Highlights
-
Track and enforce 58,000 daily verifications, eliminating paperwork and potential for human error.
-
Estimated reduction of 596,000 missed verifications annually, improving compliance and reducing quality risks.
-
14.9 million verification events are processed annually within the solution.
-
Dramatically reduced compliance gaps and minimized the risk of production defects from improperly verified tools.
-
Cut audit preparation time from weeks to minutes, providing real-time visibility into calibration data.
-
Lowered labor costs by eliminating manual data entry and reallocating workforce hours to higher-value tasks.
-
Consolidated hundreds of disparate offline Excel-based solutions into a single cloud-based solution shared across 100+ facilities.
Overview
A global leader in manufacturing ("Manufacturer") faced a major operational challenge: managing the calibration and verification of tools essential to their production processes. With nearly 100 facilities globally and tens of thousands of tools requiring daily verification, ensuring compliance with regulatory and quality standards was a monumental task. Before partnering with Kinetech to build a custom software solution, the Manufacturer relied on a manual, paper-based tracking system, leading to inefficiencies, compliance risks, and significant labor costs.
Challenges
The Manufacturer’s tool management process requires 58,000 daily verifications across all of its plants - without a standardized digital system, tracking was inconsistent and remaining compliant was a constant struggle. The quality organization relied on manual spreadsheets and paperwork to manage their entire tooling database, and spent countless hours chasing down missing data. This delayed audits and made process improvements nearly impossible to implement.
Missed verifications and improperly functioning tools pose major regulatory and quality risks to any manufacturer, and given the sheer scale of the process here the inability to monitor and review the state of each tool across the entire organization at any time was too great to ignore.
The quality organization began to see itself as a bottleneck instead of a key differentiator for their operations.
The Solution
Kinetech developed a custom application that automated data collection, tracking, and reporting to streamline the tool calibration and verification processes. The solution also integrated into the Manufacturer's existing maintenance platform, and made the data accessible to both operators and management outside the quality organization. Operators may now verify tools on-site and instantly log results, while managers have real-time access to comprehensive reports outlining the state of each tool.
Key Benefits:
-
Eliminated Manual Processes: Previously, the team relied on paper-based tracking or Excel sheets, causing inefficiency and delays. The app now automates the entire process, saving time and ensuring accuracy.
-
Improved Compliance and Reporting: With automated verification tracking and real-time reporting, Manufacturer ensures they meet industry standards. The app simplifies audits by allowing managers to generate reports instantly, reducing audit preparation time from weeks to mere minutes.
-
Seamless Integration: The solution connects directly with the Manufacturer’s maintenance platform, providing a single source of truth for tool compliance.
-
Real-Time Insights: The solution provides transparency across all plants, allowing the Manufacturer to track tool verifications at 100+ locations in real-time. Operators may verify tools on-site, log results instantly, and trigger immediate alerts for non-compliance.
-
Optimized Compliance & Auditing: Quality managers reduced audit preparation time from weeks to minutes with instant, real-time reporting.
Outcome
Since implementing Kinetech’s solution, the Manufacturer has transformed its tool calibration and verification processes from a costly, error-prone burden into a streamlined, high-efficiency operation. The quality organization has transitioned from being a bottleneck to a strategic enabler of productivity. By delivering real, measurable value in compliance and labor cost savings, Kinetech’s solution has positioned the Manufacturer for long-term success in a highly competitive manufacturing environment.
