer trust. Installing a “defeat device” in vehicles to beat emissions tests
turned out to be a not-so-smart move. Regarding the monetary implications, ask
Volkswagen how they’ve coped with coughing out billions of dollars to finance
repairs in the wake of the debacle.

Why Quality Control Matters in Automotive

Manufacturing
Few people (Americans) realize how much time they spend in their vehicles over
the course of a year. Forty-five percent of them are emotionally downcast when
life situations force them to part with their cars. If people spend this amount of
time in their cars and have such emotional attachments to them, cars must
represent an important entity in their lives.
But, does manufacturing Quality Control contribute anything to vehicle owners
spending more time in their cars? In many ways, they do. The vehicles need to be
of high quality and conform to the highest safety standards for drivers and
passengers.

Now, are the vehicles a joy to ride in? Quality Control takes into account all
issues of safety and comfort.

Essential Topics Surrounding Quality in the

Automotive Industry
The automotive industry has peculiar interpretations of the concept of quality.
It’s also unique in prioritizing methods and strategies for expertise, practice, and
work experience. The ISO’s definition of quality pays special attention to the
extent of adherence of specific feature(s) to specific requirements. In simple
terms, a requirement is a need or an expectation. The automotive industry needs to
fulfill quality requirements that are either explicit or implied.

Some hindsight is necessary: Henry Ford’s concept of mass-produced vehicles

involved training that could quickly assemble cars with consistency and
precision. Such were the humble origins of quality. Modern automotive quality
derives from three principles:

1. Quality in Product;

2. Quality in Production; and

3. Quality in Ownership.

Quality in Product refers to the ability of the vehicle to meet all expectations in
terms of function and behavior. Such expectations include engine efficiency,
product features and options, and environmental exhaust standards.
Quality in Production translates to producing vehicles of a consistent quality
standard while sticking to determined cost limits.

Quality in Ownership addresses customer satisfaction while they own the

vehicle. Therefore, there’s the customer experience while they engage in the
purchase process and vehicle reliability. There’s also the driving experience,
besides other hard-to-measure elements including the feeling of status and the
pride of owning the vehicle.

The active international standard for automotive Quality Management Systems is

the IATF 16949:2016. It’s been active since 1999 and was developed by the
International Automotive Task Force (IATF). This standards document
supersedes the ISO/TS 16949. IATF 16949:2016 supplements and is on the same
trajectory as ISO 9001:2015. Because of this, it’s not an independent Quality
Management Standard.

Quality Control For Automotive Components Nuts

and Bolts
Manufacturing was once all about reviewing a bill of lading of materials and
running caliper checks. Digital technology has revolutionized all of that,
however.

It’s now routine and standard practice to test a raw material sample for chemical
composition. The same applies to the durability testing. During transportation
and movement between warehouses and manufacturing plants, items can get the
wrong labels or packed in the wrong boxes.

Manufacturing facility staff need to be sure of what they’re working with, and for
nuts and bolts, size and thickness are essential elements of Quality Control.

‍
Augmented Reality (AR)
Checking materials’ chemical compositions and physical dimensions are good,
but more possibilities are emerging technologies such as Augmented Reality
affords automotive manufacturers. Augmented reality works on the premise of
overlaying digital information in the real world. If it sounds fantastic, it’s only
because it is. The Nintendo game, Pokemon, helped revive its financial fortunes
when it made a mobile version that implemented augmented reality. Pokemon
Go helped spark a revolution across various industries beyond entertainment.

Here are a few ways that AR can improve QC in automotive manufacturing:

 Complex assembly

 Expert support

 Maintenance

For instance, becoming familiar with the iterations of complex assembly projects.
It’s more challenging when you aren’t responsible for the design. Vehicles are
more complex, meaning technicians need to increasingly specialize.

The implication in using AR is that technicians can wear a digitally linked pair of
lenses supplying a heads-up display like a manual, overlaid on the actual
machinery before them.

For maintenance, an automotive plant technician can compare digital blueprints

to assess what’s before them. When they’re not sure about a part, say it’s
unfamiliar or strange, he can compare the part to what his library contains
concerning that part.

If the technician requires further guidance beyond their specialty and purview of
knowledge, they can get direct expert help on the machine.
The former practice was for the technician to arrange another correspondence
with an engineer. These days, an engineer can gain remote access and make
drawings on the heads-up display or send a message to support the technician.
Exciting innovations such as AR are the new normal in automotive quality
control, as they improve coordination intra- and inter-manufacturing floors. It is
reasonable to expect these trends to grow exponentially.

Automotive Quality Control and Autonomy

Autonomous automobiles are steadily becoming mainstream, meaning detecting
issues will likely need fewer operators. It’s easier today to anticipate a future
where electric cars drive themselves. However, there needs to be a more
significant consideration for QC in manufacturing.

Electric vehicles are a world apart from internal combustion vehicles. Therefore,
the materials and chassis need to fit the electric model. Efficiency and quality are
crucial when speaking of batteries, electric engines, and the devices that power
them.

Electric vehicles have few moving but more interacting parts, along with
belonging to the IoT ecosystem. There are possibilities for ongoing Quality
Control management, even after the vehicles are no longer on the manufacturing
and showroom floors.

In an exciting twist, humans themselves will become part of the Quality Control
process.

The Quality the Automotive Industry Wants

Quality is more important than ever in vehicle manufacturing in a post-pandemic
world. As carmakers contemplate investing more in developing electric vehicles,
there’ll be more launches of battery-powered transportation solutions. Electric
vehicles are the new viable alternatives to hybrid gas-electric vehicles, which
have dominated the commercial market for a considerable time. This new market
segment (also called the green movement) expects rapid and accelerating growth.

Research from McKinsey & Co. shows that modern vehicles will provide insight
into customer buying patterns, driving behaviors, and provide the groundwork
for much better future deployment. These fundamentally new vehicles have to go
to market with a next-to-zero margin for error for manufacturing efficiency and
product safety. It makes a convincing case for Quality Control.

This new paradigm led big automotive makers to anticipate, identify and
eliminate several potential production problems to avoid unwanted issues when
products hit the market. General Motors did this with the Chevrolet Volt. And
with GM, one significant issue is that its future economic success will be essential
in a more environmentally conscious, low-emission world. Therefore, its new
vehicles must be without the faintest flaw while delivering maximum comfort to
consumers via electrical power.

How Automotive Quality Works

Automotive quality control is vital to lower the possibility of a vehicle
developing issues. However, even with high-profile recalls, vehicles are generally
more reliable than ever. Automakers have successfully gone past the
experimental stages of new-breed vehicles, the primary reason being that they’ve
increasingly mastered the art of Quality Control.

Automotive manufacturing Quality Control ensures that vehicles are free of

defects and operational issues. The process usually involves putting vehicles
through rigorous testing routines to achieve excellent engineering, safety, and
comfort for the end-user.
According to popular thought, Quality Control happens at the end of the
manufacturing cycle. What’s more correct, though, is to begin the process before
the initial production models come off the assembly line. This latter method
prevents the build-up of undue manufacturing waste, significantly minimizing
cost and shielding the consumer from preventable cost implications.

In terms of quality, technology helps to streamline the automotive design

process. Software like WorkClout quickens product and process design transfer
to manufacturing, consequently improving the pace of new product
introductions.

Engineering staff can promptly receive closed-loop feedback of pre-production

and pilot phase production oddities to effect corrective action. It reduces the
possibility of recall and improves the overall quality of the vehicle.

Using WorkClout, each new vehicle model begins which a prototype which a
company improves by testing for weaknesses and mechanical problems. Once
there’s approval for polished prototypes, the design goes into production, where
WorkClout continues its QC policing on the production line.

In helping automotive engineers to improve quality by more than 25 percent,

WorkClout streamlines quality management in automotive manufacturing.
Within seven days, teams can fully onboard a digital solution to manage quality.
Scanning captures essential data, field-validated to avoid errors. Real-time data
reporting in WorkClout is robust and scalable, and it’s easy to automate alarms
and escalations using workflows.

Once it rolls off the assembly line, each car is battle-tested for possible mechanical
or assembly problems. Frontline workers in automotive manufacturing trust
WorkClout to streamline quality inspections, corrective actions, knowledge
building, and ISO compliance. For the most customizable inspection template
builder and excellent reporting, automotive manufacturers know to choose
WorkClout.

Conclusion
Automotive manufacturing is replete with novel challenges, but this presents
tremendous opportunities for the auto industry. Modern methods and principles
in design, distribution, and manufacturing are the new nucleus for improved
Quality Control in the automotive industry.

While automotive Quality Control has advanced tremendously, the human

component is still crucial in building quality vehicles. For this reason, WorkClout
bakes in the corporate ethos of involving every employee in the Quality Control
process.