Sunfab has exacting quality targets
3/7/2016
Sunfab’s Department for Quality and Business Development plays an important role in developing and maintaining Sunfab’s well-established high levels of quality. This is done partly by means of internal audits but also by conducting preventive work and continuous tests and measurements during the production process.
Sunfab’s Department for Quality and Business Development consists of five people. They have an important role in the development and maintenance of Sunfab’s acknowledged high standards of quality. Since 2014, the department has been headed by Christina Marsch. “In this department, we work to support the organisation, to create the necessary conditions and to prevent any future problems from arising”, says Christina. “We also lead the work with internal audits because we are continuously revising our processes. We are certified in accordance with both ISO 9001 and 14001.”
Exact measurements
“All of Sunfab’s employees have a responsibility to ensure we maintain the necessary levels of quality”, continues Christina. “One consequence of this is that all measuring, testing and material analyses are conducted by the staff-members that work in production. Our role is to provide them with support and the conditions to ensure the required quality of production. This means, for example, that we use a CAD blueprint to construct a measurement program that the production team can then use when they perform control measurements of the product. This results in a measurement protocol that shows that the measurement remains within the correct range of tolerances. This is performed using a measuring machine that enables us to measure to an accuracy of six-thousands of a millimetre.”
Testing of products
“In the final testing stage, the assemblers perform tightness checks on all the products that are to be delivered. In addition, we conduct spot-checks and test-drive the product using hydraulic oil. Test programs are developed for individual products in order to ensure that the products meet the necessary requirements. We do all of this so that we can be sure to meet our high quality targets”, says Christina.
Problem solvers
“If a problem should arise, we try to identify the root cause so that, by resolving it, we can be sure that it does not arise again”, explains Christina. “Every month, we follow up any internal or external deviations so as to be able to identify those areas in which there is room for improvement. Another example of our supporting role is that we have created an improvement group within the production team. This group meets once a week to follow up all ongoing and new improvement work; such work can range from altering working methods to implementing machine improvements. The members of the production group produce their own proposals for improvement and are responsible for the implementation of these measures. The ambition is that the group shall, after a period of time, be able to run itself and we will be able to start similar groups within the company’s other departments”, concludes Christina.