How Can a Plant Track Production Quality While a Shift Is Still Underway?

Every report needs to identify what was produced and when

SMARTPRO allows operators to enter quantities of conforming and rejected parts through the touchscreen, according to the form configured for the application. If defect codes are included, the system can also retain a classification of nonconformities.

The quality team defines acceptance criteria, inspection frequency and the required identifiers. Recording an order or batch does not automatically imply individual part-level traceability.

• Machine, product reference, order and reporting period.
• Total quantity produced or inspected and first-pass conforming quantity.
• Rejected quantity and reason, where supported by the configured form.
• Mould, batch, material or cavity when those identifiers are acquired.
• Manufacturing and inspection timestamps when they differ.

Three stages of a quality record

1. Recording: The operator or inspector enters results during manufacturing or at the designated inspection point.

2. Synchronisation: The report is retained with available timestamps and production identifiers, according to the configured system.

3. Analysis: Results, defects and measured conditions are reviewed for the corresponding period. Temporal correlation helps formulate a hypothesis but does not, by itself, establish the cause of a defect.

Inspection and synchronisation frequencies determine the latency of displayed quality data. Uninspected units must not be presented as verified conforming units.

How quality contributes to OEE during a shift

If 960 parts were produced and 928 were first-pass conforming during the same period, the quality component is 928 ÷ 960 = 96.7%. The remaining 32 parts must be recorded according to the agreed inspection criteria.

When inspection results are synchronised during the shift, the OEE quality component can be updated using reported quantities. Full OEE also requires planned production time, actual operating time, ideal cycle time and output for the same reporting interval.

This example is illustrative. The metric represents only the quality recorded up to that time and requires consistent rules for inspected parts, rework and rejection.

What quality engineering can investigate

Linking reports to a product reference, order and time period enables quality personnel to locate when a defect appeared and examine the process conditions measured around that interval, provided the relevant variables and identifiers are captured.

Comparisons with previously approved batches or process conditions require equivalent criteria and technical verification of the underlying causes of variation.

See SMARTPRO quality reporting · Review traceability requirements

Explore related content

• Information for quality assurance teams
• How quality enters OEE monitoring
• Distinguishing downtime from slow cycles

Guide based on actual SMARTPRO screens and KERN IoP’s original articles on standardisation and contextualisation of production data.