Everyone has specific requirements that must be addressed. There are items on the overall agenda.
Stephen Rudy CEFExamples include responsibilities, meeting deadlines, quotations and follow-up, future planning, deliveries, maintenance, inventory, upcoming audits, plant modifications and upgrades, waste-treatment compliance, and more.
Let us review some areas that may need attention or could use some burnishing.
Metal Finishing Processes
Tried-and-true systems, from surface preparation and anodizing to electroless plating, specific surface treatments, and post-treatments, are in place to meet requirements. The process begins with the customer and finisher agreeing to the quote. Received parts are logged in and frequently scanned directly into a computer program. It is first very important to confirm that the parts received are accepted by the finisher and customer, and that they comply 100% with the objectives, limitations, and requirements. This may be indicative of overcommunication.
However, it is best for all concerned to get the project right the first time. This may be done by receiving a certification or a contract signed by both parties. Next, the parts should be assigned a job number, including the process cycle and scheduling, which is typically handled within the original entry program. The plant manager and the responsible departments will coordinate part processing with their trained, ready staff. During processing, scanning technology may be integrated to track the progress of parts. Any discrepancies — such as inadequate surface preparation or off-spec thicknesses — can halt the job, ideally avoiding part loss and enabling surface reconditioning for rework. Upon completion of the job, appropriate testing is performed to confirm that it meets previously defined quality control standards.
Otherwise, non-conforming results allow for corrections to be made in specific steps. The job may need to be stripped (if possible) and re-run only after modifications or changes have been implemented, to ensure second-time success. It’s important to acknowledge that strip-and-rework may at least triple in-house operating costs. This, in turn, affects job profit margin. That is why close tracking of the job in process is important. In-house lab analysis is critical on a scheduled basis. Confirming that all elements of a cycle are satisfactory is important to one-and-done processing. Completed jobs are returned with accompanying paperwork that includes a certificate of quality control compliance or documentation confirming that specific requirements are met. In some projects, the required certifications may be emailed to the customer to confirm completion and indicate readiness for return via direct shipping or customer pickup.
In many instances, the supplier is the original formulator of their products, having invested in critical research and product development.
Hard drive storage is available for quick reference and is saved as a history of the job. This example of a general cycle should not precipitate any operating complexities. In fact, many job and captive finishers have become certified to ISO 9001 or 14000. This is helpful across the end-to-end process of receiving, completing, and shipping parts. Periodic internal audits help keep the overall operation on track. It has become common practice for finishers and their customers to be ISO certified, thereby streamlining processes and associated functions. The more thorough and complex NADCAP certification mandates more rigorous operation control and data retrieval. Record keeping in this regard is essential.
A very helpful concept that evolved into a highly successful and well-regarded operations system. This is a complex yet user-friendly computerized system that users set up to help them control and navigate their daily work. The system vendor works with the finisher (their customer) to set up the system. Once it is completed and operating successfully, the finisher is licensed to use the system. They now maintain analysis scheduling, including data inputs, bath temperatures, water use and purity, rectification settings, dump cycles, waste treatment entries, maintenance requirements with dates, inventory, ordering, and more. Automatic alerts for any described parameters that are out of compliance are defined. Plant staff are dedicated to performing the required tasks on a schedule and entering all data.
Another important entity provides a distinct function and is critical to meeting your needs.
The Supplier as Your Aide
Suppliers are predominantly ISO-certified, many to ISO 9001:2000. They typically purchase raw materials from similarly certified companies that provide a Certificate of Analysis or Compliance with deliveries.
Raw materials must meet purity and quality standards, given the sensitivity of most metal finishing processes to even relatively small (parts per million) levels of contaminants. Suppliers maintain stock to cover finished-product orders and minimize backlogs. Manufacturing steps include dedicated mixing and blending vessels to prevent contamination from incompatible raw materials or other classes of blended products. Formulations are blended in a specific order of charging and mixing steps to produce stable end products. Finished products are packaged only after strict quality control tests are satisfactory. The required information for each batch is recorded.
A suitable retained sample of the product is stored for any future reference to the specific product manufactured. Computer programs are universally used to record all the information. This includes incoming raw materials by batch number, formula printouts by batch size, quality control data by product batch number, and records of which specific product batch numbers have been shipped. For the supplier, the product batch number is essential for identifying the lifespan of specific blends.
In many instances, the supplier is the original formulator of their products, having invested in critical research and product development.
Finishers and Suppliers: Together Meeting Your Needs
For the finisher, we have reviewed the handling of parts, processing, appropriate quality-control testing, and overall documentation requirements. The supplier’s responsibilities for providing products that meet manufacturing standards have also been discussed. Finishers and suppliers generally work in tandem to deliver and sustain process performance that meets specific targets. This is the basic tenet of adhering to ISO certification. It helps each to meet their needs.
Both parties also work together to maintain the quality of process operations on site at the finisher’s plant. This is accomplished through technical service and troubleshooting. The supplier maintains a service lab to process and analyze parts, conduct lab jobs to identify a recommended cycle, and analyze submitted baths. They employ a staff of technical service specialists visiting customers on-site. Functions include auditing customer processes and using the lab for analysis. Routine analysis helps maintain preset operating parameters, thereby maximizing efficiency in surface preparation, anodizing, plating (electrolytic and electroless), post-finishing steps, other processes, and waste treatment. This can be determined on an agreed-to, as-needed basis.
Problems, when occurring, can be addressed quickly to determine the best corrective action, minimizing downtime and resetting the process cycle. Suppliers can expeditiously assist customers by helping them use their in-house labs. In this way, the finisher can more readily control analysis on a scheduled basis. Many jobs require quantitative measurements, such as plating thicknesses or wet-chemistry analyses. The supplier can assist the finisher’s technical staff in optimizing their use of the lab facility. It also accelerates the need for rapid diagnosis and correction of most problems that may arise. Finishers appreciate their vendor having in-house analysis capabilities, especially when delivered in a timely manner. It lets them know that a technical system is in place to maintain compliant finishes and keep deliveries of finished parts on time.
Suppliers typically develop new products by combining their laboratory and pilot plant facilities. The next step is usually to collaborate with one of their customers to install the product or process on-site and jointly evaluate performance in a trial run. Important data enables the supplier to incorporate specific modifications to the product formula and to confirm the most suitable operating parameters.
On a semiannual or annual basis, suppliers at their locations host seminars for finishers to review, refresh, and learn about a variety of metal-finishing topics. Concurrently, finishers provide relevant operational details.
There are many resources available to help meet your needs. The internet is a vast repository of related information from many contributors. Professional organizations, meetings, and trade shows tend to exchange information, update members, and introduce new products. Experience builds on future requirements. Suppliers offer dedicated service and extensive processing expertise. This has been steadily built on dedicated research, development, and field expertise.
Meet your needs in the upcoming year and beyond, continuously.
Stephen F. Rudy, CEF, is president of Chem Analytic and has written extensively about the finishing industry. Visit www.chemanalytic.com or call him at 917-604-5001.
