User guide › Quality control (manufacturing and ERP)

Quality control (manufacturing and ERP)

Quality control covers everything from raw materials arriving to finished goods going out. Open Quality control.

1. Set standards (Standards, quality or production managers). For each product (or a whole category) and stage (Goods received, During production, Finished goods, Stock on hand) add the checklist: a measurement with its lowest and highest acceptable value (moisture up to 14%, weight 390 to 420 g), a pass or fail check, or a note. Mark a check critical if failing it fails the lot. Set how much to sample (a percent, with a minimum), how often to check during a run (every 30 minutes, say), whether the lot waits in quarantine, and whether a quality manager must release lots that pass.

2. Inspections open by themselves. A delivery of a product with a goods-received standard, or a finished run of a product with a finished-goods standard, opens an inspection linked to the supplier, purchase order, delivery or work order, batch and branch or warehouse. Quarantined stock still counts in stock but can't be sold, used in production, moved or transferred until it is decided. The Overview lists checks due during running work orders; tap Check now. To inspect stock on hand (a complaint, a doubtful batch) use Inspections > Inspect stock.

3. The inspector records results against the checklist. Measurements outside their range, a failed check or failed units in the sample fail the lot automatically, and a failed lot opens a non-conformance report (NCR).

4. A quality manager decides (someone other than the inspector). The lot can be split:

• Accept: released for sale or use. Accepting a failed lot needs a note (a concession).
• Rework: stays in quarantine under a new inspection after the rework.
• Return to the supplier: a supplier return is made and credited against what you owe.
• Dispose of: written off as waste, with the value counted as a quality cost.

A lot that passes a standard that needs no release is released at once.

5. Non-conformance reports record what went wrong, the root cause, the corrective action and the preventive action, with a severity, due date and cost. A quality manager closes a report once the root cause and corrective action are recorded.

6. Trace a batch or production run: backward to the materials and the suppliers who delivered them, forward to the runs that used a material and the customers who bought the finished goods. Products tracked by batch (with expiry dates) are traced exactly: each run becomes a batch named after its work order. For other products the customers shown are those who bought the product at that branch between that run and the next.

7. Overview: pass rate, lots in quarantine and their value, what happened to inspected lots, the most common defects, supplier quality, production yield, the cost of poor quality and open reports.

Roles. Quality Inspector records results and raises reports. Quality Manager also releases or rejects lots, closes reports and sets standards. Managers have all of it; Production Managers can inspect and set standards but not release their own goods.

← Finance and procurement controls (ERP) · All topics · Privacy and safety →

Download the whole guide (PDF)

Need help? Call or WhatsApp the BlueDuka team on +254 727 177 155.