If you are in the thermal spray coatings business, then you
know the tremendous level of competition that currently exists in the plasma
spray industry. With several new thermal spray shops cropping around and the
increased emphasis on quality, price and delivery by astute customers, it is
imperative that you look for every possible means to improve your competitive
edge.
Every step that can improve the bottom line of the thermal
spray facility that you are involved in, regardless of what capacity you fit
into, be it a business owner, shop foreman, chief engineer, quality manager or
production controller can go a long way in getting one step ahead of the
competition. This article addresses one such small aspect that is oftentimes
overlooked by thermal spray shops both big and small.
That aspect is to do with re-work costs. Being a fairly
complicated process with lots of variables and lots of processing steps
involved, sometimes errors in processing can occur in the normal course of
events. Some of these errors can be linked to operator error and some are not
associated with operator error.
Regardless of what the source of the error is, these can
result in re-work of the hardware at best and scrapped hardware at worst. If
the hardware can be re-worked, then the costs associated with such a re-work
must be captured for later analysis. While many thermal spray companies do not
even attempt to quantify their re-work costs, out of the ones that do quantify
their re-work costs, very few do anything whatsoever with this data as valuable
as it is.
Re-work costs data provide valuable information that can
improve the bottom line of your operation. For example, if the data is further
broken down into source of error, then it can point to ways and means of
reducing the re-work. If most of the re-work is the result of operator error,
then obviously this points to the need for improved operator training.
If most of the
re-work is the result of equipment malfunction, then this points to the need
for improved maintenance procedures. If a major amount of re-work is due to the
use of incorrect powder quality then sourcing is the culprit. Thus, identifying
the major cost contributors to re-work can lead you to fixing the root cause of
the problem.
Additionally, quantifying re-work costs can lead to accurate
pricing structures by accounting for these costs during the quotations process.
This is important because otherwise the cost of your operation is not clearly
reflected in your price quotations to your customers. Thus quantifying and
analyzing re-work costs can go a long way in improving the bottom line of your
thermal spray coatings facility.
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