Eliminating quality issues at source

Stephen Molloy, aerospace, defence and industrials director at quality management services company, G&P explains how its service offerings - derived from innovative practices in the automotive sector - are transforming aerospace supply chain management as it looks to recover post-pandemic.

Similar to the automotive sector, the aerospace industry faces challenges in managing the production of high quality, safety critical components across a complex supply chain.

“Eliminating quality issues at source, whether it is in the aerospace or automotive sector, is fundamental in eradicating waste and reducing the subsequent impact on cost and parts availability,” begins G&P’s aerospace, defence and industrials director, Stephen Molloy. “Maintaining quality is also key in increasing efficiency and protecting brand reputation.

Indeed, G&P is seeing a growing appetite from the aerospace sector for the practices so successfully deployed in the automotive sector and in particular through the zero defects programmes.

“The automotive sector has for many years had a very low tolerance and acceptance of non-conforming products entering the production facilities of the OEMs. This is in part due to the pace and volume of the automotive sector but, significantly, it is strongly reinforced by cost penalties for non-conformance being charged to offending suppliers.

“The benefit of this approach is reduced cost and disruption in the OEM’s supply chain and lower tiers, together with fewer quality escapes which can lead to safety concerns.”

Employing best practice

However, challenges faced by the aerospace sector can be exacerbated due to the multinational operating environment, lower volumes, longer lead-times, complex supplier/customer relationships and safety critical factor. Nevertheless, best practice from the automotive sector through the zero defects programme is benefiting the aerospace industry.

“The tools being used have been developed and deployed for some time but the introductions of new standards, such as the AS1300x series, has applied further and improved controls for the manufacture and measurement of parts to support the drive for zero defects in the supply chain. This is designed to prevent creating non-conformance in the first place, identifying, resolving and permanently driving it out at source.”

Although in many different forms, the waste elimination realised by G&P ran in to the magnitude of more than 27 million reworked parts in 2020 to OEM standard across a range of manufacturing sectors. 

G&P achieved this high level of rework activity by deploying a number of tools and techniques from its innovative Quality Excellence Model that won Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

The model offers a blueprint for client engagement with a clear route of escalation, designed to target and eradicate the root cause of manufacturing problems. As production rates ramp-up post-pandemic with order-book growth across the main OEMs, the ability to maximise capacity will become increasingly important.

“Many of G&P’s automotive quality practices are designed for the higher volume, differently regulated automotive industry but similarities across all industries do exist. 

“Our role is to ensure the appropriate deployment of quality management tools and techniques developed by us. Where possible we fully embed G&P staff, either as a short-term baselining engagement to establish need or as part of our ‘plant within a plant’ concept.”

A systematic approach

And the importance of maintaining quality is clear to see. All components, whether critical, sensitive or C Class being delivered into the OEMs, assembly and test areas need to be 100% right first time to prevent any build, assembly, test delays and rework activities that are all costly, time-consuming and have the potential to affect safety.

A systematic approach is key to driving back to the root cause of any quality issues. G&P itself reviews where suppliers are on the zero defects journey and what tools and standards they are currently applying to support zero defects.

“G&P looks for governance within the supplier so that zero defects becomes the norm and that the mindset is preventative rather than reactive. Support in the drive for zero defects is through suggesting tools to apply and training that may be relevant for their business.”

Technology taking a lead

One such tool is a proprietary software system, QTrak, which is at the core of G&P’s Quality Excellence Model. QTrak is a sophisticated software tool allowing real-time analysis and identification of quality issues. Problematic supply sources can be investigated without delay as the system provides instantaneous results, meaning that parts can be contained and corrective action is deployed to prevent further waste being produced.

G&P also believes that the third-party providers, such as themselves, have an important role to play in quality and inspection as they provide an independent view of businesses, processes and procedures. 

“Traditionally, these capabilities have been costly for companies to provide in-house, due to the unpredictable nature of such problems and the specialist knowledge required to fix them.

“It also cuts the cost of ensuring suppliers meet appropriate specifications by bringing full transparency to supplier quality performance. When quality issues arise, it ensures the issue is completely contained, minimising disruption to production and preventing sub-standard products reaching end customers.”

Underpinning G&P’s growth in the aerospace industry are three guiding principles to reflect the sector’s demands and challenges – protect, define and implement.

“G&P’s entire focus is to help our manufacturing partners avoid waste, together with increasing quality standards and efficiency by making sure they produce the right parts to the correct specification, first time, every time,” concludes Molloy. “This, in turn, also protects brand reputation as quality issues are resolved before they are escalated.”

Among the services G&P offers the aerospace sector are supplier capability assessments, document and FAIR technical vetting, inspection, supplier improvement activities, containment services, fault analysis imaging and reverse engineering. 

www.gpqm.com