veryone accepts the need for quality improvements, | and we have all made tre mendous strides in this area, We have, that is, until one of our | customers cals us about a little problem they have with the order they just received from us. Let us assume that the 5,000 parts recently shipped to this customer were | perfect—except that one of three punched holes had not been punched. | ‘This customer got more metal than ordered. Why did this occur? Why did we have to incur the costs of fabricating, freight there and back, scrap, refabrication and reshipping, not to mention the cost of the impact on the customer's assembly | and delivery schedule? On top of all that, we may now have a ‘customer with a little less confidence in us, Our existing quality assurance methods and procedures should have caught this error before the order shipped; better yet, before the parts were stamped, Perhaps the existing methods and procedures are themselves the problem. Maybe they do not account for us some- times not being able to see the car coming, forest ‘We have all experienced the near-miss after stopping for a traffic sign, looking both ways, and then proceeding because the way was clear. Only it was not clear. For some reason, a car appeared from nowhere. You did not see the car, but you did look ‘And so it is with many of the quality control procedures on which we tend to rely. A person must see something wrong in order for it to be perceived as wrong, Nobody saw the third hole in the parts, but nobody saw its absence either. It was fone of those days when whoever was supposed to see the absence of the third hole probably amost got broadsided on the way to work. ‘As humans we have limits, and they are often costly when they show up. That is probably the best reason to rethink your management approach to the whole corporate quality objective as you face the 1990s, To compete effectively, we are going to have to rely more and more on technology-based solutions. Today, we know those solutions will be the hard- ware, software and engineering which ensures that fabrication processes will have the built-in ability to see the car coming every time—without fal Signature Analysis ‘One such solution that is beginning to make a name for itself is known as signa- ture analysis technology. The term “sig- nature analysis” has a two-part meaning, ‘The “signature” of a stamping pressis 4 repetitive expression of something the press does: it is representative of the magnitude of the forces generated by each stroke throughout the stamping cycle,Figure 1 Data points collected during a production ‘run form the press signature. These can be displayed as a waveform during production ‘To obtain this force) time representa tion, we define a selective portion of the stamping cycle to be our signature, Dur- ing production runs, this can be dis- played to the user as a waveform expressing force plotted against time (see Figure 1). ‘The number of data point values used to create the signature for the “hit” var- ies with the speed of the press, but will typically range between 258 and 1,024 for each sensor used. This is different from the typical, reactive mode of load monitors, which passively await a force in excess of a prescribed value. Even the name “signature analysis” implies something more proactive. The signature of the press—those stamping press data points that comprise its signature—are continually analyzed by the computer to determine whether or not they fall within a benchmark win- dow (sce Figure 2). The upper and lower boundaries of that window vary with the slope of the signature itself throughout the time-duration of the press stroke. ‘The acceptable deviations that are used to determine the position of the upper and lower boundaries are the user's own quality standards, These are called “alarm limit” points, and encom- pass the allowable manufacturing toler- ances for the part being stamped. Not long ago, it was only a theory that there was a definite relationship between the signature produced as a part is stamped and the subsequent quality of the part itself (see Figure 3). This theory postulated that if a benchmark signa- ture for a part could be established, and if that benchmark could then be com- Signature analysis technology used both the forces exerted and the machine's vibrations to detect an improperly produced compo- rent and automatically shut down the pres. pared to each successive hit to determine the quality ofthe parts being made, then what you would really have is the ability to see that car at the intersection each and every time. ‘The theory has been proven, We can determine the car’s approaching speed, determine how long it will take it to stop, the rate of deceleration necessary to do so, and whether or not we can make it across Application. The proper application of signature analysis can bring the following impor- tant benefits to users, and to do so automatically, if desired. © Large volumes of defective stamped parts are a thing of the past. Consider the financial impact ofthis in light of the bad parts scenario described above. © High-cost human resources are freed to engage in more productive tasks. Let the computer perform the redundant and boring quality watchdos- service for which its better-suited than humans, Then plan to use the newly- available manpower to concentrate on the less mundane tasks to help achieve other quality improvement goals, such as faster tooling changes or more effec tive press maintenance © Effective stamping capacity is increased without additional presses. Presses will no longer be doing double duty—stamping bad parts and then re- stamping after a defect is found. Both machine availability and production capacity will increase proportionally. Figure 3 ‘The waveform produced in the press man- ‘agement process asthe partis stamped has a ‘proven relationship to the part quality © Signature analysis systems will be doing double duty. While they inspect stamped parts for conformity with qual ity standards, they are also continuously “inspecting” the press itself forthe exist- ‘ence of mechanical abnormalities. This also protects the investment inthe press. Since the signature is an instanta- neous and comprehensive snapshot of every mechanical force at work in the press at a specific moment (microse- Conds), one can expect that the snapshot will change over time, It is that feature that makes it possible to immediately alert the operator that a tool has begun to wear excessively, or that the quality of the lubrication on the ways and gibsis deteriorating, © JIT manufacturing goals will be ‘more easily attained, with lower stress levels forall involved. Production plan- ning should approach “an exercise in simplicity,” once presses produce only good parts and operators are being forewarned of developing maintenance requirements Is signature analysis, then, to be con- sidered the cure-all for a wide range of stamping quality ills? No. One can, however, consider this unfolding tech nology to bea glimpse of what the future hholds—call it a vision of the types of “tools” which will be available to assist in the management of tomorrow's auto- mated pressrooms The information presented inthis article was prepared by John C. Mutchler, Product ‘Marketing Manager for Factory Automation, Johnson Controls Systems Engineering and Construction Division, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.