The weather is fine and the mood is pleasant: Focus on the appearance quality issues of products
In the actual scenario of product production operations, appearance quality problems are like hidden reefs, occurring frequently and seriously affecting the normal progress of production. From the numerous on - site operation cases we have collected, the proportion of appearance quality problems exceeds 60%. This astonishing data fully indicates that appearance quality problems have become a "chronic illness" in the production process. Moreover, the production department, quality department, and after - sales department often have disagreements in grasping the appearance quality standards. This kind of disagreement not only increases the communication cost but also easily leads to low production efficiency. Therefore, it is particularly urgent to conduct an in - depth discussion on product appearance quality problems.
Appearance defects: Definition, impact, and market acceptance
Appearance defects refer to the minor problems in the appearance materials of products that do not affect their functions and performance. Common ones include scratches, dirt, burrs, steps, and gate marks. In a highly competitive market environment, a product with a novel style, bright color, and reasonable price can often quickly catch customers' eyes and become an important incentive for consumers to make a purchase. If the product's appearance is also flawless, it will undoubtedly be a bonus and make customers even more interested. However, most customers can generally accept some appearance defects when purchasing products. As long as the defects are not too obvious, they are usually within the acceptable range. This shows that on the premise of ensuring the basic functions and performance of products, there can be a certain degree of flexibility in dealing with appearance defects.
Departmental disputes: The root causes of the divergence between manufacturing and quality
The issue of appearance defects is one of the focal points of the debate between the manufacturing department and the quality department. The manufacturing department often adheres to the pragmatic view that as long as the appearance defects of the product do not affect its basic use, the products should be released to the maximum extent, and there is no need to pursue overly high appearance quality. They are worried that spending too much man - hours on repairing appearance defects will increase production costs and reduce production efficiency.On the other hand, the quality department pays more attention to customer satisfaction and the company's market reputation. They are worried that appearance defects may lead to customer complaints and affect the company's brand image. Therefore, they advocate strict handling of appearance defects even if it increases costs.However, when determining whether appearance defects can be accepted, both the manufacturing department and the quality department mostly base their judgments on their own subjective wishes or past experience, without really understanding the customers' needs. This approach of "judging others by one's own standards" is likely to result in a disconnection between the judgment results and the actual needs of customers.The correct approach should be to conduct a survey among people in the factory who are not related to quality production, collect their opinions, and conduct statistical analysis, and use this as a reference for judgment.
Analysis of the characteristics of appearance defects
Non - numerical
The definition of appearance specifications is usually rather vague. For example, a statement like "…at a distance of more than 30 cm, under normal lighting conditions, after continuous viewing for 5 seconds, it is acceptable as long as it is not conspicuous…" can give people a general understanding, but it is fraught with difficulties in actual implementation. Many appearance defects cannot be precisely measured for specific values by instruments. It is difficult to clearly define how much of a defect is unacceptable and how much is acceptable for release. Instead, it more depends on people's subjective feelings. This makes the judgment of appearance quality highly uncertain.
Humanity ( artificiality )
Different appraisers may reach completely different conclusions about the same defect due to differences in factors such as gender, personality, age, education level, habits, and religious beliefs. This means that there are also significant differences in the requirements of different customers for the product appearance. For example, young people may pay more attention to the fashion sense of the product appearance and have a relatively high tolerance for some minor defects; while middle - aged and elderly people may pursue the refinement of the product more and be more sensitive to appearance defects.
Changeability over time
The time-dependent change has two implications. On the one hand, people's requirements for appearance defects change over different periods. When goods are in short supply, consumers may have a relatively high tolerance for appearance defects; while when goods are unsalable, even minor defects may trigger consumer complaints. On the other hand, as the storage environment changes, some appearance defects themselves will also change, such as increased rusting, spreading of oil stains, fading of colors, etc. This requires enterprises to fully consider the impact of environmental factors on the product appearance during the product storage and transportation process.
Analysis of the judgment mode for appearance defects
If customers can be invited to participate in the manufacturing process and allowed to personally select the satisfactory appearance materials, the issue of judging appearance defects will be greatly simplified. However, in actual operation, the judgment of appearance defects has its particularities and cannot be simply equated with the judgment of performance and function. We can describe the judgment model of appearance defects from the interrelationships among three aspects: ideal standards, actual control, and customer needs.
Ideal standard
Judging personnel often firmly believe that the standards they adopt meet the requirements of customers, but this confidence sometimes lacks sufficient basis. In fact, different judging personnel may have different ideal standards, and these standards may deviate from the actual needs of customers.
Actual control
Actual control refers to the process in which the appraisers make judgments on physical objects. In this process, the judgment criteria of the appraisers will be affected by various factors, such as personal experience and work pressure.
Customer needs
Customer requirements refer to the acceptance level of each specific customer towards defects. Many people mistakenly think that the requirements of all customers are the same. In fact, different customers have very different acceptance levels towards appearance defects. Customer requirements can be obtained through various channels, such as market research and customer feedback.
Phenomenon analysis under three types of judgment modes
Actual control takes precedence over customer needs
When the ideal standard is higher than the customer's requirements and the actual control becomes increasingly strict, gradually exceeding the customer's requirements, a series of problems will arise. First of all, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the subsequent processes, the inspection of the previous processes will be more stringent than that of the subsequent processes, resulting in a large number of good products being misjudged as defective products and scrapped, thus increasing the production cost. Secondly, there will be more disputes between the front and back processes over the responsibility for appearance defects, and departments will blame each other, which affects team cooperation. Moreover, although the product appearance gives a good impression to customers, the price does not increase correspondingly, and the enterprise cannot obtain the income matching the high - cost input. Finally, in order to ensure the appearance quality of products, the protective measures will continue to increase, and the non - standard costs will also rise accordingly.
The actual control is lower than the customer's demand
When the ideal standard is higher than the customer's requirements, but the actual control becomes increasingly lax and gradually falls below the customer's requirements, it will also bring many adverse effects. The impression of the product's appearance on customers deteriorates, the number of appearance complaints increases, and the company's reputation is damaged. During the manufacturing process, employees will neglect the appearance quality and may even form the wrong concept that "appearance is not part of quality." No one will stop the behaviors that cause appearance defects during the operation process, leading to more serious appearance quality problems.
The actual control fluctuates around the ideal standard as the center line
When the ideal standard is higher than the customer's requirements and the actual control fluctuates around the ideal standard as the center line, and it is not far from the customer's requirements, this model is relatively reasonable. Under this model, the enterprise should promptly adjust the actual control standard. When the actual control shows a strict tendency, it should be adjusted downward immediately to bring it closer to the customer's requirements; when there are customer complaints, it should be adjusted upward immediately to make it approach the ideal standard. Doing so can effectively reduce the occurrence of appearance defects, lower production costs, improve customer satisfaction, and at the same time ease the tense relationship between departments.
Discussion on the technological methods for appearance defect problems
Prevent in advance
Pre - prevention is an important means to reduce appearance defects. On the one hand, it is necessary to prevent appearance defects caused by operators. For example, it is required that personnel in contact with the appearance wear gloves and finger cots, and they are not allowed to wear rings or keep long fingernails. On the other hand, it is necessary to prevent poor appearance caused by fixtures and equipment. For example, perform chamfering treatment on parts in contact with the appearance, stick sponges, and clean the equipment regularly. These measures belong to active prevention, with low cost and easy implementation, and are widely used in the production of products with strict appearance requirements.
Set up screening samples after the event
Setting up selected samples after the fact is a commonly used judgment method. The selected samples should be able to reflect the customer's requirements. The manufacturing, quality, and marketing departments should all hold the same samples and make judgments based on the samples. At the same time, the judgment conditions should be clearly defined. For example, there should be detailed regulations on the visual distance, light intensity, validity period, etc. However, this method is like "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted". It cannot fundamentally eliminate the defects and is just a helpless remedial measure.
Reduce the factory quality grade
For some products with appearance defects that cannot be reversed once they occur, they can only be sold at a lower quality grade. However, it should be noted that the lower the grade, the lower the market selling price, while the manufacturing cost is the same as that of high - quality products. Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, enterprises should not easily adopt this method. Moreover, the occurrence of appearance defects is uncertain. Not all defects have comparable samples, nor can all protective measures be 100% effective.
Users' perception and judgment methods of appearance defects
Try releasing some "water"
For defects that are difficult to judge, record their details, including the factory serial numbers, and let the products with such defects enter the market for trial sales and follow - up. If there are complaints returned, it indicates that the defect fails to meet the customers' needs; if there are no complaints, it means that customers can accept the degree of the defect, and the judgment criteria can even be appropriately relaxed. It should be noted that the trial sales and follow - up should be carried out in different regions to avoid result deviations caused by concentrated sales.
Avoid the "preconceived" notion
During the process of judging appearance defects, it is necessary to avoid the influence of the "preconceived" concept on the judgment results. The inspectors should only inform that there are defects without specifying the specific locations and degrees, and the confirmers should search and make judgments on their own. Only when both of them judge that it is not acceptable can it possibly be truly unacceptable. Otherwise, the opinions of the confirmers shall prevail.
Decision made by laymen
The determination of appearance defects is different from that of performance and functions. The standards of laypeople are often closer to customers' requirements. Since full-time inspectors are exposed to appearance defects for a long time, they may unconsciously raise the determination standards. Therefore, when it is difficult to determine appearance defects, some unrelated laypeople can be invited to participate and their opinions can be heard.
Visit customers regularly
The appraisers directly visit customers to solicit their opinions on the product appearance and obtain first-hand information. Some companies arrange quality control personnel to work at the sales counters regularly in order to understand customer needs in a timely manner so as to adjust the appearance quality appraisal standards.
Comparison samples
For controversial appearance defects, if equivalent samples are set in advance, the judgment can be clearly made by comparing with the samples. At the same time, the appearance samples should be adjusted in a timely manner according to the changes in customer needs to ensure the accuracy of the judgment.
In summary, enterprises need to conduct in - depth research and comprehensively consider various factors when judging appearance defects. Only in this way can they reduce the cases of "misjudgment", cut unnecessary costs caused by excessive quality, reduce market complaints, maintain the company's market reputation, and achieve the sustainable development of the enterprise.