THE BUSINESS OF VISCOSITY BLOG

In our post, Getting World Class Performance Out Of Old Liner Equipment, we noted:

“In many industries, rather than replace the whole machine, it is commonplace to retrofit it with new technologies to bring its performance up to contemporary standards.”

And then went on to state:

“The key to a successful upgrade project is to closely examine your process to identify those parameters that are directly related to the defects you’re experiencing, then to focus your efforts specifically in those areas.”

It may be hard to believe, but many of the industrial processes in use today were originally developed during the first half of the 20th century – yes, before 1950!

The can making process is no exception.

In our prior post in this series, "The Impact of Temperature and Pressure on Liner Weight Consistency," we demonstrated that, for a fixed orifice system:

“…the parameters critical to controlling the liner process are temperature and pressure.”

In this segment we will examine the relationship between temperature and pressure to determine their hierarchy in the control process.

In our recent blogs, Can Liner Weight Variations Impact Quality, Delivery, and Cost Structure, and Variation in Liner Placement Impacts Delivery, Quality, and Cost, too!, we identified weight and placement as the two primary criteria for liner effectiveness.

Though a high-throughput, repetitive process, which would seem to make it an ideal candidate for Statistical Process Control (SPC), the reality of these criteria makes it almost impossible to manage using these methods.

In our recent blog, Can Liner Weight Variations Impact Quality, Delivery, and Cost Structure, we discussed how modern sealing technology has changed the way that cans are manufactured and judged. In particular we noted:

“As with any sealing process, two of the most important criteria are:

1. Volume of the sealer applied
2. Placement of the sealer (called 'compound')"

Customer rejects suck…period!

The reasons they hurt your business are well-documented. Not only can they damage your relationship with your customer – in the worst case pushing them to look for another supplier – they can even make you question your own capabilities as a manufacturer. But most of all, they are expensive.

The impact of rejects can vary widely by industry and manufacturer. For instance, if you make DVD’s or tablet computers, handling a reject can be as simple as providing your customer with a replacement unit.