Flex Ltd. (Automotive Division) · Manufacturing · Detroit, MI · 18 weeks
Quality data foundation built across 4 plants
A Tier 1 auto parts supplier faced high defect rates, 21 per 1,000 units, leading to $4.6M in annual warranty claims. Quality data was scattered across four plants, preventing clear visibility. We consolidated the data into a single system, enabling targeted quality improvements. This cut defects to 4 per 1,000 units and slashed most warranty claims.
Challenge
The supplier’s four plants tracked quality data in separate systems, each using its own defect classifications. Without a unified view, they couldn’t spot patterns or root causes across plants. With 21 defects per 1,000 units, warranty claims hit $4.6 million annually, putting their preferred supplier status with their biggest OEM customer at risk.
Approach
We created a consistent quality data system on Azure Synapse that aligned defect categories from all four plants. Then, we developed a real-time dashboard to catch process deviations immediately. We also built an analysis tool to identify recurring defect patterns affecting multiple plants.
Outcome
We cut defect escapes from 21 to 4 per 1,000 units in six months by refining inspection processes and targeting failure modes. This drove warranty claims down from $4.6 million to $880,000 annually. As a result, our biggest OEM customer renewed their preferred supplier status, directly attributing the decision to the improved product quality.
We made sure all four plants spoke the same language by standardizing defect categories. No more confusion, just clear, shared info.
Each plant was using its own old defect tracking system, so the data was all over the map and didn’t really line up. We spent about a month gathering everything and building one standard way to classify defects. That step was crucial, it let us spot trends across all plants and dig into the bigger problems hiding underneath.
How We Tracked Process Quality in Real Time
So, we built this SPC dashboard to track 240 process parameters across four plants, all happening in real time. The best part? It flags any out-of-control issues within 15 minutes. In the first month alone, it caught 8 problems the old system totally missed. That meant zero defective batches got through.
We noticed quality problems showing up at several plants. So, we jumped right in to fix them.
So, we took a deep dive into defect data from all the plants and noticed the same three issues kept showing up at different sites. The teams hadn’t caught these because they were only looking at their own local data. Once we zeroed in on those problems and tackled them directly, we cut warranty claims by $2.2 million. That was most of the $3.7 million we saved overall.
Results
- $4.6M to $880K Annual warranty claims
- 21 to 4 per 1,000 units Defect escapes per 1,000 units
- 4 Plants on unified quality data
- 18 wks Foundation delivered
We were losing $4.6 million a year on warranty claims, and our biggest customer was close to dropping us as a preferred supplier. Thinklytics helped us find issues we hadn’t caught because they were happening across all four plants. After that, we brought the defect rate down from 21 to 4 per 1,000 units.