DEFINITION OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN INDUSTRIAL FACTORIES

Quality or product quality is the overall condition of a product or product produced from a production process that has a good or bad quality level.

The condition of a product item that can be said to have good quality or quality is like:

• The condition of the goods is not defective, effect the production process.
• These items are comfortable and safe when used by the customer.
• These items have a long or durable service life.
• The item is not easily damaged.
• The item has a complete identity or spec.
• The item has a product warranty guarantee.

The quality of the product is the most important thing that is fought for or maintained by an industrial factory, because with the quality of the product will affect the survival of the industrial plant.

The final result of the quality of a product from an industrial factory will be a benchmark by consumers to make choices about the goods they will use. And the good and bad of the quality of the product or goods can describe the conditions of an industrial factory which nota bene as a producer of these goods

So that with this it does not rule out the possibility that an industrial factory will actually make its products with the best quality choices.

To keep the product quality from the factory well maintained, not a few companies or industrial factories always apply the best quality management, so that in creating the best quality products, they can be sustainable and always make quality improvements through skilled workers.

Good or bad quality of a product produced by an industrial factory can be influenced by several things, both from human factors, production machines, the surrounding environment and from the product material itself.

1) HUMAN FACTOR

Humans are one of the important factors as the main subject that determines the good or bad quality of a product produced by an industrial factory, because humans or operators have the following responsibilities:

• As in control of the operation of production machines.
• As a control for the manufacture of products from the beginning to the end of the process.
• As a judging factor whether or not the product results are in the next process.
• As the main actor in implementing product quality system policies.
• As an analyzer and determinants of direct solutions to problems related to product quality.

a) Humans as in Control of the Operation of Production Machines.

That humans or production machine operators are the main players to operate or run the production process through production machines, so that the good and bad quality can be influenced by the operator because one of the duties of a production operator is to set the product spec.

Each product must have a spec or identity, and each product also has different specs from one product to another, so to differentiate between the product specs, an operator is needed to input the settings before starting the production machine running.

Usually the product spec that needs to be input is the product type, product type, product size, product number, product color, product expiry period, gap setting or line distance, product thickness setting, product width setting, product length setting, product weight setting, product size settings, etc.

Then after the product results are made, the next step is for the operator to make sure with a visual check whether the product results are in accordance with the spec settings or not.

This is where an important role as an operator is to set the product results according to the spec and then make sure again whether the product results really match the standard spec. 

If the two tasks are not good and correct then automatically the human operator has made a big mistake in this case. creating product quality, that is, not maintaining product quality.

b) Humans To Control the Manufacture of Products from the Beginning to the end of the Process.

Humans or what is called a production operator are in charge of controlling the product process from start to finish, the meaning is that the operator must automatically know the conditions of the product process journey from start to finish or finish.

So that if there is an abnormal process on the product, it will be detected by the production operator.

The production operator will monitor the product process journey from the start of the process to the end with the aim of ensuring that the condition of the product does not experience problems, such as damage due to crashing, damaged due to rolling, damaged by folding, damaged by scratches, damaged due to dirt, etc.

By monitoring the product process journey from start to finish, the quality of the product will be maintained.

c) Humans as judgments Ok or not from the product for the next process.

Almost not all product results require only one direct process, so that many types of products require more than one process. 

For those that require more than one process, the product results at the end of each process will be checked and inspected for results. these products can be processed to the next or not.

What must be inspected or rechecked from the product is only whether the product is according to the standard of the product spec or not.

For example, like checking the condition of texture, flexibility, humidity, whether there is a foreigh material or not, etc.

Usually, these inspections are carried out through laboratory tests, in order to find significant inspection results, but some are inspected by simply doing visuals, or checking conditions using only hand skills and expertise.

The ones who usually make the judgment OK or not the results of the product and carry out inspections are the Quality Control department, the Inspector or the like.

If the lab test results or the inspector's findings show that the product is NG (No Good) then the product result cannot be continued to the next process.

With this abnormal thing, there will be an investigation in the production field to ascertain where the abnormal problem arises from and caused by what.

Until the abnormal problem resulting from the product finds a solution and is resolved or handled until it finds a normal condition according to the standard.

For handling abnormal things from product results, it will usually involve several related sections or departments, such as the Engineering Department, the Production Department, the Quality Control Department, the Technical Work Department, etc. According to the needs concerning the abnormal existence.

However, if the laboratory test results explain that the product results are OK and according to the standard spec, the product results are ready to be forwarded to the next process.

This is one of the processes of care and effort to create high quality products.

d) Humans as the main actors in implementing the product quality system policy.

Those who have the authority and determine the existence of a product quality system policy are the management and of course also by going through product trials or trials to find the best product quality performance.

With a lot of competition from competitors with the same type of product, one way that a company or factory takes is one of them by improving product quality that is better than competitors.

e) Humans as analyzers and determinants of direct settlement of product quality problems.

Each product result does not always immediately find the best quality performance results, so you have to do a gradual trial or product trial. 

In the course of a trial or product trial also takes a long time because there are often problems that arise. So it requires special analysis of operator until the problem is resolved.

Sometimes the results of products that have gone through trial or testing sometimes have new problems that are caused from external to the product itself, such as quality problems caused by factors of production machines, factors of production operators and environmental factors.

• From the machine factor, for example, there is damage or abnormal work of the production machine which is not detected by the production operator or engineering member.
• From the factors of production operators, for example, there is a machine operation error or wrong input or wrong checking.
• From environmental factors, for example, the presence of foreigh material or product material is contaminated with foreign materials from an environmental perspective.

These abnormal problems definitely require analysis, solutions and special handling by related parties so that the product quality is always maintained and guaranteed.

2) FACTORS OF PRODUCTION MACHINES.

The production machine is a means to process, manufacture and produce a product. So that the production machine is one of the factors that can contribute to the formation of maximum product quality.

Production machines can affect product quality, which can always be maximally maintained if the condition of the production machine is also in a condition where maximum performance is not abnormal.

However, if the condition of the production machine has an abnormal problem, it will interfere with the product quality condition.

Examples of abnormal production machine conditions that can affect and cause poor product quality are as follows:

• The production machine has a process failure so that it cannot operate normally.
• The production machine has a malfunction of the work system so that an actual temperature does not match the spec setting.
• Production machine speed line error or not in accordance with program settings.
• There is abnormal work of the production machine part.
• Etc.

To maintain these things, it is possible that a factory always has experts in the field of machinery or what is often called Engineering or production machine technicians who are tasked with maintaining, maintaining and repairing the condition of production machines so that production machines are always in performance condition.

3) ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS.

The environment is the condition of the area around the place where the product is processed, so that the environment can also affect the quality conditions of a product produced by the production machine.

One of the environmental factors that can cause the quality of NG (No Good) products is the presence of foreigh material in the product or the product is contaminated, contaminated, mixed with foreign materials outside the product material.

With contamination of the product by foreign materials, it will have a hazard impact on the quality conditions of the product, so this will cause a negative image from consumers to a company or factory.

Some materials from the surrounding environment that can be contaminated with the main product resulting in poor product quality conditions include the following:

a) Wood.

It is a material that is commonly used as packaging for goods, as a base for a material or goods, and is usually also used as a production member aids for a certain thing.

If wood is not used as a tool or what is usually called foreign material (trash), it is better removed from the area around the production machine so that the wood is not mixed with the main product material.

And if there is wood that functions as a tool for production operators, it is better if the wood is allocated in a safe place.

b) Plastic.

Plastic is also a material that is commonly used as a means of wrapping goods, whether it is goods related to the product (material wrapping) or not related to the product material (food wrapping, drinks, etc.)

Plastic can be a material that can cause product contamination if the handling of this plastic is not controlled or there is no concern of workers when disposing of plastic waste such as plastic food, drink or candy wrappers.

c) Paper.

The use of paper in a factory is very high so that paper can also have a chance of being mixed into the main product or the product is contaminated by paper, so paper handling requires high care.

There must be a centralization of paper separation between those that are used and those that are not used, so that the main product is not contaminated with paper.

d) Metal.

The mixing of a metal to the product can come from the metal of the production machine or foreign metal around the production machine.

Production machine metal can contaminate the product due to damage in the production machine, for example the metal of the machine is broken or loose so it is mixed into the production process.

The mixing of foreign metals around the production machines can also occur due to poor cleanliness conditions around the production machines and the workers' lack of concern about the cleanliness conditions around the production machines.

e) Work Aids.

Objects that are used by workers as auxiliary tools also have the potential to cause product contamination, such as pens, pencils, note books, chalk, markers, etc.

This is due to the absence of controlled placement of tools or the careless use of these tools by a worker.

4) PRODUCT MATERIAL.

The formation of a product is due to the processing of product materials that are processed by production machines through professional handling by workers in certain industrial plants.

All products, whether in the form of finished goods or semi-finished goods, must be formed from a mixture or combination of several basic materials and additional materials.

From this material quality that will affect the good and bad quality of the final product quality, so a manufacturer must think about the quality conditions of the material before determining the quality of the final product produced.

Some examples of basic materials such as:

• Synthetic rubber: This staple material is usually used to produce types of products related to rubber: such as car tires, motorcycle tires, bicycle tires, mountings, seals, etc.
• Wood: This staple material is usually used to produce types of products such as: paper making, furniture, etc.
• Plastic pellets: This staple material is usually used to produce types of products related to plastic products such as: plastic bags, household supplies, office supplies, stationery, etc.
• Iron Ore: This staple material is usually used to produce types of products related to products made of iron, such as: furniture fittings, automotive goods, building construction goods, transportation equipment, etc.
• And there are many other examples.

Examples of additional materials are such as:

• Carbon
• Sulfur
• Chemical
• Syntetic oil
• Etc

So few reviews about the notion of quality or quality in an industrial factory.