Guaranteed quality in every seat

The seat production of Adient, the leading global supplier of automotive seats, is subject to the strictest quality specifications. To ensure uniform quality, not only car manufacturers and legal requirements such as ISO standards demand mandatory quality audits from suppliers. Most companies also carry out additional measures for quality control and assurance in house. CAQ solutions offer various modular options for implementing digital quality management.

Goodbye to paper
The traditional paper-based systems, which Adient also used until recently, are associated with an enormous administrative burden. After the handwritten data collection, the information must be painstakingly transferred to the digital database by computer in order to make an evaluation and overview at all possible. With up to 90 stations on a production line and over 230 plants in 33 countries, this was a very confusing and lengthy process. In order to reduce this effort, Adient has continued to digitalize its quality management processes using CAQ solutions. Various modules were introduced, including an app for LPAs (Layered Process Audits).

In the course of a business case, SCIIL AG was brought on board to test an electronic LPA solution in a pilot project. The developers were not only interested in user-friendly, electronic handling and data evaluation, but also in app compatibility for tablets and smartphones so that the system could also be used remotely. In the pilot phase, Adient has now very successfully tested the SCIIL app for the software-based recording of audits - the electronic LPA (eLPA).

Instead of the previous paper-based process, the planning and execution of upcoming audits now runs digitally: eLPA automatically handles the allocation of when which station is scheduled for inspection by which auditor. The system generates an Outlook entry in the selected auditor's calendar with information about the workstation to be audited. During the audit, the tool then guides the user step-by-step through the checklist. For each workstation, the app displays a digital image with the target status. In comparison, deviations can simply be recorded with the integrated camera of the tablet or smartphone via photo and the necessary measures documented. Instead of filling out and evaluating the questionnaires by hand, as was previously the case, the auditor now simply works through all the questions in the SCIIL app.

If there are no objections to a question, he immediately marks it with OK. In this case, no further action needs to be taken. However, if a deviation occurs, the auditor marks the question and adds his comments in a text field. In addition, photos can be taken directly with a mobile phone or tablet and uploaded to the eLPA database. If the problem can be easily solved, the auditor marks the so-called "Just-Do-It" box. This is the case, for example, when only a detached label needs to be reattached. In the case of a more serious problem that requires discussion, on the other hand, the issue is marked "Not-OK" so that a solution can be found later with the entire team.

Overview, control and data evaluation at the push of a button
Another advantage of the SCIIL eLPA is the extensive evaluation and reporting options offered by the software: For example, the status of each workstation can be tracked in real time in the dashboard. For example, supervisors on the production line can see all the important information immediately, or the plant manager can check the status in his plant while on the road. The recorded audit data is sent to the central server via WLAN and the findings are automatically documented. All data is filtered, sorted and graphically displayed in the app. At a glance, the dashboard shows the current audit status, deviations and key figures. In the plants themselves, central information screens inform employees about the eLPA status.

Defect recording as a further tool
Another CAQ module from SCIIL AG that is successfully in use at Adient is eVI (electronic visual inspection). The tool enables the quick detection of defects during the visual inspection of the seat and runs on tablets and smartphones. For the inspection, the first step is to scan the barcode of the seat using the built-in camera. The system then recognizes the seat type, color and material properties and displays a virtual image of the seat on the screen. In the next step, auditors can mark all defective areas on the virtual seat directly on the mobile device at the touch of a finger. Data can be downloaded from the server to the end device, so that processing is also possible offline, e.g. at the customer's premises. As soon as the tablet or smartphone is back on the network, the data is automatically transferred to the server.

The digital evaluation shows all faults for the seat of a specific serial number, with various display forms and evaluation parameters available: Bar diagrams, defect statistics with visual markings on the image of the seat as well as sorting of defect frequency or the quantity of seats produced. If, for example, an irregularity occurs in the fabric or leather of the seat cover on the backrest in large numbers, the cause is investigated more closely in order to reduce the frequency of faults in the future.

On VI Dashboards, i.e. large screens in the workstation area, selected statistics can be visualized. This way, the workers always have the current problems (e.g. the top 5 errors, etc.) in view.

Another tool, the SCRAP recording, can be used to identify non-reparable parts with high scrap and the associated data can be loaded into the ERP system via an interface. A dashboard clearly displays the results of the recording and the scrap costs are determined live. A feedback directly to the production is to find out which adjustments can be optimized: How high were the scrap costs? What is the problem? Is the supplier quality insufficient? With these and other questions, the cause is analyzed in order to initiate the right measures.

Successful pilot project to be rolled out worldwide
As part of the pilot project, the eLPA was tested at 30 of Adient's European sites. The one-year pilot phase was so successful that Adient now plans to roll out the eLPA to all of its 230 plants worldwide by the end of 2017.

With the help of all the CAQ solutions presented by SCIIL AG, Adient has been able to make its quality management significantly more efficient and is a pioneer in the industry, especially with the eLPA system. The successful pilot phase and the worldwide roll-out underline this positive result. Particularly noteworthy are the major time savings of 80 percent in audit planning, 90 percent in audit reporting and 60 percent in audit documentation. Additional time savings through the eLPA app were achieved in execution (20 percent) and corrective action planning (10 percent).