Quality through closed-loop manufacturing

Pratt & Whitney has employed automated part probing as part of its manufacturing process to provide final inspection, data collection and analysis, and process adjustment.

Japanese industry took the lead in building quality products in the 1980s. Part of its success is attributed to the scientific approach of learning about the cause of deficient part quality during the manufacturing process and subsequently analyzing and improving the process. The scientific approach to resolve any problem consists of evaluating the current state of the problem, defining the desired state, developing solutions, selecting the most suitable solution, and eventually implementing it to achieve the desired state. The basis for understanding a problem's cause-or in the case of a manufacturing process, understanding its capability and variability-is the gathering of information. Ideally, the information is gathered automatically.

Therefore, Pratt & Whitney has looked to closed-loop manufacturing (CLM) with the purpose of measuring the current capabilities of its production processes and adjusting them, as well as product design, to improve product manufacture.