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<Quality Lecture 120425>

What “Quality” means?

1. Introduction (why is the quality so important?)
2. What are our products?
3. What will be attributed by defectives?
4. Cases of defects (protector)
5. Commitment with SWS Takeharu Niwa
Quality Assuarance Department,
Components Group
Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.

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1. Introduction (Why is the quality so important?)

Why is “the quality so important”?
It’s because there may be no way to undo what happened as same as the safety.

Example for Safety

(1) S/he had a traffic accident and paralyzed from the waist down.
(2) S/he had a finger sandwiched and cut off between the molds.

S/he lost the finger forever. His/her life was destroyed!

Example for Quality

(1) Critical claim happened, which led to recall and huge amount of expenses.
(2) It caused customers so much troubles and led to the loss of their reliability
and new businesses.

This may result in the risk of company’s fateful crisis (bankruptcy?).

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However, as same as the safety, we (human being) can’t be aware of the

real fear/impact (importance of quality) until we experience it.

This sometimes leads to the neglect of the quality such as:

(1) Operators break the rule (because of their business)

(2) Supervisors fail to train new staff and to control operators
(3) President and top officials just focus on delivery and profits
Example
Case Can’t help doing Result
If this is a serious accident (wrongdoer),
Can’t make the Ignoring a traffic light Traffic accident => Compensation for damage, injury,
appointment Over speed Arrested by rehabilitation …
time traffic offense
Can’t meet the Not following the rule (no check) Customer If this is a serious complaint,
deadline Using new staff without training complaint => Large expense of claim handling, loss of
customer’s reliability…

* It’s too late to consider safety and quality after something happens!
All members of SWS including the president and workers are educated
about “the importance of quality” !

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2. What are our products?

We are manufacturing the connectors (housings and terminals etc.) and protective components
(grommets and protectors etc.) mainly used for wiring harnesses used in automobiles.

Engine-
Interior W/H
compartment
W/H

W/H for Under-floor Components such as housings and

motorcycles and W/H for HV
other products
terminals etc. are assembled.

◆What wiring harness is …◆

Wiring harnesses are run throughout the vehicle and serve as blood vessels and nerves in the human body.
They distribute the power from battery to various lamps, motors and computers and transmit the speed,
temperature and signals of switches etc. and also the information such as sounds and images etc.
(The number of electric wires built into one car can reach over 1000 and the total length of W/H to 1500m.)

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Products handled by Components Group

◆ Connectors (housings, terminals) ◆ ◆ Clamps ◆

Connectors are parts that connect harnesses to Clamps fasten wiring
each other and to electrical components harnesses to the body.

◆ Protectors ◆
Protectors are external parts made of resin
or metal that are attached to wiring
harnesses to protect them or to facilitate
their assembly, according to the shapes of
the body or equipment.
◆ Rubber rings/seals ◆
There are rubber rings that ensure waterproofing
between connectors and rubber seals that are set
up at the time of processing to ensure
waterproofing between terminals and connectors.

◆ Grommets ◆
Grommets are rubber collars that are used in
penetration sections on the body to protect electric
wires, tubes, and hoses, or to waterproof them.

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Components
Our products are supplied not only in Japan, but also to W/H companies
throughout the world, assembled to W/H and then delivered to car-makers. W/H

Europe America/
Mexico

Asia

Local procurement of protective components (protectors, grommets etc.) is

growing and increasing.
(Parts are produced and delivered from the suppliers located close to our
overseas W/H companies)
Overseas supplier (Plant in Vietnam) => SDVN, SHWS, SVWS, SEWT etc. => Carmaker (local)
=> Carmaker (Japan, USA)
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3. What will be attributed by defectives? These also may

These also may be be affected! !
■Example of distribution route affected! !
Components Sub-harness Assy Harness Assy Car-maker

Affiliate Domestic
/Supplier SWS
Harness Plant

Z Auto
E Factory H Factory Market
SWS A Parts Center

Z Auto
This may be B Parts Center
Not only these affected!
companies are affected
Z Auto
for recall or sorting! H Factory
Overseas plant 1
Overseas
Overseas plant 1

In the worst case, the stocks of

not only SWS and supplier, but Z Auto Market
Overseas plant 2
also of all sites in supply chain
may need to be investigated, Z Auto
recalled/sorted, including the Overseas plant 3
overseas plants!!
H Factory
Exteremely hard and tough!! Overseas plant 2
Market

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If the engine suddenly stopped during while moving!!!

If the steering wheel couldn’t be handled!!!
If the break didn’t work!!!

For example, a connector which lost sealing function could

cause the worst case depending on where it’s used.

Now, let’s see the cases of past defects.

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4. Cases of past defects (Protector)

No collar
assembly

Short shot

Weld line

Extra
material
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4-1. Protector – Short shot (1) Short shot

[Cause of occurrence] NG: 1 pc
Start-up part after short-time breakdown was mixed in the box for OK parts due to
the following factors
(1) Operator accidentally touched conveyor selector switch (from automatic to
manual) when checking the cause of short-time breakdown, start-up part couldn’t
be automatically rejected. (Presumption)
(2) There was a rule to check the quantity of start-up parts (5 shots) in red box after
purging, but actual quantity was only recorded without checking.
[Countermeasure for occurrence]
(1) Install a panel to prevent switching error and add the check process after
recovery of short-time breakdown.
OK NG
(2) Change the rule to double check the start-up parts by operator and supervisor.
[Cause of flow-out] After improvement: Panel to
It was presumed that the short shot was not detected due to the following factors: prevent switching error
(1) Inspection was neglected, as operator had to do various tasks (hinge bending,
inspection and packing.
(2) Molding machine was running during break, and the parts were piled up after
break. Inspection was neglected, because operator had to work on the molded parts.

•Inspection at production site while working on the several machines

would lead to significant risk to miss defectives!!
[Countermeasure for flow-out]
Separate the inspection process to make sure the inspection for short shot.

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4-2. Protector – Short shot at lock tab (2)

NG OK
NG: 3 pcs
[Cause of occurrence]
Parts were produced without thermoregulator. Water
temperature was low in winter and mold temperature
couldn’t be increased, which caused short shot in
process, but production was continued without taking
any actions.
[Countermeasure for occurrence]
Install and use thermoregulators in all molding machines.
Make a rule to report short shot found in process as abnormality.

[Cause of flow-out] Before improvement After improvement

(1) Monitoring might not be turned on. Back side
(2) Short shot point indicated in Inspection point was of product
difficult to understand, as the picture was taken from the
Front side for
back side of product. zoomed photo

[Countermeasure for flow-out]

(1) Add the check item of monitoring in molding condition to prevent omission of input.
(2) Change the indication of short shot point in work standard which can be easily understood
and add the pictures to compare OK and NG samples.

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4-3. Protector – Short shot at lock tab (3) OK

[Cause of occurrence]
Parts were produced in a prototyping plant in Japan instead of
actual mass production site in Vietnam due to the delayed mold
build. It can be considered the short shot occurred due to the
following factors.
(1) Parts were produced in unstable condition without checking
the safety margin of production condition based on GS. NG
* Initial 20 shots were checked by technician, but all tasks were
left to the operator in prototyping plant after that.
(2) There was no rule to handle the setup parts at short-time
breakdown in prototyping plant, thus such parts were mixed in
OK box.
[Countermeasure for occurrence]
(1) Make a rule that technician checks the safety margin of production condition according to
SWS Global Standard.
(2) Indicate the setup, OK and NG parts to prevent mixture and specify the number of setup shot
as 5 shots.
[Cause of flow-out]
(1) There was no inspection instruction and no official inspectors assured. And technical persons
inspected parts to meet the tight delivery schedule.
(2) Inspected parts were not identified by stamp etc., thus skipped process could easily happen.
[Countermeasure for flow-out]
(1) Prepare the inspection instruction from prototype stage. Assure official inspectors for inspection.
(2) Create the stamp space for inspection to prevent the skipped process.

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4-4. Protector – No collar assembly (1)

No collar
NG: 1 pc
[Cause of occurrence/flow-out]
Parts used for first/last inspections were
shipped. (Parts used for the inspection of collar
retention force)

•After pushing the collar by push-pull gauge up

to the value satisfying the spec, the collar was
checked by visual check if not moved.
(There is a possibility that such product with
lower holding force was shipped and collar was
dropped due to the shaking motion)
Problem: No rule to scrap the inspected part

[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]

Change the rule to make sure scrapping the inspected parts.

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4-5. Protector – No collar assembly (2) NG

OK
NG: 120 pcs: All assembled parts
[Cause of occurrence/flow-out]
When producing 120 pcs of the service parts
for the 1st time in 3 years, all parts had missing
collar due to the following reasons:
(1) Original data (paper & electronics data) was
not controlled properly and the assembly & inspection instructions
were lost during plant relocation.
(2) Production order was given by supervisor without the assembly & inspection
instructions and the missing collar was not recognized.
* It could have been noticed the product had 2 collars if drawing & inspection One collar
standard were checked.
missing
* Supervisor only checked if the collar could be assembled, but not the quantity.
* Inspection was performed without clear instruction for the check point.
Inspection & assembly must not be done without instructions. * Problem in production system!
[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]
(1) Review the system of original data control (paper & electronics data) and standardize the
filing methods.
Make a system to assign the dedicated person to make sure the document control and revision.
(2) Make a rule to start production even for service parts only after preparing the necessary
documents & train all employees not to start operation without such documents.

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4-6. Protector – Extra material at bracket area (1)

NG: 1,600 pcs OK
[Cause of occurrence]
Die part was broken due to the aged deterioration.
Shot number was not controlled.
[Countermeasure for occurrence]
Set the special control range of shot number to control the NG
shot number for the molds having the gates near the
functional shapes which may have faster aging of die parts.
[Cause of flow-out]
Extra material was not found during initial/last inspection in the past.
Therefore, only visual inspection is considered enough and no feeling check was Extra material
performed, which caused the flow-out of extra material.
(Inspection method was changed by Production manager’s own judgment due to heavy workload of
inspection.)
* It’s also a problem to perform inspection in Production section.
[Countermeasure for flow-out]
Train all employees to make sure to perform the feeling check with a jig when checking the
functional area.
Initial & last production inspection is to be done by QA. * No inspection at Production section.
This could almost cause the line stoppage at car-maker!
[Reference] Line stoppage at car-maker costs 2 million yen/car/46 secs

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4-7. Protector – Extra material at bracket area (2) Bracket can’t be assembled
due to extra material
NG: 28 pcs @ car-maker, 453 pcs @ W/H plant
[Cause of occurrence/flow-out]
All finished-parts stocks of suspect lot were scrapped,
but 481 pcs separately stored as non-standard qty
Extra material
were forgotten to be scrapped, considered as those
OK NG
produced after tool modification and shipped with OK parts.

Problem: (1) No rule to check the scrapping of non-standard qty parts. (no clear rule)
(2) Scrapping is done only by operators. (no qty check, no supervisor approval)

[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]

(1) Improve the documents and system to distribute information to concerned
departments when problem occurs.
(2) Crosscheck the NG and scrap qty to make sure all qty are scrapped (check by
supervisor).

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4-8. Broken band due to weld line at band neck

NG: 200 pcs

Band neck broken at
[Cause of occurrence/flow-out]
W/H plant
Molding condition (injection speed & holding pressure
was changed to prevent the broken die parts.
At that time, the weld line was appearing at band neck,
but there was no rule to inspect the parts according to
SWS Inspection Standard at the changing point such as
Broken when bent
when molding condition is changed. Weld line

[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]

(1) Make a rule to prepare the own inspection instruction according to SWS Inspection
Standard and perform inspection.
(Band insertion force, loop retention force, lock breakage check at low temperature etc.)
(2) Add the original inspection to bend the band neck at low temperature (1 shot/lot)

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4-9. Protector - Wrong material (1) : Correct = FR, Wrong = Non-FR

Wrong material happened due to the “transcription error” of material
name to the relative documents at SOP. Production with
Original preparation flow wrong material
can’t be noticed!

SWS document QC Process Chart

Uncontrolled (Prepared, but not actually used) Wrong material
Drawing
document ordered
Inspection Material Request Sheet
(Inidividual memo) Material: B Protector
standard “TECH,PARTS”
Material : A
Molding condition chart produced
Material: B Material: B (Other documents)
Material: B
[Cause of occurrence]
The rule didn’t specify to prepare each relative document based on customer’s documents
(drawing, Inspection standard). Therefore, each document was prepared based on uncontrolled
document (individual memo: not approved), which had transcription error.
[Cause of flow-out]
There was no rule to crosscheck own documents with customer’s ones (drawing, inspection standard).
[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]
(1) Prepare QA organization chart to clarify responsible departments.
(2) Make a rule to crosscheck the newly-issued documents with customer’s drawing and
inspection standard with approval in order to prevent transcription error.

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4-10. Protector - Wrong material (2) : Correct = Non-FR, Wrong = FR

[Cause of occurrence/flow-out] Comparison of wrong material used
(1) Production performed at tool maker after tool Material-A Material-B
modification, as the delivery was urgently required.
* Tool maker was not registered as 2nd subcontractor
(2) Outsourcing production was an abnormal operation
which requires stronger quality control, but
all operations were left up to tool maker and done
without the presence of supplier’s person in charge.
(3) Material was supplied by actual supplier, but with bad
identification and the tool maker didn’t understand the Difference only the presence of last number
of “-2” （other appearance are the same),
meaning. but the material property totally different.
* Material control at tool maker was not appropriate.
Identification
[Countermeasure for occurrence/flow-out]
sticker after
(1) Prohibit the production at tool maker (mass production). improvement
(2) Clarify the identification of materials (See the right picture).
(Provide trainings to the tool maker regarding the SWS
requirements so as to enable them to produce the parts)

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5. Commitment with SWS

Observe the followings to achieve Zero Complaint!
(1) Recognize our products are used all over the world.
(Even 1 defect is shipped, it can be used in someone’s car in the world (might be yours?
If shipped, it’s not only causing the big accident, but also considerable amount of
workforce, time and cost for handling the issue.
(Also losing the customer’s reliability!)
(2) Operation procedure has a meaning. Understand what purpose and what relation
with before and after operations when working.
(3) Make sure to follow the rule.
If any difficulty is found, report it to supervisor for improvement.
(4) Supervisor must give trainings until operators understood well.
(5) Supervisor must check periodically if the operation is done properly.
(6) Supervisor must make sure abnormality handling and change point control.
* Most complaints are caused by wrong handling of abnormality and lack of change point control!

All members including president must commit themselves to “Quality First”!!

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ご安全に！

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