Achieving Higher Quality and Meeting Specifications Through the Production, Monitoring, and Quality Control Process, 1997 Asian Laminates Symposium Proceedings

Prerequisites for achieving consistent quality levels in the HPL process are a business philosophy with quality as a focus, knowledge of the quality levels required by the market, an understanding of the basic HPL production technology and control theory & the provision of sufficient resources within the business to allow for the required level of QA activities. The quality focus of the business should be integrated into every aspect of the enterprise from the basic layout of the manufacturing facility, the design of capital equipment, the technology used, raw materials used, operating procedures, staff training, planning & scheduling systems and product delivery logistics to such an extent that quality becomes a culture for all employees of the business. The fundamental quality focus can then be supported with appropriate quality control procedures & processes at each step of the manufacturing process. The nature of the basic quality control procedures used in the laminate industry are well known and documented. An effective system based on simple tests in the key steps of the process will yield good results. This basic control system can be augmented by computer based control & test equipment and commercially available total quality improvement systems.