Having an expectation that your manufacturing partner is injection molding products that meet your requirements is not unreasonable. Providing quality products should be a given for every injection molder. Unfortunately, many companies are disappointed when their products don’t meet minimum requirements. The cost of inferior quality can be high. At SEA-LECT Plastics, our rigorous quality control system and ISO 9001:2015 certification ensure our solutions meet your exact specifications every time.
Quality Defined
Quality is often misunderstood. It is either misconstrued as absolute perfection or, conversely, as a subjective element that isn’t easily defined. A consumer may judge the quality of a product by its price or a comparison to a similar competitor’s product. In manufacturing, quality is not about flawlessness, cost, or comparison to a competitor’s product. It’s about how well a product aligns with given requirements. Consequently, what’s exceptional to one person might not meet the standards of another. While it may seem subjective, quality does have a definition.
ISO 9000:2015, Quality Management Systems — Fundamentals and Vocabulary, defines quality as the “degree to which inherent characteristics fulfill requirements,” which encapsulates customer demands, industry standards, and regulations. Manufacturers that are injection molding products will often implement a quality management system to ensure processes are in place to support superior quality.
Injection Molding Products Under ISO 9001 Certification
An internationally recognized quality framework, ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems —Requirements, is the only standard in the quality management systems family that can be certified to. While it is entirely voluntary, many companies, including SEA-LECT, invest to be third-party certified to demonstrate to customers that they are committed to meeting their needs and continuous improvement in their operations. While a management system cannot ensure perfect results, preventative processes and structure increase the likelihood of delivering a consistent product. This structured approach encompasses policies, processes, and objectives that guide effective practices, ultimately leading to injection-molded products that meet customers’ needs consistently.
The quality management system is the overarching framework. Within this system is quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). While these are sometimes used interchangeably, they have distinct roles. QA is a systematic approach to ensure processes align with quality standards – this is prevention. Since prevention can’t be 100 percent infallible, we need QC, which concentrates on identifying and rectifying errors. In terms of injection molding, QA includes training employees and setting up and validating manufacturing processes and equipment, as some examples. Trained employees manufacture the injection molded product following approved procedures. Once manufactured, QC is implemented when the injection molded product is measured and inspected to ensure it meets the customer’s specifications. If there are deviations, QA is back to address reducing the likelihood of future non-conformities.
ISO 9001:2015 has seven Quality Management Principles (QMP), which are foundational elements that guide all quality activities and that can positively impact injection molders’ customers.
- Customer Focus – Injection molders that are ISO 9001:2015 certified are required to focus on meeting the needs of their customers. This means understanding customer requirements, communicating with customers, and working to continuously improve products and services to meet or exceed customer expectations. This leads to increased customer satisfaction.
- Leadership – Certified injection molders are required to have strong leadership that is committed to quality. This means setting clear quality objectives, providing resources for quality improvement, and creating a culture of quality within the organization. This can lead to improved communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, which can all contribute to better quality products and services.
- People engagement—Injection molders must engage their employees in quality improvement. This means empowering employees to make decisions, providing training and development opportunities, and recognizing and rewarding employees for their contributions to quality. This contributes to a motivated workforce committed to producing high-quality products and services. This can lead to reduced errors, improved productivity, and lower costs.
- Process approach – ISO 9001:2015 certification requires injection molders to take a process approach to quality. This means understanding the interrelated processes involved in producing products and services and managing those processes to ensure that they consistently generate outputs that meet customer requirements. The importance of a process approach is that the injection molder is more likely to identify and manage risks that can negatively impact quality, resulting in fewer defects, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced costs.
- Continuous improvement – Continuously improving their quality management system – identifying opportunities for improvement, implementing those improvements, and evaluating the effectiveness of those improvements – is a critical component of an effective system. Improving processes can lead to increased efficiencies that can be passed on to customers in terms of costs and time savings.
- Evidence-based decision making – ISO 9001:2015 certification requires injection molders to make decisions based on evidence. This means collecting, analyzing, and using data to make informed decisions about quality. These evidence-based decisions are often a benefit to customers and can improve the quality outcomes of products.
- Relationship management – Injection molders are expected to manage their relationships with suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. This means communicating effectively, building trust, and working with customers to achieve common goals.
Injection Molding Products That Consistently Meet Your Requirements
As an ISO-9001:2015 certified injection molder, we have used the standard to refine our quality management system to ensure that we always provide you with the highest quality products. With quality processes and procedures, properly trained employees, and a focus on customer satisfaction, we strive to design and manufacture parts that perform as intended without fail.
One way we monitor our processes is through our enterprise resource management system (ERP), which has an integrated quality suite. This allows us to track products through production, manage non-conformances and corrective actions documentation, have raw material lot traceability, identify material with an expired shelf life, and more, which has allowed us to streamline our quality management processes, creating even greater efficiency.
Are you ready to work with an injection molder that has invested in quality? Contact us with your next project.