Scottish-based manufacturing company ZOT Engineering were established in 1975 specialising in single-sided circuit boards and sheet metal work. Now, more than thirty years on, the company has expanded its product line to include sophisticated through-plated and multilayer boards machining, electronic assembly and test.
Based in Musselburgh, East Lothian, ZOT Engineering required an electronic Quality Management System (QMS) that would integrate all quality activities within the business. Q-Pulse, developed by Gael Ltd, was chosen to help them streamline their quality processes spanning three manufacturing divisions.
The Challenge
As specialists in supplying advanced manufacturing solutions to the electronics industry in the UK, Europe and worldwide, ZOT Engineering identified a requirement for an electronic solution to help manage their increasing quality processes.
Mike Sullivan, ZOT Engineering’s Quality Systems Manager, said: “At ZOT we are involved in the manufacturing of printed Circuit Boards, Sheet Metal Fabrications and Electro-Mechanical assemblies for a number of different customers. Due to the size of our three manufacturing divisions, we found that our quality processes were becoming disjointed and managing them was challenging. For example, there was fragmentation of data resulting from our customer returns and it was difficult to tell who was doing what, who was taking responsibility for actions and who was closing out non-conformances. We were also unable to recall past calibration records without searching through a large number of files spanning years, this was a problem we were also experiencing when trying to access audit results and when tracking trends on customer rejects.”
Mike continued: “After years of using various Microsoft Access databases and spread sheets to keep track of document changes, customer returns, calibration records and approved suppliers lists and databases, we had realised that the only way we could effectively manage the business, keeping track of all our quality processes, was to introduce an electronic Quality Management Solution – and one that would easily integrate with our current system.”
The Solution
In order to improve the management of their quality processes, ZOT Engineering implemented Q-Pulse, Gael Ltd’s flagship Quality Management Solution.
Mike added: “We required a system that would provide us with the tools to manage our quality requirements, whilst still remaining flexible and adaptable to our business needs. This system also had to be adaptable to our current QMS, integrating nicely with our current quality system instead of having to make our QMS adapt to Q-Pulse.
“It was a blessing to find Q-Pulse. We have been using the solution to bring commonality to our three manufacturing divisions, as much as is possible with a diverse manufacturing set-up. The ability to track quality performance across the three divisions is a major plus for us and one that has helped us immensely.
Q-Pulse has enhanced our reporting across all three sites, giving us a holistic view of exactly what is happening across the business.”
The capability of Q-Pulse and the success it has achieved within ZOT Engineering has led to the company viewing the solution as more than just a quality management tool.
Mike continued: “We can see beyond Q-Pulse simply being a quality management tool. Instead, we can see opportunities to use Q-Pulse for managing aspects of the SC21 (Supply Chain 21) requirements, health and safety, environmental compliance and even managing aspects of recording breakdowns on plant and equipment for our maintenance department. The capability of Q-Pulse means it can easily be modified or adapted as a rounded business and quality management tool.”
The Result
ZOT Engineering’s successful adaptation of Q-Pulse has seen the business successfully streamline their processes, providing them with a central and electronic means in which to manage quality.
Mike continued: “Prior to Q-Pulse we could see, as the business became more successful, the increasing time and effort required to keep on top of our quality processes. Through using Q-Pulse, we’ve seen a dramatic reduction in the bureaucracy associated with quality management. We now have less paper trail
to follow as well as an ability to view and analyse customer problems at will without trawling through three different manufacturing systems. Q-Pulse has also brought with it a common approach in dealing with customer returns, document control, calibration and maintenance records and audits.
“But one of the biggest benefits that Q-Pulse has brought has been the ability of the solution to successfully track our Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plan (CSIP), which comes out of the SC21 21st Century Supply Chain program. We are audited on Manufacturing and Business Excellence and our CSIP is an on-going corrective action plan to improve delivery performance, quality performance and improve customer relationships. This is part of our SC21 actions and therefore the use of Q-Pulse throughout this process has been extremely important to the business.
“With help from Q-Pulse, we have also recently achieved certification to BS EN 9100:2003 (Aerospace AS 9100), allowing us to move on from our previous quality standards of ISO 9001.”
Mike continued: “Q-Pulse is highly customisable quality management software solution that allows businesses to consolidate their various quality activities in a central location. The solution fits into our existing quality system - not the other way round were the existing quality system has to fit a piece of software.
“I would recommend Q-Pulse to any business that has complex manufacturing and quality systems covering a wide range of accreditations such as our own. To the solutions developers, Gael Ltd, I would say ‘keep up the good work’.”