Quality Documentation: Still adding records manually?

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A pen, a piece of paper, and maybe a stopwatch, or, in the best case, an Excel spreadsheet. Surprisingly, this is the equipment for collecting production data in most factories in the information age. So how does this affect your quality management?

Further reading: RTLS - basic components and set-up

What is automated data?

From early ages to mass production, the quality and quantity of data have increased dramatically. In recent times, information systems and computers empowered industrial players to store, exchange, and analyse such data more comprehensively. However, this information is still recorded and handled manually way too often.

Automated data is collected and stored using a computerized system requiring minimal human input or supervision (see also: Understanding AIDC). It is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that streamlines and simplifies the process of collecting, organizing, and making data available for use. Automated data is a crucial component of modern data warehouses, as it allows for faster and more efficient data-processing capabilities. In the pursuit of quality, automated data can provide several distinct benefits.

Automated data can help ensure that quality documentation is kept accurate and up to date. In highly regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, and government, accurate and consistent quality documentation is essential for meeting regulatory standards and keeping customer information secure. Automated data collection and processing can help ensure quality documentation is kept up-to-date, precise, and secure.

With automated data, human error can be minimized, and the accuracy of data can be increased. By eliminating the need for manual input, automated data collection and processing can reduce the chances of making an error and help ensure that data is accurate and up to date. Automated data can therefore help contribute to the overall efforts to improve quality in an organization.

Automated data can also help increase the overall efficiency of data warehouses. Data warehouses are used to store and manage large amounts of data. By automating the process of collecting and organizing data, data warehouses can operate more efficiently. This is particularly true in cases where the data must be updated regularly. Automated data collection and processing can reduce the amount of time and labour needed for data entry and allow for faster data retrieval, leading to greater efficiency in data warehouses.

In short, automated data can be incredibly useful in the pursuit of quality. By streamlining the process of collecting and managing data, automated data can help to improve the accuracy and consistency of quality documentation, minimize the risk of error, and increase the efficiency of data warehouses. Automated data can therefore help to improve the overall quality of an organization.

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Benefits of Automated Data

Using automated data can be a great way to ensure quality in documentation, as well as other areas of execution. Automated data can help organizations better track, manage, and analyze their data and gain insights from it. This increased performance can mean greater efficiency, productivity, accuracy, and higher quality control.

One of the most notable benefits of automated data is the ability to track and monitor quality easily. Automated data helps organizations maintain the quality of their products and services through detailed monitoring and reporting. By having automated checks in place, organizations can ensure that quality standards are consistently met. This also makes it easier to identify areas where improvements are needed in order to maintain the desired quality level.

Automated data can also help in the creation of accurate, reliable, and up-to-date quality documentation. This data can be used to help organizations review, update, and revise existing quality documentation as well as create new ones. Additionally, automated data can be used to detect and respond to any discrepancies in the quality documentation. This allows organizations to quickly make changes to their quality processes and procedures to reduce the risk of issues and compliance failures.

Overall, automated data can make it easier for organizations to maintain high-quality standards across the organization. Automated data makes it possible to quickly identify potential issues and make adjustments to ensure quality compliance. This not only helps organizations maintain the desired level of quality but also helps them save time and resources in the long term.

Benefit 1: Cost savings

Automated data can be a great asset for companies looking to streamline their operations and reduce costs. Automated data can be used to quickly and accurately generate quality documentation, which can help to improve accuracy and reduce the time spent on tasks like record-keeping or form-filling. By reducing the amount of time spent manually completing these tasks, companies can save time and money, which can then be reinvested into other areas of their operations. Additionally, automated data can help to identify areas of the business that are underperforming, helping to identify and address any issues before they become a costly problem.

Benefit 2: Improved Efficiency

By utilizing automated data, businesses can improve their efficiency in ensuring the quality of their products. Automated data ensures that businesses can keep accurate records of their employees’ production, allowing them to track the performance of their quality control processes. This data can be used to make improvements to the quality control process and analyze what works and what can be improved upon. Automated data also allows businesses to quickly and accurately document results, improving the speed of their quality documentation processes. This improved efficiency can optimize the performance of quality control processes, ensuring that businesses can produce high-quality products as quickly and accurately as possible.

Benefit 3: Better Quality Control

The use of automated data can help maintain better quality control in organizations. Quality documentation is paramount in pursuing quality, allowing for tracking processes, inputs, and outputs. Automated data facilitates this quality documentation, allowing for the analysis of data points and trends that may indicate a potential quality defect. As a result, automated data enables companies to pinpoint potential issues better and adjust as needed to ensure high-quality products consistently. Furthermore, automated data can also help provide employee feedback and measure the effectiveness of quality initiatives. As such, automated data can be an excellent asset for quality control.

Quality Management and Data Collection

One of the pillars of product excellence is quality management. Quality management oversees all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. Quality management includes determining a quality policy, creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control and improvement. Learning from quality control is an essential part of quality management.

Data collection has been slower than other practices in manufacturing to reach the coming of age of technological change. Still today, insufficient data collection dramatically troubles the industry. It is one of the most common obstacles towards achieving higher productivity and improved quality, chiefly rooted in manual data gathering methods—these impact not only data accuracy but also management decisions.

When workers manually update an Excel sheet or use pen and paper, your production is confronted with:

Production downtime or breakdowns will remain undetected, either because unseen or deemed not relevant. Workers' subjectivity leads the assessment and, eventually, the data recording process.
Manual data collection takes time, which causes lower productivity, and is easily avoidable when a machine could take over tedious and time-consuming tasks.
Real-time information is missing. In most factories, timely detection and fixing of these problems are impossible due to the interval between the event and its detection.
As a result, collected data is inconsistent, ineffective, incomplete, and inaccurate. Consequently, quality control documentation is patchy and prone to liability claims.

Further reading: RTLS in brownfield operations

Quality documentation is done automatically

Your documentation is proof of quality to your customers. Automatic recording of your process steps and output supports you in many ways to counter false claims. Proper documentation shows that you have checked your products perfectly and shipped them correctly.

Additionally, you gain insights into your process black boxes and discover where errors happen frequently. Identify sources of mishaps accurately and optimise your production processes.
You will no longer need to schedule resources for documentation in the future. Workers can carry out their work undisturbed. Everything runs digitally and in the background without notice.

Eventually, you can offer your quality documentation to your customers as a digital inspection record, saving your customer time from carrying out the incoming goods inspection - it has been done already!

Do you want to learn how Volkswagen uses RTLS to document every step of its finishing car logistics process?

Implementing Automated Data Solutions

As the ability to leverage automated data solutions becomes increasingly accessible, quality documentation sees its importance compounded. Automated data solutions can help with the assessment and verification of quality documentation, streamlining the entire process.

To start implementing automated data solutions, businesses need to begin by understanding the current state of their data. By looking at existing data trends and visualizing the data, companies can gain insight into their current workflow and identify opportunities for improvement. This helps businesses to understand current gaps in their quality documentation. The insights gained from the data analysis can be used to outline the specific requirements for an automated data solution that addresses these gaps.

Once an automated data solution is devised and implemented, businesses should use the solution to review and evaluate current quality documentation. This helps ensure the documentation is up-to-date and reflects current industry standards and best practices. Automated data solutions also allow businesses to quickly identify discrepancies between their quality documentation and the standards set out in their data solution.

Finally, automated data solutions can be used to determine the impact of any changes made to the quality documentation. This allows businesses to track the effectiveness of the changes to ensure that their documentation sufficiently promotes quality across their operations. In addition, by understanding the impact of their quality documentation, companies can adjust their strategy accordingly to ensure that their documentation remains up-to-date and consistently compelling.

FAQs

- What are the benefits of quality documentation?

The benefits of quality documentation include increased customer satisfaction and trust, improved product usage and comprehension, and more effective communication of ideas.

- What is automated data for quality documentation?

Automated data for quality documentation is a process that uses computerized systems to capture and store data related to the quality of products and services. This data can then be analyzed to provide insight into a company's quality management practices.

- How can businesses benefit from using automated data?

Businesses can benefit from using automated data by gaining visibility into their production processes, reducing operational costs, and improving customer satisfaction. It can also be used to quickly identify and address any areas of concern.

Takeaway

In conclusion, automated data is a powerful tool that can help organizations improve the accuracy and quality of their data. In addition, by automating data collection, storage and analysis, organizations can maximize their data usage, improve their efficiency and reduce their costs.
Additionally, automated data allows organizations to manage their quality control processes better, enabling more accurate and reliable results. While automating data solutions can be an initially expensive process, the long-term benefits for organizations that implement this technology correctly are considerable. Thus, using automated data is a reliable and cost-effective way for organizations to ensure that they are consistently producing high-quality results. Do you want to learn more about Asset Agent?