In this article we will learn how to create inspections at the operation level within a Manufacturing Plan.
This approach allows users to accept/reject inspections by operations, consolidate data from multiple machines into one inspection, and easily filter SPC data by machine for better efficiency and decision-making.
Important Note: Enabling inspections at the operation level is a configurable setting that requires assistance from a 1factory representative. If your organization is interested in this feature, please reach out to your 1factory representative or email support@1factory.com for further assistance.
Step 1: Creating the Inspection:
To begin, navigate to the Manufacturing Inspection and create a New Inspection. Within the slide-out, complete the following data fields and click GO....
- Plan Number: Part number and revision which the inspection is for.
- Inspection Identifier #1: Work order, Job # etc…
- Inspection Identifier #2: Customer PO, Lot #, etc…
- Lot Size: Planned Quantity of parts to be produced.
- Inspection Type: Inspection type set within the plan.
- Operation: Choose which operation the inspection is for.
- Add Machine(s): Choose the machine(s) that will be producing the parts for this inspection.
Important Note: In the case there are no operations defined in the plan, or if you wish to create an inspection record covering ALL operations, simply select "ALL" from the Operations dropdown. Additionally, if no machines have been selected, the machine column will remain disabled within the inspection. However, if only one machine has been chosen, it will be automatically populated in all unit rows for your convenience.
Once you have completed the inspection slide-out, you will be presented with the specific inspection requirements for the chosen operation. At this stage, you can select one of the three methods available to enter the inspection data.
Step 2: Recording Data:
Once you have chosen a method to enter inspection data, you can proceed to input the data for each unit number. For each unit, you will have the option to select the appropriate machine to which the parts data should be tied. The drop-down menu will display the machines that were previously selected during the inspection setup.
If you need to add or remove machines, you can easily do so by accessing the "More" tab within the inspection interface. This ensures that your inspection data remains organized and associated with the correct machines for analysis and reporting purposes.
Important Note: If a user fails to choose a machine for a specific unit during data entry, the machine cell will be flagged, indicating that a selection is required. This ensures that all necessary information is captured, and the inspection data remains complete and accurate.
Step 3: Filtering Data:
Now that your organization has tied inspection data to specific machines, you have the ability to filter performance data by machine, both within the inspection and the analytics view.
To do this, simply click on the filter icon located on the left side bar. From there, you can choose the specific machine you would like to analyze data for. This filtering capability allows you to focus on the performance metrics of individual machines, enabling you to make informed decisions and optimizations based on the data insights obtained.
Data Integrity:
With the new enhancement that allows multiple machines within a single operation, 1factory has updated how the server refreshes inspections to ensure a seamless experience. These improvements are designed to eliminate the occurrence of inspection data being overwritten, which could happen when multiple users from different machines are working within the same inspection.
Basic Logic:
- 1factory automatically refreshes each page within an inspection, including the multi-chart view. As a result, if a computer is left idle for 5 minutes, the screen will refresh, making any data entered from another computer immediately visible. The time of the last refresh can be seen at the top of the page.
- Within the 5-minute auto-refresh interval, if a screen on computer #1 is left idle while another user is actively entering data on the same screen from another computer (computer #2), when the user of computer #1 attempts to enter data in the next available row, they will encounter an error, and the row will be replaced with the data from the user of computer #2.
- Within the 5-minute auto-refresh interval, if a screen on computer #1 is left idle while another user (computer #2) selects a machine on the same screen, when the user of computer #1 tries to enter data in the next available row, they will encounter an error, and the row will be updated with the data from the user of computer #2. This is because the user of computer #2 has already associated that specific row of data with a particular machine. To avoid data conflicts, the user of computer #2 needs to acknowledge that they are entering data for the correct machine before proceeding.
- Within the 5-minute auto-refresh interval, if a user navigates away from the inspection screen such as opening a different browser tab, upon their return to the 1factory inspection tab, the page will automatically refresh.
