The news that Foxconn, the world’s biggest contract electronics maker, is developing industrial robots to target 30% automation in its Chinese factories by 2020, has shaken the manufacturing industry. As machines and robotics become more sophisticated and specialised than ever, we can’t help but ask: will manufacturing soon be taken over entirely by robots? But […]
If your business can’t afford foreign contaminants in your products, then the chances are high that you need an X-ray product inspection machine. Predominantly, the food processing, pharmaceutical and packaging industries rely on these high-tech, yet surprisingly affordable, machines to detect potentially harmful foreign contaminants along the production lines. But they are also essential equipment […]
Ready to integrate your packaging line to improve efficiency, output and uptime? Get started with these top 5 tips. It’s no secret that integrating your packaging line delivers tangible advantages — a more streamlined operation, real-time reporting and visibility, added security, and eliminating coding and labelling errors, to name but a few. So once you’ve […]
As the Japanese master of lean manufacturing, Dr Shigeo Shingo, once said: “Humans are animals that make mistakes.” (Learn more about lean here. You can also find out how SMEs can benefit from lean manufacturing.) In today’s manufacturing industry, quality and compliance is everything. However, it’s no longer enough to rely on human inspection. More […]
Your mission: To detect any foreign contaminants in your product before they have a chance to leave your processing plant. But which will help you achieve your goal: metal detection or X-ray systems? Metal detection and X-ray inspection have long been the first line of defence for food and beverage processors, but vast improvements in […]
As Dimmeys counts the cost of recalling more unsafe products this month, it begs the question: do you know the cost of a recall to your business? The next question is: do you have the right systems in place to deal with it? It’s difficult to calculate the true cost of a recall; no incident […]
And how does TCO affect Australian manufacturers? The Australian manufacturing industry exists in a highly competitive business climate. This challenges companies to find creative ways of lowering their costs without compromising the goal of producing high-quality products. And all the while, they must maintain the required regulatory and compliance standards. So it’s more important than […]
It might look like an insignificant part of every package, but a product’s bar code is a vital aspect of its manufacture: it enables traceability within the supply chain (from the manufacturer to the end consumer) and facilitates the smooth flow of goods. At Matthews, we’re finding that the nation’s biggest retailers are becoming ever […]
If you’re on the path to leaner quality, then quality control is not just a non-value-adding ‘evil’. We’ve talked a bit about quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) on the path to being “lean”. (See Quality, parts One and Two, and also check out how SME’s can benefit from lean manufacturing.) QC (traditional approach) […]
In Part 1, we looked at how ‘quality’ is one of the biggest issues in food manufacturing, and is the lowest common denominator in the inter-dependent concepts of ‘lean manufacturing’, ‘six sigma’, ‘kaizen’ and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This time I’m going to look at how to actually meet the ‘quality’ expectations of retailers and […]