IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN A PORCELAIN FACTORY

According to SR EN ISO 9000, quality represents the performance and the characteristics of a product or service that determine its ability to meet the customer explicit or implicit requirements. The quality of the products is first of all appreciated and verified by the manufacturer, but ultimately its ability is appreciated by the customer. The aim of this paper is to improve the quality of one of the products manufactured in a porcelain factory named S.C. APULUM S.A. by testing different pressing bodies used to produce ceramic products. Thus, physical methods have been used in order to identify the main physical characteristics of the pressing bodies and of the raw pressed product. The results of the analysis performed show that two of the pressing bodies fit the reference values regarding the parameters considered, while the outcomes obtained from the raw pressed product analysis emphasise that all the pressing bodies are compliant with the established values of the analysed features. Taking into account the results of the physical characteristics and, also, the framing of the product into quality classes, in conclusion, it will be determined which pressing body is the best suited for the manufacturing process of the product considered.