Ana Catherine Lozano: 0:00

Defect in manufacturing are something that are really common in every industry. Lean manufacturing is one of the most common, I would say, principles that factory companies use. And the main goal I would say is to reduce waste. But one of the goals that you have on lean manufacturing is the focus on the continuous improvement. The people that are located in the shop floor are the most capable of telling us what is the real problem that is occurring right now in the field. So we need to be able to trust them and to empower them, and also to train them. Very important to have a very good big data analytics. You need to be able to record and have good overview on different reports that are going to allow you to see what are your most common defects.

Dallas Dean: 0:50

Hi Odoo, and welcome back to planet Odoo. I'm Dallas Dean, your host for today, and we are pleased to have you for this week's episode. After having received Charlotte Dendoncker a few weeks ago. Today we welcome another one of Odoo MRP experts here in Belgium, Ana Catherine Lozano. Together we will be discussing the tricky topic of defects in manufacturing. So let's please welcome Ana. All right Ana, thanks for being here. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with the manufacturing world with Odoo? Just give us a little background.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 1:22

Yes. Of course. So nice to meet you all. I'm Ana, and, uh, I've been working here at Odoo for three years now, so I am a manufacturing expert here at Odoo. And before that, I also worked in the steel industry during six years. So I have a good background about the industry in general, but also in data analytics and quality quality management as well.

Dallas Dean: 1:48

Great. Well, so today, we're talking about defects in manufacturing. And we'll start off pretty simple. Can you tell us a bit about what the most common types of defects are and manufacturing and how they can impact production?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 2:02

Of course. So defects in manufacturing are something that are really common in every industry. So that's why it's very important to know how to detect them and what different kinds of defects we can have. So the most common of them are dimensional defects. We also can have surface defects, material defects, assembly defects, and functional defects. You can also have, for example, contamination in the food industry. And of course, having those kinds of defects will have a really high impact in our manufacturing world because they can have an impact on the efficiency of our processes. For example, if we need to rework or we need to scrap some of the, yeah, some of the pieces or some of the goods because they have defects, we could also have delays in our production schedule because if we need to rework these particular goods, they are going to cause some delays. If we need to rework them or scrap them, there are also going to impact the cost. And this is not going to be good for companies if the defects go through the customers and we don't realize that they are going through them, we can maybe have some recalls or warranty claims, which is not bad for the image of the companies and of course can create dissatisfied customers as well. So that's very important that we try to avoid these defects and also to impede supply chain disruptions. And everything needs to be run smoothly during the manufacturing processes.

Dallas Dean: 3:38

Great. Yeah. And going back, you mentioned material defects. I feel like a lot of those others are pretty clear. What exactly is a material defect?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 3:47

So material defect could be, for example, something that does not follow certain rules. So you could have a material that is not strong enough. For example, if I go back to my steel industry example. So you have different qualities that you need to follow. And even though the surface might seem fine, the dimension might seem fine. The components of the material are not good enough. And for example, if that piece of steel is used for, uh, building a car so it could not be safe enough because the components like, uh, the chemical components or the process through this specific steel sheet went through are not good enough to provide enough safety for that car, for example.

Dallas Dean: 4:34

Okay, great. Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks. So some of these impacts sound pretty serious. So how can manufacturers avoid them. Um, how can they identify these defects early in production so that they can avoid them and avoid those, uh, more serious ones especially?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 4:52

Well, so there are different ways that you can try to use in different companies to ensure that we are trying to control, as much as possible the defects. Of course. The main one, I should say is the quality control inspections, because here we are going to ensure that we are controlling every single good or every single, uh, product that we are going to use. I mean, that's not necessarily for every single product, but it could be also for a batch. It depends on how often you get those defects as well. But it's very important to have a policy of quality control on your process. So you ensure that you are trying to reduce as much as possible, the defects that can be present on your processes. You need to also be aware of what kind of defects are the most recurrent at your processes as well. In order to establish this quality control inspections so they could be visual inspections. If your surface defects are the most common ones, they could be dimensional measurements. If you are sometimes getting outside of the dimensions that are necessary to deliver to the customer or functional test, if we are talking about something that needs to be like tested, for example, like a car or something, a motor and a lot of different things as well. So that's also important to really have a good training on employees, because of course, they need to be able to follow the processes and have a standardized work just to be able to ensure that the processes are being followed, how they should. So we are avoiding defects that are caused by bad processes. And a third, um, option that we say should be also the supply supplier, quality management, because it's important to also check the quality of the products that you are receiving yourself from your suppliers as well. Great.

Dallas Dean: 6:47

That makes a lot of sense. So as we're a podcast and the tech world, what technological advancements are aiding manufacturers in defect detection and management? I mean, some of these like training employees or choosing the best supplier I didn't initially think were really relevant to technology, but thinking about it more, I do see some technological solutions there too. So can you just talk a little bit about that? Yeah.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 7:16

Well, uh, of course there are a lot of technological solutions that can help us with that. So of course Odoo is one of them. This course is going to help us establishing quality control points, uh, quality measurements. So we also have maintenance application, which is going to allow us to make preventive and corrective maintenance to the machines, which is also very important in order to give the right tools to the the people that are, uh, making the processes. Because if your tools are not good enough, that also can lead to different effects on your finished goods or semi-finished goods as well. But we also have other kind of things, like for example, the Internet of things and here at Odoo, uh, for example, for your quality inspections, you can connect the IoT box to measure, uh, with, uh, scales, for example, or calipers or printers for labels and a lot of different devices that you can connect to your quality control inspections that can help you to interact a little bit more with the physical product. And also, I would say it's very important to have a very, a very good, uh, big data analytics because you need to be able to record and, uh, have a good overview on different reports that are going to allow you to see what are your most common defects, what are the root causes of those defects? How are you manufacturing in general, your times of manufacturing? Uh, and all different. Um, yeah. Data that can have an impact on the, the quality of your final product.

Dallas Dean: 8:50

Interesting. Okay. So I want to talk about something you mentioned both, uh, in this answer and earlier. And that's, uh, quality control. So what role does quality control play in minimizing manufacturing defects? How can Odu's quality module help manufacturers identify and manage defects during production?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 9:11

So there are many things in which, uh, quality module is going to help us first. Uh, the, uh, the module is going to help us to prevent defects by setting up a quality control points. So if you set up regular quality control points, as I was saying, it doesn't have to be for every single product. You can do it once every batch, for example. But it's important to have this kind of procedures that are going to help you to just make a quick check and see that everything is going through the process in a good way. And this is going to also avoid passing a bad quality products to next lines. For example, if you are talking about semi-finished products, if you don't make this quality control points early enough in the chain, you are risking to pass a bad quality products to the end of the chain. And then when you realize that you have these defects on your products, it's already too late and you need to rework a lot of this process or these products. Sorry. So it's very important to have this early detection just to avoid having lots of costs that are going to increase. And also it's going to optimize your processes because as soon as you detect a defect, you can already realize that there is an area for improvement and maybe create a quality alert. So in the quality module, you don't only have this possibility of creating quality control points, but also to create these quality alerts. And in the quality alerts you can also see this room for a lot of things. For example, for the I would say the most important thing for me, the root cause of a problem, because you can then make a report about what are the most common root causes for your different defects, and that is going to help you to understand which areas of improvement are the most important to tackle first. And of course, it's very important to, uh, be compliant with standard regulations as well. You need to be able to have a complete a quality system that is going to allow you to have full traceability of the quality checks that you have been, uh, realizing on different projects. And of course, if you have good quality products, uh, it's going to increase your customer satisfaction.

Dallas Dean: 11:28

Right? And of course, I mean, that's the end goal for everyone, right, to keep their customers satisfied. But yeah, I really do like that feature of the odors, uh, quality module of creating a quality alert because it allows for a communication between the. The workers on the shop floor who are hands on with, you know, maybe the engineers who, you know, aren't actually there on the shop floor, maybe, or, uh, you know, aren't directly involved after the design. And it allows this kind of communication in between the two, where the shop floor can say, hey, like, this is an issue that we've seen over and over, and they can, you know, say it looks like the root cause is X, and then it can go back to the engineers and they can kind of assess it from there.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 12:17

Yeah, indeed. So in the end, the people that are located in the shop floor are the most capable of telling us what is the real problem that is occurring right now in the field. So we need to be able to trust them and to empower them and also to train them. So say they have, uh, all the skills that are necessary to understand and to identify when a defect is occurring. Of course, there are a lot of tools and technological tools that can help them in order to do so. But if they are qualified and they if they feel empowered enough to create a quality alert, this is going to be beneficial for the company and for everyone. Because of course, they are the ones who know the process the most, and they are the ones who can really identify when something needs to be raised and taken, taken serious in order to take action, and then trying to avoid this defect in the future. That's the the most important part. So if you identify that defect, you need to be able to, um, make some corrections or adjustments so that defect is not going to be repeated again.

Dallas Dean: 13:25

Right? Yeah. So I mean we're talking about identifying these defects. But you know really the the goal is exploring different ways to then reduce the defects. And one potential solution that I've heard is to use a lean manufacturing process. So can you maybe explain briefly what that is and then how it can help reduce defects?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 13:45

Yeah, sure. So lean manufacturing, it's one of the most common, I would say, principles that factoring companies use. And the main goal I would say is to reduce waste. We have different types of weights that can be identified in a process. So yeah, there are like for example inventory, conveyance, etc.. But one of the goals that you have on lean manufacturing is the focus on the continuous improvement. So the continuous improvement is, as I was saying, you need to first have a standards. So if you have a standardized work that all your workers are following. So that's the basis for everything. Because as soon as you have a standard you are assuring, ensuring that all the employees are following the standard and that even if they are working different shifts, every operator is going to follow the exact same procedure. So that's the basics for everything. And then once you have this standard, it's very important to have this culture of continuous improvement, because every time you have a standard, for sure you can identify a kaizen, which is an improvement. So in Japanese there is this Japanese term, the Kaizen one. So which means improvement. So every time you have a standard, the culture of continuous improvement means that you can still get better. So you have a process that is working well and it's good enough, but doesn't mean that it's fixed and it's written in stone, so you can still make it better. And that's why we need this employee involvement, because they are the ones that are identifying what improvements can be done to those standards. So that's why it needs to be in the culture of every employee, because it needs to be a team effort and needs to be a common culture in the whole company. And of course, this root cause analysis that we were discussing just before, it's very important in this process because it's going to help us to get better and better in those standards and continue on on this continuous improvement. Uh, yeah. The culture.

Dallas Dean: 15:47

Yeah. So it's interesting to hear that Japanese term kaizen in here, you know, and also, I think Kanban is another term that's used in Odoo specifically and in business culture that has come from that culture. So it's really interesting to to see that. So that's not the first time that we've mentioned employee training. So can you just expand on how that contributes to minimizing defects in manufacturing, and maybe how we can maximize our employees ability to detect these defects?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 16:21

Yeah, sure. So first, it's very important that the employees are knowing the product. So they need to understand what is the product that they are manufacturing. Understand all the different specifications, requirements, quality standards. That's very important because if they don't understand the product itself, it's going to be harder to understand the process that they are using to build it. So first there is a big, uh, training that needs to be done on the product knowledge. And that's uh, I would say the first thing to do afterwards. Then you can go to the process understanding, because once you know the product well, you understand better why certain processes need, need to be done. So I had the opportunity to visit Toyota factory last year. And they were they were using this, uh, dojo dojos that also another Japanese term to train the employees. And it was super interesting because they, uh, get to really understand their products and the process and sometimes just adjusting, uh, single screw that, you would say. But I already adjusted before. Why? I just need to adjust it once again. And then when you understand the process and the product, sorry, then you, you see how this process is really necessary so they won't skip any, um, I would say any step of the standardized work because they really see what is the purpose. And they have this, uh, sheets of paper, uh, that are the standardized, uh, work sheets, which in Odoo could be translated as the instructions that we use on the, on the shop floor. And, uh, so they see so in these instructions, they clearly see what they need to do and why they need to do it. So it's very important to understand the why as well. And not only the what. And that's also going to enter in all the skill development that we need to, uh, manage for all the different employees that are in, in, in our factories because it's something that we should not neglect at all.

Dallas Dean: 18:29

Yeah. Hearing that, the focus on why I think is really valuable. Right. So that our employees, I think, are more invested right in the company and what they're producing and some more kind of wholesome. Experience. So yeah. Next we want to talk a bit about just take a step back and talk about where our goods are coming from. So how can manufacturers handle supplier quality management to prevent defects in their products? And additionally, you know, why is it important that they do so.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 19:06

So of course it's super important to manage the quality that you are receiving from our suppliers. Because as well as we try to manage our own quality, if we don't have a good supplier, quality management, then the whole process and all the rest of the things that we have put in place in order to ensure a good quality, quality process in our factory won't have any sense if we don't ensure as well that the goods that we are receiving are also in a good quality. For example, I also had the opportunity to work with a couple of projects on pharma or in different technologies that involve health, and they have this politics that everything that they are going to receive goes into quarantine first, so that products, those products are going to be checked, and then once they are released, there's only and once they are going to be released, only then they can be used for the manufacturing processes. Because if we are talking about pharma, for example, there could be a contaminant that, uh, the supplier did not identify. And if we are combining with the rest of other ingredients, for example, then we can just simply, um, just, um, have a complete lot of a product that is not going to be good. So if we make this early, let's say defect detection, uh, we are going to avoid having a lot of costs and to rework a meaning. The world of pharma, you don't rework really. You need to scrap directly. So of course it's going to um, cause also you delays because if you need to scrap the, uh, those products, you need to reorder them again. And then maybe this will cost you delays with your customers in for example, let's say if I want to take back the steel, uh, example. Uh, yes. Yeah. You could rework it, but it's also going to take some time. It's also going to cost you some money. So maybe it's worth it to spend a little bit of time checking that everything that you are receiving from your suppliers is good. So, you know, do you have the possibility to set up quality controls on your receipts, which is a very good, uh, you could also put your recipients into steps. So you are sure that your products enter first into an input location. Then you are going to perform a quality control. And then just after that, they are going to be released and be ready for production. So that's a good way to ensure that your suppliers are delivering you good quality products.

Dallas Dean: 21:45

Great. And so you're talking about. Companies needing to understand how their costs are affected by any of these defects, whether it's companies that may be able to rework the product, such as, you know, in steel or other industries like that, versus industries where like pharma, you just have to scrap it and start over. So for all of those companies, they obviously want to know how much money is involved, like was the value of the product or the time that they're losing. So I want to talk about data analytics and how they can be used to predict and reduce these manufacturing defects. And as you're one of our experts here at Odoo, how can Odoo help in this?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 22:40

So I would say there are different steps that need to be followed. So of course, if you are manufacturing with Odoo, the good thing is that your data collection is doing automatically, and that's the first step. You need to have a good data collection tool that is going to help you to collect all relevant data about your manufacturing process, your quality inspections, your receptions, your road costs, about quality alerts, everything that we just discussed before. And once this data is collected, then you need to go one step further on the analytics. So here you can try to analyze a historical data in order to try to identify for example, common types of defects. What is their frequency. Also, if we were talking we talked at some point about maintenance. That's also a good thing because you can also detect how often you block your work centers as well. So if you are working with your OE, you can try to understand what is the mean time before failure of your machines. Maybe it's time to change a machine. Maybe it's time to refactor a machine. So all these data, all these KPIs that we can build up on using Odoo reports are super important in order to good the tools to the management, to take the right actions in order to prevent defects, to get better, uh, maintenance programs to get better, for example, quality inspections at the right places. So it's very important not only to collect this data, but to make the right analysis on it.

Dallas Dean: 24:12

Right, exactly. So by collecting this data and then taking a step back to look at it, manufacturers are going to be able to recognize what's really causing the problems in their manufacturing that they might not have noticed on their own, or at least might not have noticed how big of a problem it was creating. By really understanding that that root cause, that makes a lot of sense.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 24:34

It's very important to try to find a correlation between the cause and the defect, because that's something that is not that easy in certain sectors. Try to identify what is really causing a defect. Sometimes it's really evident, but other times it's not. So that's why data analytics are so important, because maybe you think, let's say talk for example, about surface defects for the steel industry. Maybe you think it's the temperature at which your, uh, steel sheet is going. And then finally it was not the temperature. Finally it was, I don't know, one of the chemical components that you put on at the first part of the recipe. So maybe you think it's something. And then when you analyze the historical data, the more data you have, the more I would say insurance you can have on what are the correlation that you are trying to find between the causes and the real defects, the root causes and the real defects?

Dallas Dean: 25:34

Yeah, the data collection is really important. So we have all that that historical data. So another term that I came across in my research for this episode was ISO 9001 Quality Management System. Can you tell me a bit about what that is, how it can help in reducing defects? And if I'm even pronouncing it right, is it ISO or ISO? Yeah, tell me about it.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 26:00

Well, about pronunciation I'm not quite sure, but it's um, in general, it's a framework that is going to establish a clear quality standards and requirements for your products, your processes, your services. So in the end, it needs to help you to ensure that all the activities that you are performing with the organization are aligned with the quality goals. And of course, if they are aligned with the quality goals of your company, they are going to help you to reduce defects as well. So it's very important to, uh, have a good documentation and standardized processes. It's a little bit about what we discussed in lean manufacturing. If you have clear standards and if you are ensuring that every team member is following those standards, uh, there is a good start for you, ISO 9001. And also you need to have a good documentation about those processes and procedures for all your operations. And that goes from the design until the production and the testing and also your customer services. So everything you can manage with Odoo because for example, if we're talking about design, you also have PLM module that is going to help you to have that full traceability on the different bill of materials that you have created for a single product. So if at some point you have an audit and they are asking what was the difference between version one and version three of your bill of materials, you have full traceability of that designing of your product. Then of course production. You have all the different reports and all the different traceability with lot numbers, serial numbers, which serial numbers were, uh, containing which serial numbers. The testing, what we discussed also as well with uh quality uh module and uh customer service. Of course, if you want to fully track everything with Odoo, you could also use, uh, the, uh, help, uh, the help desk in order to collect tickets and have all the traceability of the different claims that your customers might have as well.

Dallas Dean: 28:02

Interesting. Yes. Great to see that kind of interaction between the different Odoo modules. So okay, ISO 9001 is all about standardization. It's about documenting processes so that we can achieve that standardization. So then what role do these standardized processes play in minimizing manufacturing defects. Is it that simple that just more standardization means fewer defects, or is there any more complexity to it?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 28:36

I would say that more standardization for sure will help to minimize the effects, because if everyone is following the same procedure, this should mean that we have confirmed that that process is the one that should be followed. So this this means also that this process is reliable. And if we are following the steps thus that should reduce the amount of defects. Because not every team member is not just following their instincts, they are they are just they are following a standardized process that have has been created and has been tested and has been confirmed. So of course that's going to help us. But this is also going a very this is the standardized process are also very important to help us to improve. So to help us in this continuous improvement culture, because without standard there is no improvement. So you need to have a basis in which you can start your improvement analysis. And only when you have these spaces you can get better and better. So you have a standard, then you improve it. You create a second standard, then you improve it, then you create a third standard. And it's the cycle of continuous improvement that should should never end, should be always applied.

Dallas Dean: 29:52

And again, that sounds like the PLM module of, you know, creating a new improved bill of materials but being able to track the previous one. So I feel like we can't have any kind of tech podcasts without this question. But as things get more standardized, what kinds of roles do machines, AI, etc. have in this area? So, I mean, the end of the line in my mind is to have everything manufactured by robots. The workers get to benefit from their labor being replaced, instead of that profit going to just a few at the top. But before we get to off the rails, I want to know more about real time monitoring systems. How can they improve defect detection? Is that something that, uh, that you can accomplish with Odoo?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 30:40

Yeah, for sure. So there are already a lot of real time monitoring systems that are in the market. As much as we think they are expensive, some of them are not quite. For example, if we are going to, uh, talk about deviations or surface defects, for example, there are some automatic machines or sensors, visual sensors that are going to help us to go a step further than the human being, because of course we are humans. We are not machines, so we can't make mistakes. That's our human behavior. And that's why it's very important to help, to take the help of the machines. So I would say it's a collaboration work between human beings and machines. Because of course, if you have, uh, just to come back to the steel example, because it's the one I know the most, uh, we have these, uh, sensors that are going to help you to measure how much, uh, surface defects you have in a coil, in a steel coil. So you always have a team member that is checking, uh, is going, uh, to see the steel coil, uh, going through the line. But, of course, the human eye has not as much power as a machine, because you can't get tired. You can blink. You can, uh, not be at the best of your days. And the machine can help you to give you some alert and say, hey, pay attention. This coil might have too much defects per square meter, for example. So in this case, the team member could also raise the quality alert and say, we are not going to produce any more until we check out what is happening with this specific process, because maybe there is something that we need to fix first before passing a lot of products through a line and then having to rework everything or scrap everything.

Dallas Dean: 32:31

Great. Yeah, that that all makes a lot of sense. I especially like hearing about the collaboration between humans and machines so that when they take over, they have fond thoughts of us and, you know, treat us well. Yeah, yeah. Uh, so following up on Odoo role in all of this, how can integrating odors, inventory and manufacturing modules, how can that improve material quality control to prevent more defects?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 33:01

Well, uh, the integration between the inventory module and manufacturing module is huge in, in Odoo. So I would say one of the things that I value the most, if this tracking in real time about all the, um, lot numbers and serial numbers that you are using because, uh, for some industries, it's super important to be able to know which specific components were used in which specific productions. So that's a huge thing, because if at some point, for example, let's say you manufacture by lots and then you have a claim coming by a customer, and then you realize that you need to recall the whole lot. So it's super important to being able to identify all the different, uh, lots which lots were to which customer, which components were used in each lot, because that also allows you to go through an analysis with your suppliers to see if this specific defect is coming from you, or is it coming from your suppliers. So there is a big, big job in analyzing when there are defects that come through customers. And if you have this good traceability, it's going to make the process much easier. So I would say that's one of the things I like the most about Odoo other thing is that you will have real time consumption. So every time you are manufacturing something, you are decreasing your, uh, inventory, uh, in real time, and you are decreasing your inventory only from the good location. So we were talking about before, uh, releasing stock from your suppliers once it was, uh, already checked with the quality. So Odoo is never going to reserve a quantity that has not been released first. So we also have this, uh, great tool that allows us to not select, for example, expired products that, uh, for our productions as well. So, yeah, I would say it's, it's pretty robust and pretty handy for, for our production process.

Dallas Dean: 34:59

Yeah. So we're only bringing in those products that have, you know, been through the quality control point. And we can make sure that they're really ready to be used before reserving them in the manufacturing app. So just one more question about Odoo role. So how does Odoo support effective returns management when customer defects do come into play after delivery?

Ana Catherine Lozano: 35:23

Yeah. So that's why I was saying it's very important trying to not having this goods delivered to your customer. But if that happens then you must say that, you know, do you also have a very good return tracking. So you will always be able to see, uh, what is the return status? Uh, then if an item has returned to your factory of your company, you have different options. First, uh, you can just, uh, repair it. If they are, the item can be repaired, you can repair it. And then, of course, it's going to have some cost for you, but you have the full traceability. Of which serial number are you going to repair. Then if it goes again back to your customer, you can also scrap it because maybe your customer is raising a complaint. They don't want the product back, you just need to scrap it. And then uh, also we have uh, this great new functionality since our last version, which allows you to replenish your quantities from the scrap, which means that if you are scrapping something directly on the scrap, you have this checkbox that is going to allow you to replenish the quantities. So let's say you manufacture the product. If you are scrapping it from the scrap, you could say, okay, I need to remanufacture this product because I need to re deliver it to my customer. So that's also a good thing. And of course, the quality inspections on the returned products as well, because you could also set in place, uh, quality inspection on the products that you are receiving as returns in order to verify if the claim is, uh, real and what are the real problems of the product that you are receiving back.

Dallas Dean: 36:58

Yeah. So you can double check to verify what the customer is telling you. Well, so thank you so much for being on the show with us today, Anna. That's all the time we have for today. I feel like I really learned a lot. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ana Catherine Lozano: 37:11

Bye.

Dallas Dean: 37:12

And that's it for this episode. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did, and that you learned a lot about dealing with defects in your manufacturing processes. And if you'd like to learn more about MRP, be sure to listen to our episode about Shop Floor. This has been your pal Dao. I'll catch you next time.