I have had an incredible time so far at Indium Corporation, particularly thanks to my supervisor, the quality management team, and the exciting project that I was able to take on. Being an intern didn’t feel strange or nerve-wrecking as I anticipated: everyone was so welcoming and supportive.
My internship project this summer focused on developing a non-conformity review dashboard for the quality management team to evaluate manufactured parts and ensure they meet the customer requirements. Indium Corporation places a significant emphasis on reducing non-conformities (any product defects) from reaching the customers. This project allowed me to see the great commitment of the company in maintaining its product quality and how that helps cultivate trust with our customers and product suppliers.
不符合项审查仪表板包括所有关键参数，用于定义不符合项和解决这些不符合项所需的纠正措施。该仪表板是对检查阶段发现的不符合项进行详细审查的重要依据，最终可帮助质量管理团队做出最准确的决策，以减少根本原因并采取有效的预防措施。
The importance of my project lies in assisting the analysis of critical factors within the manufacturing process contributing towards defects and failure. W. Edwards Deming once said: “Defects are not free, somebody makes them and gets paid for them.” That said, with this dashboard in place, the quality team will be able to figure out the process gaps that need to be fixed to improve the overall productivity and minimize undesired costs due to defects.
As I met with the subject matter experts in the company, I got to know that the non-confirming ratio plays a major factor in controlling the operational cost, which is one of key components in the production cost. When a non-confirming part is produced, it also leads to a waste of time and costs. However, by developing a standardized process, we will be able to control the process variations that cause the non-conforming part. There are various strategies that can be used to eliminate process variations, including lean engineering, continuous improvement, process streamline, and improvement of OEE (overall equipment efficiency) of the machines and resources available.
实施这些战略的潜在结果包括提高工作效率、提高产品质量、降低成本、改善流程控制、提高客户满意度、缩短交付周期等等。尽管如此，重要的是不能只依赖一种策略，而是要在所有策略中找到平衡点，以最大限度地提高效率。这种系统驱动的方法将提高生产确认率，节省最多的金钱和时间，并更加专注于满足客户的要求。
最后，我要感谢我的主管和整个质量团队，感谢他们在整个过程中给予我的支持和鼓励。看到材料审核委员会 (MRB) 的仪表板，团队成员和我一样兴奋。
The dashboard project is working great with new insights and challenges every day. I’m very much excited to see the dashboard adding value to the company and helping the engineers make more data-driven decisions.
