Scale-up of a high technology manufacturing start-up : framework for analysis of incoming parts, inspection procedure and supplier capability

Abstract

It is imperative for all manufacturing setups to have a structured system and culture of quality control to maintain product performance and customer satisfaction. An integral part of this system is to check incoming parts through inspection and to ensure that suppliers uphold the same standards of quality. As a company scales up, quality failures become costlier and at the same time, use of data and statistics presents opportunities for immense savings. NVBOTS is a 3D Printer manufacturing startup that is currently at the juncture of ramping up its production volume. The skeleton of its product is, in effect, a three axis frame with sourced machined components that build it up. In this thesis, one axis was taken up as a case study to develop a framework for analysing incoming parts. The proposed framework has a logical progression starting with analysis of part features and inspection procedure followed by a study of existing supplier capability and subsequent correlation of part geometry to final frame geometry. To perform this analysis, past Co-ordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) data from measurement of incoming parts was compiled and used. This document also makes some actionable recommendations based on the output of the framework. These include use of software packages that can help facilitate and speed up the use of this framework through efficient data logging and real time analysis. Subsequently, future use of statistical tolerancing is suggested to enhance manufacturability while reducing costs and finally, certain additions of platform features to the product were suggested to make full use network effects as the organization scales up.