Improving Information Flow for Decision Making on Product Quality in the Automotive Industry

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify improvement possibilities in the data processing and information flow relating to product quality in the processes of automotive component production, which might result in the acceleration of decision making on product quality and reduction of defects and related costs. The expected results of the proposed improvement are presented in the paper. Methodology/Approach: Modelling and simulations of the component production processes with the current and proposed state of information flow were made in the QPR software to test the effect of the changes in the information flows. Subsequently, the results of the simulations of both process models were compared from the perspective of quality. Findings: Results of the simulations showed the positive effect of the proposed changes reflecting in the lower number of defects compared to the current state. Based on the accurate and timely received information on product quality, needed interventions to the process can be realized to reduce the defects. Research Limitation/implication: The limitation of the paper is the exact estimation of benefits after the improvement implementation. The expected benefits were defined on the base of test operation. Originality/Value of paper: The originality of the paper is in the applicability of the proposed solution in organisations operating in the automotive industry or other data-driven manufacturing organisations calling for timely and accurate information access to achieve a high level of quality, effectiveness and efficiency in the production processes. Category: Research paper