PPM, what is possible? PPM" stand for “parts per millon” 1s become seommonly used method foe measuring quality performance on anything from casings to successfl ake of and landings by saline. Detintion: One FPMImeansone(de- fect or event) ina million or 17 1,000,000. Dor confuse this with the volume Limewien you were considereda “prety good supple” when your defect te was tess than 1 peecen, (10,000 PPM), and then the expectation was increased to O41 percent or 1,000 PPM. Now the rate cd at 25 PPM or 0.0025 percent ‘To caleulse: For example, ers say you had 25 pleces devetive ina shipment of 1,000 pices. 25/1000=.€25 or 2.5 per- cent defestive 625 X 1,000.000~25,000 PP. A vehicle buile with thousands of components at 10,000 PPM would be subjctio several visit the repair shop for corrections. Indeed, we have come to expect improved reliability from our eile. So what does ths have todo with dhe 1125 PPM or Six Sigma” isthe rmeasue applied to most automotive and commercial suppliers. Acconding to an ‘Atgst 2, 2000 ancl Industry W Six Sigma’ would only allow 3.4 PPM. Tnorderio ssomplish his reqizes total | ‘sales and operations, Training and edu- Cation are esential, For example et say | youare supplier producing 10,000,000 and Parting Shots castings a year. At 25 PPM, that would mean your fora) acceptable defects for that year would be 250. For the aver plant that means one bad part per day Period! Some would say this is impossible in the die casting process. To approach this level of quality requires a different ap- proach than the one that produced 5 and [O percent scrap. What are the benefits to reducing serap and returns? I know of at least ane company who has taken on the challenge and has a record of 14 PPM oa heavily machined castings. This sno small cask as they are supplying millions of eastings per year They will agree that it requires constant vigilance and training at all levels, Its the result of a team elfort, not one man show: ‘Most companies contain a plant within plant, The second plant produces all he waste, One example of a plant that was producing high scrap also enperignced excessive machine down time. Usually they are present and feed on the otter ‘Together they created a situation that required the facility to operate 24/7/365. By correcting the tooling. equipment an infrastructure problems that repeatedly broke downand ly taining the operators and technical personnel, we were able 10 eliminate an eniire shift and go to five day weeks. The down time and scrap issues were the equivalent of 33 percent of every thing produced. Cosh flow took ‘ona new meaning as machines no longer had to run as long to produce the necessary castings. Machine and tool component Tife seemed to increase as a higher percentage of the product was useble By Bob Mcclintic McClintic & Associatos As the improvements were inplemented, tho woving inspection was liminated and the responsibility was giventothe operators, Because they were present at the machine For most of the shill they could identify problems in a more timely fashion than an inspector who only checked the castings on an hourly basis. Real-time inspection of the process must be associzted with process control. Not just measuring serap, but monitoring the "key" process varigbles. Accarding to Philip Crosby. “Iasan- ity is doing things the same way we've always done them and expecting differ ent sults” My approach has been, “If you don’t ‘measure it you can not control it The monitoring and measurement sys temis we have today have paved the vay for improved quality, We ean now con- trol the process in order to control the quality. Quality can not be inspected in after the fact, It is the result of careful Planning, design, and execution Additional information om mistake rrooiing, six sigma and related articles axe available from the American Society Tor Quality wed site, hapatwww.asq.ore Contact information: Bob MeClintic MeClintie & Associates, 2544 Almar'St Jenison, MI49428 Phone: 616-669-2032 Pax: 616-500-7834 Cellular and voice mail: 616-292-0454 maillo:RMoCiniie@DeDieCast com Web site: www.DiDieCasi.com IE CASTING MANAGEMENT ols 1005