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Quality inspection of finished goods creates a bottleneck and disrupts flow.
Many companies have the practice of their finished goods go through the tedious process of Statistical Quality Control (SQC), where a pre-specified number of samples is drawn from the production lot and tested for conformance to various specifications. It inevitably delays the dispatch of the entire production lot till the sample is cleared, which could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It also adversely impacts the twin consumer measures of availability and freshness.
Many of these tests can actually be done online before the product is packed. New technologies like Computer Vision can effectively replace several manual inspection steps. In case of liquids, which typically have a two-step process of bulk making and packing, chemical analysis can be done at the bulk stage itself.
The most effective process, of course, is Poka Yoke which ensures that the production line can’t produce defects. We should be on the lookout to apply it at as many places as possible.