There has been a lot of coverage in the news in recent months about the climate report that has indicated that major changes need to be made in the next 12 years
if global warming is to be maintained within manageable limits.
The major focus in the report is on the ‘carbon footprint’ and its effect of global warming.
The major contributor to the increased carbon footprint is the use of carbon based fossil fuels in the production of energy.
Of course there are many steps that individuals and businesses can take to reduce their carbon footprint,
but a recent speech by David Attenborough highlights the one step we can all take,
and that is to reduce waste.
This talk is of course primarily focused on domestic waste; but what about reducing waste in the manufacturing industry?
Quality costs may be as much as 25% of revenue mostly from rework, scrap, warranty, product-liability claims, and recalls
(see our
Process Capable Tolerancing article).
This of course is enormously wasteful in terms of resources, material and energy consumption.
The largest single factor in the production of scrap and rework is the components being out of tolerance.
So how can a business make sure they minimise such waste?
Well the first step is to ensure that capable tolerances are allocated before a item goes into production.
Traditionally the tolerances are allocated based on past designs (which may themselves be incapable!)
or by reference to standards.
However these are often limited in scope and difficult to interpret or are simply out of date.
Sometimes there is just no information readily available to assist in allocating a capable tolerance.
That is where Tolcap can help; by analysing the critical tolerances early in the design phase there is an opportunity to set capable tolerances
and therefore vastly reduce the wasted resources and materials involved in manufacturing components that are out of tolerance.
So if you are serious about the environment then give Tolcap a try out by
registering for a free trial.
Written by:
Dr Martin Raines CEng, MIMechE
Martin is a founding member of the Capra Technology team and specialises in software solutions for capable design and manufacture.
Martin's expertise in quality and reliability engineering is called upon by an international client base including BAE and Rolls Royce.