The will and the way

“Where there is a will there is a way”

In one – or more … - of my previous posts I have mentioned that I think that what really makes the difference in a glass container plant – or in any organization for that matter - it is not so much technology but people.

I know…I almost can see the smile in your face…That’s what everybody else says!

From the biggest multinational group to the smallest of the family owned producer everyone seems to have embraced this motto.

In fact, written – explicitly or implicitly - in the company mission and/or in its vision statements and displayed in the shop floor in BIG letters, we see it everywhere: “People are our most valuable resource”.

But do they really mean it?

That is, does the organization understands and recognizes that its employees are really the ones that are “making the way”?

And what about their “will”?

How can the organizations foster a working environment where people go that “extra mile”?

Don’t take me wrong.

I come from a technical background and worked all my life in manufacturing plants (automotive, electronic, glass container) so I understand perfectly the role of technology in the success of industrial processes.

Although to tell you the truth I have always found technology to be a little bit boring and people much more interesting to deal with…

My point is that even with the best available technology installed in a glass plant, that it is not a guarantee of success.

I have witnessed several cases where technology fails shockingly despite – and sometimes because – of people.

By the other hand, having people with the right attitude can really make the difference and set the company in the path of success in an arguably “less intensive” technological environment.

This being said by someone who is been working for the last 12 years in an industry that is notoriously known for being conservative and cautious in implementing technical innovations (theme to be addressed for sure in a future post!).

Again, do not miss interpret me. I do not say that technology and people are mutually exclusive.

No.

Ideally they should go hand in hand and the optimum results are achieved when we have the best people with the most modern technology.

I am just trying to make the point that if I had to choose the critical factor for success – based in my experience – I would say it is people. It’s their will that makes the way.

Let’s take the example of a glass container plant and more specifically of the Cold End / Quality Control areas (area which I have more first-hand experience).

Glass container plants are a harsh working environment.

Notoriously high temperatures and high noise levels make it a place where naturally you do not want to be. Let alone work for an 8 hours shift.

If that work involves some degree of physical effort, concentration, reasoning; you will have to be motivated – a reason for being there, the will – in order to make a good job, the way.

Motivated persons are curious and inquisitive regarding all things concerning and around their job.

They usually take ownership of their line and treat all things related with it as if they were their own.

It is of the most importance that the persons that are in the shop floor making the Quality Inspections – for example – really understand how important their job is to the success of the organization.

Their function has a meaning. It is not just a set of procedures – tasks – performed accordingly with a schedule during the shift.

And then they just go home.

I have found it too often – and experienced it! – that key information does not flow down to the floor shop. It stays in the meeting rooms where “sit down and report” happens.

People in the line are left often to their own devices, clueless of the bigger picture.

What is the customer of the bottle (jar) that is being produced? What is the product that is being filled in it? What are the main quality concerns of the customer? What are the usual defects? Do you know we are being audited?

For those who are familiar with behavioral theories know that not the same motivational techniques work for different persons. One should adapt to the “psychological profile” of the intended person.

Selection of people with the right profile for the job is key (unfortunately we see too many casting errors in glass plants!).

And then it is all about training, training and more training!

So if the “recipe” is known why we do not see it applied more often?

Let’s talk about the way.

We see in glass plants a lot of firefighting going on. Not enough time is invested in establishing and committing to a strategy that if not immediately for sure at middle term will give its results.

The focus is too much on the oncoming issue. The short term, the day’s efficiency.

In glass plants – and all the others – there is always a balance of powers between Production and Quality. In glass plants the scale typically tilts towards Production.

This is a capital intensive industry where in relatively short time cycles there is the need of big investments (furnace reconstructions, line refurbishments). Between cycles, money has to be made. Thus, the focus on efficiency, profitability.

The usual pitfall is to consider efficiency and quality as mutually exclusive.

In fact nothing could be more wrong.

Greater efficiency is achieved with higher quality level and not at the cost of the quality level.

They go hand-in-hand.

We use to say that in the long run we all be dead. But the fact is that only sustained quality throughout the time is what will keep customers keep coming back to buy more of our glass.

That should be the way.

The art of follow up in glass container Quality Control.

Human manual inspections are an important part of the Quality Control plan in a glass container plant.

In the Hot End that type of inspection is performed with some limitations since at that process stage the glass container is not completely formed. By the other hand, the advantage in performing it at that moment is that the operator who inspects can immediately act on the process and undertake the appropriate corrections.

On the contrary, at the Cold End the inspection can be complete and thorough. The glass container is finished and can be handled securely. But once detected, the operator is not able to correct the defect. Its task is to give feedback to the ones who can do it.

In fact, put it in very simple terms we can say that in the Cold End everything is all about Quality Control. The value added by the Cold End to the product is “adding” Quality.

The action of the Cold End operators does not limit itself simply to: “rejecting defective units”. Like every other control performed at this stage, there are two important objectives to meet.

For sure, by one side, prevent - using all the available tools - that defective units reach the pallet and consequently are sent to the glass fillers (The Final Customer!).

And, by the other side, give accurate and timely information to the Hot End operator (the line counterpart), regarding the quality of the inspected product. As said previously – with the exception perhaps of the Cold End Coating – the Cold End operator does not perform process adjustments/corrections. But its action is pivotal in providing inputs for process correction upstream.

Human manual inspections performed at the end of the annealing lehr are an important step in the different Quality Controls made at the Cold End area. The two goals to meet – reject defective units and provide feedback – have here their specific procedures as well.

In this post I will focus the discussion on the some of the actions necessary for providing valuable feedback and following up defects in the inspection done at the end of the annealing lehr in the Cold End area of a container glass plant.

One of the most important advantages of Lehr inspection is that the results will show exactly what the quality level is before automatic inspection.

As the bottles come out of the Lehr and they are still stacked in a specific pattern, it is easy to select a specific mould from this pattern for inspection. Moulds will be stacked according to a set pattern, according to the I.S. Machine Timing.

While bottles are on the Lehr in a set pattern we can do effective and proper follow up. When the containers leave the Lehr exit they become a mixed population. When mould numbers are mixed, it is not possible to select each individual mould when taking a sample.

This is very useful when inspecting and doing follow up on cavity related defects. It is important to know that most of common process defects are mould / cavity related.

Recognised to be an important tool for defect follow-up, it is responsibility of all involved – and now I am specifically thinking in the Hot End personnel – to assure that the best regular container pattern (the possible that makes the job easier for the Cold End operator) – is achieved in the lehr.

Once the bottles come out of the Lehr and there are at least 10 or more rows without a break, the Quality Inspector must take and note on the stacking pattern board, or in some other kind of visual aid, of the full set of cavities by number. By picking up any mould from the Lehr, the problem mould can be traced immediately by utilizing the board.

Good practices:

• Making sure the board is kept up to date at ALL times.

• Regularly checking correctness of board.

• Check after any gap appears in the stacking pattern: IS machine cavity/section stopped. There should be a visual and dimensional verification to the concerned cavities before and after the interval. The cavities that are in the vicinity of the intervals should be visually inspected, looking especially for the detection of glass stuck inside the containers. Verification and follow-up should be maintained.

If a fault is informed by the Hot End the necessary follow-up must be done on the Lehr.

Immediately checking the cavities signalled with the defect and initiating the rejection if the defect is confirmed at the end of the annealing lehr. Reporting fault assessment to the Hot End with percentage of occurrence, begin, end of systematic rejection.

By the time the Lehr length is almost over, Hot End Operator should have checked another set and should have fixed the fault or changed the mould or blow it off at the Hot End.

If the defect it is not confirmed at the lehr, the inspection to the signalled cavities should be kept by a typical minimum period of time of the lehr time plus 30 minutes. Usually rechecked at five minute intervals. At least five bottles of each offending mould must be taken and inspected.

Identifying trends is a key aspect of the inspections:

• If the same mould runs with the same defect for three or more checks (Defect trend);

• If the same mould runs with various defects for three or more checks (Sectional trend).

• If a mould is found defective with the same defect for three or more checks throughout the shift. (It is a trend primarily because the problem was not successfully rectified in the first place.)

All of this constitutes valuable feedback for Hot End Correction.

The guy on the screen

When I use to work in a glass container plant, we use to have a sort of private joke among ourselves whenever we were facing a problem in the line. In those – frequent … - occasions we would use to say that the problem fault was from the guy that was on the screen …

Commonly referred as the “screen”, this is a human visual inspection performed in the Cold End as the containers pass in front of an on line light box (light screen).

Usually this is done by an operator sitting in some sort of a chair on the Cold End, immediately after the last of the automatic inspection machines (although few production lines have light box screens additionally installed before the first inspection machine).

It seems pretty straightforward, right?

Well, the fact is that this is probably one of the inspection points in glass container plants that is most often misused and object of great misunderstandings.

It is very useful and plays a significant role in the Quality inspection plan for the line if correctly used.

But it can also be misleading, because it can give an erroneous sensation of effectiveness that it cannot provide for.

First let’s see what actually a good use of this inspection is.

The objective of this inspection is only to assess the visual quality of the containers and therefore check the effectiveness of the inspection machines regarding this particular aspect.

If in the screen inspections are detected defects that should be rejected by the inspection machines – that the machines have the capability and are adjusted to – then something is wrong with the inspection machine(s).

The detected defects should be run on the appropriate inspection machine checking for rejection repeatability.

It is also another point to collect information regarding the overall visual quality of the containers being produced and to forward this information to the hot end.

This is especially important for cosmetic type of defects that may run continuously or not and that should be corrected by the hot end operator.

Now, let's take a look at some of the misuses.

The cold end operator inspects at regular intervals – during a short period of time – the containers that are passing in the line (in front of the light box screen). It is common to find frequencies of inspection of each two hours during 5 minutes.

This is a very important point: the screen inspection is a special kind of a “sample inspection” and in normal situations should not be used as a “continuous inspection”.

Only in very particular situations – if the inspection machines cannot properly visually inspect the container due to its geometry (or engravings) or at the start-up moment when the inspection machines are not yet properly adjusted – this inspection can be used 100% of the time as a backup visual inspection but with obvious limitations.

This can only be considered as a last resource situation. In such situations it is probably more effective to adjust the final sampling plan by increasing sample sizes and / or frequencies due to limitations in automatic inspection.

Although it can give some comfort to the Quality responsible – “at least we have someone looking to the containers …. “ – the fact is that it has very low effectiveness.

I know. I have been there taking that very same decision many times …

In fact, if there are no abnormal limitations to the inspection machines’, using the screen inspection continuously is only a waste of human resources.

If used continuously at least care should be taken to frequently rotate the operators that perform this inspection due to visual fatigue.

In fact this is the main reason why this inspection cannot be considered to be effective when used continuously. There are obvious limitations regarding the accuracy and precision of the human eye to perform such inspection considering average line speeds.

Since using the screen continuously it is not a standard situation – I am speaking for the majority of the glass plants - when there is the absolute necessity to do it, usually we must resort to extra manpower.

Sometimes, if there are no available resources internally, the temporary manpower is recruited externally to the plant. Unfortunately in these situations, it is frequent to find operators – sitting on the screen – that have neither the competences nor knowledge to perform this inspection.

They don’t even know what a bottle or a jar is… Therefore the joke…