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4 LINK 55 . 2 /2010 RIETER INSIDE Quality – a Rieter tradition Modern quality assurance involves global, forward-looking planning throughout the process chain in a way that can be appreciated by everyone. How does Rieter usher old traditions onto new paths? Fig. 1 Quality assurance with modern measuring technology – D coordinate measuring instrument in operation. The term “quality” is derived from the Latin (qualitas) and means attribute, characteristic, property, condition. The attributes a product has to display in order for customers to be satisfied depend on the individual customer’s expectations. There is therefore no such thing as absolute quality, only customerspecific quality. Quality means meeting the customer’s expectations. Under-fulfillment of expectations is out of the question for us. Over-fulfillment should be our goal, while having due regard for costs. Examples of quality in everyday spinning operations A fancy weaving mill producing high-quality shirting fabrics sets different quality standards for a yarn from those of a knitting mill using the yarn to produce T-shirts. In the first case combed ring-spun yarn made from long-staple cotton with a tensile strength of 20 cN/tex is used, in the second case a rotor-spun yarn with 15 cN/tex. Two completely different quality requirements – but each adapted precisely to the intended application. The customer’s expectations in terms of price/performance ratio are met and can be measured with a testing instrument in the textile laboratory. Quality has to be defined How is quality defined in textile machinery manufacturing? Here also, customers are only satisfied if the actual outcome corresponds to their requirements. Armand V. Feigenbaum (1920), a leading American theorist in the field of quality management, defines quality as the customer’s conception, based on his present experience with a product or service, which is measured against his spoken or unspoken requirements. Quality is a moving target in the market environment and is defined by the customer. This simply means that when spinning machines are being purchased, the product has to fulfill both spoken expectations and unspoken wishes. What customers require from spinning machines Diverse requirements are imposed on a product. Question after question has to be answered before a purchase is made. The first question of all is whether the investment is worthwhile for the customer and how the product performs compared to its competitors. Whether the product is suitable for its intended use can be established through references or by customer-specific tests. What options does the product offer and how flexibly can it be used? Is the product service-friendly? How reliable is the service offering? What additional facilities does a manufacturer provide, during and after sales? How attractive is the design of the product? Has the product been manufactured in an environmentally friendly way? Have safety guidelines been adhered to? Is manufacturing quality adequate? A product’s reliability and durability only become apparent in operation. In this respect the customer must be able to count on reliable statements by quality management and the manufacturer. Communicative and constantly changing For 215 years Rieter has successfully embodied these spoken and unspoken customer requirements in its products. This is a tradition based on our virtues. Our sales personnel and marketing specialists have sound textile training, are prepared to listen, and can empathize with customers’ feelings and ideas. Our service personnel contribute their feedback and experience. Personnel in the engineering departments take concerns seriously and work on improvements. Good, long-term customer relationships mean that customers can express their requirements, wishes or doubts loudly and clearly. Feedback from customers is incorporated in Rieter’s products. Sometimes not quite as quickly as customers would like. New ideas are developed quickly, but field testing and any necessary corrections take time. The time required, cost and risk are all factors at work here, and it takes experience and teamwork to find the optimum solution.
Quality-related actions Quality planning during development Product service life Machine prototype Fig. 2 Quality assurance has to operate in all product phases. Pilot series Quality assurance during manufacturing Volume manufacturing Quality improvements throughout service life Time How does Rieter assure product quality? When a new generation of machines is being planned, customers’ needs, the requirements of the sales and service organizations, findings from product utilization as well as scientific and engineering innovations are incorporated in the process. Product quality at Rieter is influenced at various stages throughout the product’s life cycle. The three main stages are: quality planning, quality assurance and quality improvement. The first stage, quality planning, takes place during the development of the machine – with extensive prototype and pilot series tests. The second stage is quality assurance during pilot series and volume manufacturing. The planned measures are put into practice and tested. The third phase is quality improvement during volume manufacturing (Fig. 2). Quality management – the basis for quality at Rieter Comprehensive quality assurance means that the concept of quality has to be inherent in all corporate processes. This is an important concern of Peter Gnägi, CEO of Rieter Textile Systems: “The focus of Rieter employees on our quality philosophy is the foundation on which all our products are based. We attach great importance to an organization that focuses on customer benefits and quality management without losing sight of costs. We have to avoid both quality defects and excessive quality goals.” LINK 55 . 2 /2010 RIETER INSIDE Certified quality management has been in practice at Rieter for more than 17 years. The first ISO certification was obtained by the Rieter foundry in Winterthur in 199 . This was followed by certification of the plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, in 1994, and the machine works in 1996. The manufacturing plants in the Czech Republic have been certified since 1997. The Changzhou plant in China was certified in 2006 and the Wing manufacturing site in India has been awarded ISO 9001 certification this year. A quality management system stipulates how processes and workflows are organized within a company. Communication media and chains are also defined, since communication is increasingly important in the global organization of a manufacturing network. Peter Oehy, Head of Quality Management, has been responsible from the outset for introducing and enforcing quality management worldwide: “Quality must be produced and not achieved by testing. Qualified specialist craft training in Europe makes it easier to comply with quality specifications here. Indepth appreciation of quality results in a greater degree of self-checking in all processes. In India and China we rely on more outside checks and additional training. After the appropriate action was taken in India and China, quality results have improved further. We have translated the quality guidelines in our Integrated Management System (IMS) into employees’ native languages in order to prevent misunderstandings. This effort has paid off. At Rieter each and every employee is responsible for quality, from shop floor to top management.” Quality planning – part of product development Centralized quality planning for all products is performed in our European plants and already begins during product development. In order to optimize manufacturing quality in the early stages of development, interdisciplinary teams from a wide range of departments already cooperate during the development phase: development engineers, technologists, production and quality specialists optimize new components and machines. While some pay attention to functional and technical aspects, others optimize technical manufacturing requirements. At the same time the main features are defined in a measurable way. 5
Page 1 and 2: The customer magazine of Rieter Spu
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Page 13 and 14: Tab. 3 Details Mill sample with 50%
Page 15 and 16: Aktas Akinci Tekstil A.S. www.aktas
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