Article: QA at the sharp end

When it comes to collecting the data for QA, Quality Monitor is the number one application for the task. And new version 2.3 is the most versatile yet.

Neil Chapman
Laboratory and Data Analysis Software Team

Analysing production data in manufacturing plants and laboratories can be tackled in many ways, including using the marketleading Quality Analyst software. But when it comes to collecting the data and giving operators information at the point of collection, the options are less clear ...although in many ways just as critical. Our recommended solution? NWA’s Quality Monitor, which has been designed precisely for this job.

Quality Monitor has just reached version 2.3, and has a number of enhancements requested by its many users worldwide, including some household names. By installing Quality Monitor across an organisation’s QA/QC test stations, users gain a single, unified data collection system to automate the collection of data, standardise testing procedures, and give real-time product quality feedback.

Quality Monitor collects data from all standard measurement and interface devices, so you avoid the costly duplication of training, management, and support procedures that result from using different software for each device. Manual recording, transcribing, and charting of data can finally become a thing of the past. But this is no one-size-fits-all solution: each test station can have its data input system designed appropriately.

All plant floor workstations use the same core software with task-specific configurations for each application. Operator interface and chart formats can be standardised, and a context sensitive, on-line help system can support your standard operating procedures and simplify meeting quality-assurance and vendor-certification-program requirements.

Customised data-entry screens are built using a familiar drag-and-drop, point-andclick interface. You can select from a variety of preconfigured templates or create complete User Interface designs from scratch.

When alarm conditions are detected (specifications, SPC limit, or pattern rule violations), Quality Monitor now performs additional actions as selected by the user. These new actions may include displaying SPC charts, executing Run Files or launching external programs that further distribute Quality Monitor alarm messages. Alarm conditions can trigger predefined email messages, or the email content can include a list of the Alarm Conditions that triggered the email.

Quality Monitor 2.3 writes any combination of fields to any combination of ODBC database tables. For example, measurement data, defect counts and assignable causes can now be written to separate database tables. This capability makes it easy to accommodate different data needs by separating process data used in different ways.

All in all then, for any organisation looking at bringing quality control under control, it might pay to start at the sharp end. Quality Monitor 2.3 is what you need.