No manufacturer ever wants to deliver a product that’s anything less than exceptional. Consistently meeting or exceeding customer expectations is critical for building a loyal customer base and eking out a competitive advantage in today’s rapidly-changing marketplace, but it’s also the key to minimizing waste, maximizing operational efficiency and realizing a low cost of quality (COQ) that keeps profit margins high.
The importance of quality is undeniable, but ensuring each product that leaves your facility is flawless every day, every shipment and year after year is a lot more challenging today than it was 50, or even 5, years ago. That’s simply the nature of modern manufacturing.
Supply chains are in a constant state of disruption and companies must be prepared to pivot between diverse suppliers at any given time. They also have large manufacturing bases with multiple facilities, each of which may be using different technologies and moving toward digital transformation at varying rates. To further complicate the situation, manufacturers must ensure each product meets specific regulatory requirements while also dealing with labor shortages and an evolving workforce.
For many manufacturers, the solution is an integrated quality ecosystem where data from each supplier and every part of the production line is pulled into a centralized database in real time for end-to-end visibility, and that’s just what Brunswick Boat Group (BBG) was able to achieve with QAD EQMS (Enterprise Quality Management System).
BBG Came to QAD EQMS to Kick Quality 4.0 into High Gear
Acquiring or opening new facilities is a clear sign of success for any manufacturer, but growth isn’t without complications – especially when it comes to building and maintaining a culture of quality. When BBG came to QAD, it was already in an advanced stage of its Quality 4.0 journey. Each of its nine US- and Mexico-based facilities had quality processes in place, but each location’s approach varied and it needed a single enterprise quality management system (EQMS) that would get its global team on the same page when it came to quality.
“The connectivity of the data and the usability of our systems becomes better when we can have enterprise systems that all work together and everyone can use,” explains Brian Hines, Vice President of Quality for BBG.
“Instead of a small federation of operations, we’ve got one extended operation that’s in many different places. We continue to bring those systems together and drive results faster by having better information at our fingertips,” says Hines.
BBG’s existing quality processes were working well, but improvements were often limited to the site level and the team spent a lot of time consolidating data manually. An issue may be addressed at one site only to crop up at another and a lack of visibility resulted in inefficiencies and made it difficult for BBG to standardize its processes and cross-functional corrective best practices. The company also wanted to build better relationships with suppliers, lower its minimum cost of quality and boost supply chain resilience.
“Our goal is to limit and/or eliminate the disruptions that supplier compliance (e.g., defects) can cause within our factory. And if we don’t have good containment, communication and corrective action with those suppliers, we’ll be at their mercy,” says Joseph Korus, Quality Manager for BBG’s New York Mills, Minnesota, facility.
QAD EQMS Helps BBG Gain Full Visibility into Quality Processes
BBG sister company Mercury Marine had great success with QAD EQMS and the experience prompted BBG to see how it could benefit from the solution as well. It implemented QAD EQMS’ Document Control, Training Management, Non-conformance and Corrective Action (NCR/CAPA) and Layered Process Audits (Audit/LPA) and is preparing to add Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Supplier Quality and other capabilities.
The results have been transformational. Before implementing QAD EQMS, BBG had to consolidate and normalize information from multiple sources manually, which led to redundant actions and inefficiencies. Having facility and supplier data organized in a centralized database with QAD EQMS has enabled BBG to take a preventative approach to quality issues rather than a reactive one. It’s also gained a better understanding of the cost of quality.
“One of the benefits that QAD EQMS has brought to us is the ability for quality leaders across our North American sites to see the data in the same way,” says Hines.
QAD EQMS also helped BBG implement process standardization across its global manufacturing base and accelerate its digital transformation. “You want to be able to build the boat the same way in each facility, and that’s where standardizing with EQMS really helps with the vertical integration you achieve,” says Kali Schwantz, IT Business Relationship Manager for BBG.
“Within an ERP, sometimes there is an information vacuum. QAD EQMS allowed us to see that information. It eliminated a lot of waste in information and time for people,” explains Schwantz.
Quality Management is a Stepping Stone Toward Digital Maturity
The importance of quality in manufacturing cannot be understated and many leaders recognize digital technologies can deliver the visibility and actionable insights needed to drive quality improvements among diverse supply chains and manufacturing bases, yet are unsure where to begin.
This is partially because 64% of manufacturers are still in the early stages of digital transformation and haven’t brought their digital initiatives to scale. Leaders recognize new technologies can minimize supply chain disruption, accelerate innovation and eliminate inefficiencies that drive up the cost of quality, but they’re also under pressure to keep production objectives on track and must ensure every investment delivers a strong ROI.
That’s a large order to fill, and helps explain why 70% of manufacturing leaders find lead times on digital transformation to be overwhelming.
The good news is, targeted investments in new technologies show signs of paying off – and there’s a direct correlation between above-average investments and higher returns. Companies that invest less than 2% of their net annual revenue in factory transformation are 2.5 times less likely to realize high returns than their counterparts investing at least 3%.
For many manufacturers, that means getting back to the basics with a focus on quality. Ninety-seven percent of manufacturers have quality management processes in place, but continue to struggle with product recalls. Research indicates investment in quality processes generates a strong ROI at every stage of adoption and these results have many companies turning toward EQMS solutions as part of their digital transformation strategy.
As discussed in another recent QAD blog post, a strong EQMS solution should have a built-in data analytics module that makes it easy to identify and measure metrics. It should also integrate with the factory floor and contain tools to support every member of your team, from line workers to executive leadership. Developing a clear vision for digital transformation and executing it can be challenging but, as BBG learned, it’s easy when you have an experienced partner you can trust.
QAD EQMS is packed full of capabilities that enable complete visibility into manufacturing and quality-related issues across your enterprise. Risk Management allows you to conduct risk assessments of your entire supply chain or parts of it, while tools like Supplier Quality and Complaint Management make it easy to get to the root of quality issues and prevent them from happening again.
Most importantly, APQP can help your team focus on prevention by creating foundational and family FMEAs that will not only allow them to efficiently build a risk analysis (FMEA) using those libraries freeing them up to focus on the product specific differences, but also allows them to easily improve those libraries for subsequent parts — truly moving your organization to a preventive-minded culture of quality.
BBG, like most manufacturers, is built on a strong culture of quality, but it realized it could do better and accelerate its digital transformation in the process. If you’re interested in learning more about what process standardization and complete visibility into quality issues could do for your business, read the full Brunswick Boat Group customer success story and learn more about QAD EQMS.
Managing a boat is all about striking the perfect balance between the thrill of adventure and the responsibility of maintenance.