Case Study: Extracting value from manufacturing quality control data through standardization
Challenge
A manufacturing company's QA process relied on ~1,500 unstandardized Excel spreadsheets for Statistical Process Control data collection, preventing scalable analysis despite capturing valuable quality assurance information. This led to slow non-scalable manual QA processes and prevented business growth.
Solution
- Analyzed existing Excel-based SPC data collection workflow and standardization gaps
- Designed integrated system connecting familiar Excel interface to PostgreSQL database on AWS RDS backend
- Built automated spreadsheet generation tool creating standardized formats for each part type
- Developed data validation macros enabling both manual input and measurement machine integration
- Implemented AWS-hosted managed services ensuring reliable performance and scalability
Results
- Maintained team comfort with Excel while establishing proper relational database structure
- Generated automatically standardized inspection spreadsheets for all 1,500 part types
- Reduced lot acceptance/rejection decision time through immediate automated validation
- Enabled scalable data analysis by standardizing previously incompatible spreadsheet formats
- Created centralized database automatically collecting all inspection data for comprehensive analysis
The standardized system preserved familiar workflows while unlocking previously inaccessible data value through automated collection and analysis capabilities.