QUALITY CONTROL & INSPECTION
Quality control & Inspection · João Santos
"The modern Quality philosophy within glass container manufacturing must incorporate a “right first time” attitude..."
This attitude may not automatically result in perfect containers every time, but, when correctly applied at each stage of manufacture; it does minimize the production of substandard goods.
It also highlights those areas of production where these occur, so enabling a good standard of production efficiency to be attained which helps contain manufacturing costs.
It is well known that prevention is the best way of ensuring that the customer does not receive substandard goods or substandard service. Investment in the prevention of failures in quality will protect the customer and produce dividends in the form of reduction of costs of waste, errors, re-work and checking.
The glass container manufacturing process control and quality assurance activities, effectively take place in three main areas:
- Pre-production quality assurance;
- Quality assurance and quality control during production;
- Quality assurance and quality control in the laboratory.
In the glass container factory, the quality philosophy is not confined just to manufacturing controls, but also concerns other areas of good manufacturing practice such as essential hygiene controls.
Some points of control in the manufacturing process are more serious than others.
The most critical points are identified through HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) type analyses. Such analyses not only determine the critical points, but also the design, type, and applications of appropriate control and monitoring procedures.
EmpakGlass provides integrated support services that embody this approach to Quality in the glass container industry from glass producers to glass fillers, sellers (distributors) and suppliers.
Our cold end and quality control department provides our partners support in the following areas:
IN COURSE OF PRODUCTION
- Cold end SOP's;
- Quality control SOP's;
- Line flow optimization and audits;
- Inspection machines tooling development;
- Process control methods;
- Statistical analysis;
- Container technical specification datasheets;
- Gauges design & construction;
- AQL determination according to product specs;
- Packing development and optimization.
RISK ANALYSIS AND CLAIMS
- Production line risk assessment based on proven technical expertise;
- Advisory services for risk mitigation;
- Technical expertise in claims investigation;
- Independent analysis of claims causes.
TRAINING
EmpakGlass developed 2 different training packages for the glass packaging industry:
GLASS CONTAINER TECHNOLOGY TRAINING
More targeted for professionals working on the distribution and filling business, this training package provides a complete overview of the different aspects of the industry. During the training, the main characteristics of glass as a material including the causes for failure are discussed. The design requirements and its translation into container specifications are part of the training.
COLD END & QUALITY CONTROL TRAINING
This training was developed for professionals operating on the quality control and cold end areas and will cover topics like:
- Glass as a material (properties)
- Strength of Glass. Fracture. Stress Concentrators
- Upstream Process Overview
- Surface Treatments
- Quality Assurance
- Inspection Procedures
- Automatic Inspection
- Quality Laboratory Tests
- Job Changes
- Food Safety
- Container Requirements.