The challenge

This Tier 1 automotive supplier — a water pump manufacturer — had a quality control plan that checked all the ISO boxes. Checks were being performed, results were being recorded, and audits were passing. On paper, the quality system was working.

The reality on the floor told a different story. Production staff were spending significant time executing checks manually — plotting control charts by hand with 20 to 30 data points per part. The paper reports got filed. The data went dark. Nothing that happened in the quality check process fed back into improving First Time Through (FTT) or OEE. It was compliance activity, not improvement activity.

Before 10in6, the team was:

  • Running paper-based, time-consuming quality checks on every shift
  • Manually plotting control charts — slow, error-prone, and never analysed after the fact
  • Filing check results that could not be practically trended, searched, or acted on
  • Missing the connection between quality check outcomes and line performance metrics

The solution: Scheduled Quality Checks

The customer implemented 10in6 Scheduled Quality Checks — a module that digitises every in-process and start-up check, delivers work instructions in context, and captures results into a structured database for real-time analysis.

10in6 trained the team on an initial set of checks. From there, the customer completed 75% of the remaining configuration themselves. That's not a footnote — it reflects how the module is designed. The tooling is accessible enough that operations and quality teams can own it, not depend on external resources to manage it.

After deployment, the team had:

  • Electronically triggered check intervals — no more relying on operators to remember
  • Touch-screen entry with in-context work instructions at each step
  • Real-time alerts and notifications for out-of-spec results
  • Automated SPC control charts — no manual plotting
  • Historical trending across machine, operator, part number, and shift
  • A plant-wide quality scorecard visible to management in real time
  • A complete, date-stamped audit trail for every check ever performed
Touch-screen quality check entry with in-context work instructions
Touch-screen quality check entry — work instructions appear in context for each step, reducing check time and improving accuracy.
Automated SPC control chart with out-of-spec alerting
Automated SPC control charts are plotted for each variable. Out-of-spec results trigger immediate alerts — catching process drift before defects are produced.

The results

Six months after go-live, the data was unambiguous.

FTT improvement from 72% to 83% over 6 months
First Time Through (FTT) improved from 72% to 83% over six months — an 11-point gain driven by earlier defect detection and faster quality check cycles.
OEE improvement from 32% to 54% over 6 months
OEE improved from 32% to 54% over the same period. The simultaneous FTT gain tells the story: fewer out-of-spec stoppages and less rework meant more productive time on the line.
The simultaneous improvement in FTT and OEE isn't a coincidence. When quality checks run faster and catch issues earlier, the line stops fewer times — and fewer parts need to be reworked or scrapped. The two metrics compound each other.

Business outcomes

The improvement metrics are the headline, but the operational changes underneath them are worth understanding:

  • Checks take less time — work instructions on screen reduce the cognitive load of each check, so operators complete them faster and more consistently.
  • Quality data is now used for improvement, not just compliance — the team can actually trend results, find root causes, and make targeted changes. The ISO obligation and the operational value are no longer separate things.
  • Paper waste and storage costs reduced — paper check sheets, binders, and the filing infrastructure that supports them represent real overhead. That overhead is gone.
  • Audits are simpler — every check, every result, every date and timestamp is in the system. Customer and regulatory audits that used to require manual record retrieval now take minutes.

This customer is a Tier 1 supplier. Their customers expect quality performance data, not just quality compliance. 10in6 Scheduled Quality Checks gave them the infrastructure to deliver both — and to keep improving.