Quality Control

What it does

Built around how the work actually happens

Inspection documents linked to the GRN, batch or packing lot
Defect library with quantity per defect and 4-point scoring
Pass, rework and reject routing that moves stock to the right store
Defect analysis by machine, shift, operator and article
Pass-rate trend so improvement is measurable

What the daily routine looked like before

The morning shift in the grey-store starts with a stack of supplier delivery notes. A clerk ticks each line against the purchase order, then carries the lot to the inspection table. A second clerk flips through a ring-binder of AQL tables, picks a sample size, and begins counting defects on a tally sheet. If the lot passes, the clerk writes a hand-written Goods Received Note (GRN) and sends it to the stores supervisor; if it fails, the lot sits in a quarantine corner until the supplier is called. The same ritual repeats at the loom beam stage, the dye-house and the packing line, each with its own paper form and its own in-tray.

At the end of the week the quality manager collects the forms, transcribes the defect counts into a spreadsheet, and tries to spot trends. The spreadsheet is slow, so it is only updated monthly. By the time a loom is flagged for poor selvedge quality, another 500 metres of fabric have already been woven.

How an inspection document moves through the system

Who raises it

Incoming: The store clerk scans the GRN barcode; the system opens an inspection document pre-filled with the lot number, supplier, article and quantity.
In-process (loom beam): The weaver scans the beam ticket; the system creates an inspection document linked to the beam and the loom number.
In-process (dye batch): The dye-house supervisor scans the batch card; the system opens an inspection document for the batch and the recipe.
Final (packing): The packing supervisor scans the carton label; the system creates an inspection document for the packing lot and the customer order.

Who posts it

The inspector enters the sample size, records each defect from the library, and selects Pass, Rework or Reject. When the document is saved, the system:

updates the stock status (available, rework, quarantine, scrap);
posts a stock movement from the inspection location to the appropriate store;
increases the defect count in the library for the article, machine, shift and operator;
updates the pass-rate trend for the article and the supplier.

What it affects in stock and in the ledger

Stock: Passed lots move to the main store; rejected lots move to quarantine or scrap; rework lots move to the rework store and trigger a rework order.
Ledger: Scrapped material posts a stock write-off to the cost-of-goods-sold account; rework labour and material post to the rework work-centre; quarantine stock remains on the balance sheet but is flagged as non-available.

The reports and the decisions they support

Report	Content	Decision it supports
Inspection Summary	Pass, rework and reject counts by inspection stage, article and date range.	Identify which stage is the biggest bottleneck and whether rework is increasing.
Defect Analysis	Defect counts by machine, shift, operator, article and defect type, with 4-point scores.	Pinpoint which loom, dye machine or operator is causing the most defects and whether training or maintenance is needed.
Pass-rate Trend	Weekly pass rates for each article and supplier, plotted as a line graph.	Decide whether to continue with a supplier or to renegotiate terms based on consistent quality.
Defect Library	List of all defect types with descriptions, images and the 4-point weighting.	Standardise defect definitions across shifts and train new inspectors.

What usually goes wrong without a digital quality system

Paper forms pile up on desks. A clerk misplaces the inspection sheet for a 5-tonne yarn lot; the lot is accepted without inspection and woven into 2 000 towels. The defect is only caught at final packing, by which time the towels have already been dyed and stitched. The entire batch must be reworked or scrapped, costing labour, dye and lost production time.

Trends are invisible. A loom starts producing selvedge defects every third shift, but the paper forms are only summarised monthly. By the time the maintenance team is alerted, the loom has run for another three weeks, producing 15 km of defective fabric. The fabric is either reworked at extra cost or shipped to a customer who then returns it.

Rework is not tracked. A dye batch fails inspection and is sent back for stripping and re-dyeing. The rework labour and chemicals are recorded on a scrap of paper and never entered into the costing system. The batch appears to have zero cost variance, so the dye-house manager is never asked to explain the overrun.

Supplier performance is anecdotal. The purchasing manager remembers that Supplier A’s yarn is “usually good” but has no data to support a volume discount or to justify switching to Supplier B. When Supplier A delivers a sub-standard lot, the purchasing manager has no leverage in the negotiation.

Stock status is unreliable. A rejected lot sits in quarantine for weeks because the quarantine tag fell off. The lot is eventually found during a physical stock-take, but by then the supplier has already been paid and the material is no longer returnable.

Worked illustration

A plant runs 100 loom beams per week. Without digital inspection, 5 % of beams are misclassified—either accepted when they should be rejected or rejected when they should be accepted. Over a year, this amounts to 260 beams (52 weeks × 100 beams × 5 %). If each beam represents 1 000 towels, the plant either scraps 260 000 good towels or ships 260 000 defective towels to customers.

Questions about Quality Control

Can the 4-point scoring be customised for our defect types?

Yes. The defect library ships with standard textile defects, but you can add, remove or re-weight defects. Each defect is given a 1, 2, 3 or 4-point score based on severity. The system recalculates the total score automatically when the library is updated.

What happens if an inspector enters the wrong defect code?

The document can be corrected before it is posted. Once posted, the defect count is locked, but an administrator can reverse the document and re-post it with the correct codes. The reversal posts a negative stock movement to correct the ledger.

Can we link inspection documents to customer complaints?

The system does not track customer complaints directly, but you can attach a complaint reference to the final inspection document. The complaint number then appears on the Defect Analysis report, so you can trace defects back to customer returns.

Do we need a separate terminal at every inspection station?

No. The module runs on any browser, so you can use a shared tablet or a desktop PC. If the station is dusty or wet, a ruggedised tablet with a barcode scanner is recommended.