Steve@Reliance
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2006
- Location
- Milton Ontario Canada
My little 3 man shop has been steadily working away through the various ups and downs we all face. Last year was fabulous but we had a slow winter and spring. Things have been slowly improving through the summer until about 3 weeks ago when for some reason all hell broke loose and orders and RFQ's started coming in the door by the shovelful. Most of our work has been in fixtures and short run production of parts of our own design. Suddenly one customer is giving us large orders, mostly turning and up to 10,000 pc. and in a number of different "exotic" materials such as Ti and C-300. We have not worked on this scale before and I need to figure out how to streamline and manage the shop operations to keep these guys happy.
Is there a "standard way" to do these things? I am not looking at ISO systems right now but need to get started on some type of method of control. We are on the cusp of some great opportunities with some customers and I'm trying not to trip myself up.
For instance, I know I should have a material quarrantine area so the wrong part dosen't get made from the wrong stuff. (how do you manage that properly?)
Quality assurance, we don't have any system, whoever made the parts checked their own stuff and that was acceptable. And we never kept records either, you measured as you made the part and that was all we needed.
Are there any books out there on this stuff? How do we know we are doing it the right way? In a small shop it's impossible to hire an inspector because we don't make enough parts, yet. I mean, sure, we know how to measure, but if you create an inspection form will your customer accept it?
I know there are lots of you out there that have had to go through this, How did you learn?
Is there a "standard way" to do these things? I am not looking at ISO systems right now but need to get started on some type of method of control. We are on the cusp of some great opportunities with some customers and I'm trying not to trip myself up.
For instance, I know I should have a material quarrantine area so the wrong part dosen't get made from the wrong stuff. (how do you manage that properly?)
Quality assurance, we don't have any system, whoever made the parts checked their own stuff and that was acceptable. And we never kept records either, you measured as you made the part and that was all we needed.
Are there any books out there on this stuff? How do we know we are doing it the right way? In a small shop it's impossible to hire an inspector because we don't make enough parts, yet. I mean, sure, we know how to measure, but if you create an inspection form will your customer accept it?
I know there are lots of you out there that have had to go through this, How did you learn?