Quality assurance and regulatory compliance across the extended enterprise

Favorites

Download

Discovering quality issues much after the shipment of the product not only means an increase in cost, but a strain on customer relations, since this will directly affect warranty costs and customer satisfaction. Conquering the challenges of quality is critical for success in the global marketplace (time to market), complying with regulatory requirements, cutting costs, reduction in cycle times and most importantly responding quickly to customer needs.

Achieving enterprise-wide quality and compliance
Achieving enterprise-wide quality requires the collection of key metrics from disparate and disconnected sources in the enterprise. This could come from production, quality assurance, engineering, customer service and purchasing departments. These metrics can also come from statistical process control systems, manufacturing execution systems, enterprise resource planning systems and manufacturing resource planning systems. It is essential for organizations to have a web-based system to help them integrate, automate and provide visibility into these metrics from across the enterprise.

At MetricStream, we understand how top performing automotive companies identify potential problem areas in quality, initiate review procedures, and stay ahead on critical quality and performance issues.

This knowledge enables our team to provide solutions that manage key business processes in quality assurance and regulatory compliance, and provide a platform for quality professionals to identify root causes and prevent a recurrence of the problem.

Through MetricStream's solutions, users can -

• Immediately recognize complaints and see their effect on inventory
• Quickly determine if expedited actions need to be taken to obtain materials
• See parts in-transit, on-hand, and review shipping history in order to contain the incident
• Eliminate the need to manually notify internal stakeholders
• Automatically receive combined supplier rating/metrics
• Enjoy benefits of user-friendly navigation between inventory console and quality system
• See extensive metrics around cost of poor quality (by supplier, part class, trends, etc.)
• Significant reduction in QN issue tracking, notification and resolution cycle times, resulting in fewer supplier non-conformances
• Operating cost reductions can be realized through fewer manual interventions, and early identification of problems
• Be provided with cost implications of quality events - useful in pricing negotiations
• Respond quickly to customers by developing quality systems and practices
• Multi-plant strategies that maximize return on investment

MetricStream's quality and compliance management solutions can help provide real-time visibility and control through key metrics in manufacturing environments. MetricStream enables real-time notification of non-conforming events, root cause analyses and resolution actions while quantifying the impact on various parts of the extended value chain. MetricStream's tightly integrated application suite drives continuous improvement through the enterprise and establishes closed loop control of quality processes.

The MetricStream Advantage
MetricStream provides the first truly unified Enterprise Quality and Compliance Management System for regulated consumer industries. Through a partnership with Supply Solution, a leading ASP in the global automotive space, MetricStream has delivered high performing enterprise quality solutions to some of the industry's largest companies. MetricStream's suite of applications for the automotive industry include NCM, CAPA, Inspection, Equipment Management, Complaints and Document Management, which are built on MetricStream's Java-based Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), an event driven analytic platform, and provide capabilities that cover -

• Reporting of product and process problems combined with flexible workflows to ensure quick time to resolution
• The interfaces to perform internal and 3rd party audits of production systems and conduct subsequent effectiveness reviews
• The tools to properly train and certify employees to perform their duties. Also includes personnel skill tracking on specialized machines and manufacturing equipment
• A combination of metrics and charts that allows OEM managers and executives to monitor supplier performance, product defect rates and inventory levels in real time
• The ability to store, manage and retrieve documents pertaining to design specifications, processes and training material, with appropriate levels of access security
• Workflow based web application that contains embedded best business practices and domain knowledge
• Advanced analytics, reporting and dashboard functionality to provide high level process visibility and actionable real time information

MetricStream's next phase of automotive products will include Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Product Part Approval Process (PPAP)

MetricStream Value Proposition
MetricStream's quality and compliance management solutions help automotive enterprises benefit significantly through the use of software solutions that enable regulatory compliance and increase operations efficiency. Our can help power organizations by reducing administrative and operating costs, achieve business objectives, competitive advantage and increased market share.

• Protect revenue streams and brand image by ensuring compliance with OEM requirements.
• Reduce Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) from suppliers
• Reduce scrap and line downtime related to quality issues
• Reduce MRB inventory costs by shortening issue resolution cycles
• Reduce warranty and recall exposure
• Reduce penalty and lawsuit exposure
• Realize ROI in 3 months through tangible operational cost savings, improved yields and significantly reduced COPQ."

MetricStream's seamlessly integrated suite of web-based products, facilitate enterprise-wide deployment and assist customers throughout all phases of installation and deployment.