Quality Applications

Lilly Software Associates VISUAL Quality Benefits Provides integrated enterprisewide data management Features 16 area-specific modules Maintains documentation to satisfy ISO 9000/QS-9000 requirements www.lillysoftware.com

Software Integrates Quality Systems at Laboratory
Lilly Software Associates VISUAL Quality

Although it already had a manual quality system in place, over time it became apparent that Harco Laboratories of Bradford, Connecticut, would benefit greatly if its quality systems were integrated into a single companywide system accessible to all workers. After reviewing a number of software packages, the company (which designs, manufactures and sells a wide range of sensors and interconnects for the aerospace and industrial markets) opted to implement Lilly Software Associates' VISUAL Quality v.5.35 integrated quality system to achieve this aim.

 VISUAL Quality's efficiency lies in its ability to combine multiple functions within one package and automate formerly manual operations. In Harco's old manual system, inspection plans, method sheets and records were input by hand. Now inspection characteristics, sampling plans and records of equipment used are loaded and maintained in the VISUAL Quality database.

 The database allows users to maintain revision control over inspection plans. With new parts or part revisions, the quality engineer lays out the specifics of the inspection plan for that part, from receipt of materials through final inspection. Inspectors can pull up the plan by part or operation number and see the characteristics, both attribute and variable data, that need to be inspected. The database is also used to create a part history that details all of that part's past nonconformances. "The VISUAL Quality database cuts down on time and makes all data available for analysis and recording," says Patrick Rooney, director of quality assurance at Harco.

 One of the system's primary benefits lies in ease of maintenance. "With VISUAL Quality, modifying an inspection plan becomes much easier," Rooney explains. "It also allows numerous people to access information without having to physically go and get it." Previously, the 20 or so people who had a need for that information would have to locate hard copies. Statistical process control studies used to be run offline, making them unavailable to the database and to the rest of the organization.

 The VISUAL Quality suite consists of 16 fully integrated modules: Contact Management, Vendor Contact, Employee Development, Document Management, Process Management, Process Data Management, Process Data Management Plus, Audit, Production Part Approval Process, Advanced Product Quality Planning, Preventive Maintenance, Gage Management, Inspection, Vendor Performance, Statistical Process Control Plus and Cost of Quality. Each module addresses quality issues in specific areas of business operations.

 VISUAL Quality is based on Integrated Quality Systems Inc.'s IQS Business System and works in conjunction with Lilly Software Associates' flagship VISUAL Manufacturing enterprise resource planning package, which offers patented concurrent scheduling of materials and resources. "One of the reasons we went with VISUAL Quality is the level of integration with VISUAL Manufacturing--and especially the promise of further integration," Rooney explains.

 Because quality efforts require communication throughout an organization rather than strictly within the quality department, data management systems that lack the ability to share information have limited usefulness in continuous improvement schemes. Rooney describes how VISUAL Quality has improved processes at Harco: "The most important change has been in making data available across the board throughout the plant. One of the biggest improve-ments I've seen at Harco was in collection, analysis and reporting of quality data. With the man-ual system, that had been impossible."