Inspections in the manufacturing industry during the time of COVID

What’s going on…

The travel restrictions and lack of access to company premises and manufacturing sites due to the global pandemic situation have had a major impact on many manufacturing operations, an area where companies are increasingly turning to remote collaboration tools to move their operations forward and maintain business continuity.

What’s going on…

The travel restrictions and lack of access to company premises and manufacturing sites due to the global pandemic situation have had a major impact on many manufacturing operations, an area where companies are increasingly turning to remote collaboration tools to move their operations forward and maintain business continuity.

Factory Acceptance Test.

A Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is a process that involves a series of operations aimed at verifying the proper functioning of a machine during and after its assembly phase and has the objective of assuring the manufacturer and the customer about adherence to the design specifications that were agreed upon at the start of a project. The test, normally performed within the firm that produces a given part of the system, ensures that each component functions as intended, both when considered individually and in the wider context of the completed machinery into which it is to be installed.
Therefore, the inspections that are normally performed are intended to detect and document compliance errors and plan a series of corrective actions before the installation phase at the customer’s premises. The sequence of operations constituting a FAT must be completed in its entirety to avoid the economic repercussions of having to fix undetected defects directly on site.

Factory Acceptance Test.

A Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is a process that involves a series of operations aimed at verifying the proper functioning of a machine during and after its assembly phase and has the objective of assuring the manufacturer and the customer about adherence to the design specifications that were agreed upon at the start of a project. The test, normally performed within the firm that produces a given part of the system, ensures that each component functions as intended, both when considered individually and in the wider context of the completed machinery into which it is to be installed.
Therefore, the inspections that are normally performed are intended to detect and document compliance errors and plan a series of corrective actions before the installation phase at the customer’s premises. The sequence of operations constituting a FAT must be completed in its entirety to avoid the economic repercussions of having to fix undetected defects directly on site.

Travel limitations and impact on the industry

The current spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all companies operating in the industrial manufacturing sector.

Many companies have been severely impacted by the pandemic, both in their operations and their finances, with plant closures and reduced employee shifts. Justifiably, the number one priority for companies in the industry was to protect the health of both their workforce and the customer’s staff, who typically visited manufacturing plants to ensure that work was progressing smoothly.
The closure of production units and the restrictions on travel have accelerated the digitisation of many field service activities and have opened up the possibility for companies to connect field workers with remote personnel to ensure business continuity, efficiency and sustainability at multiple levels of the chain, including at the critical inspection stage.

Travel limitations and impact on the industry

The current spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all companies operating in the industrial manufacturing sector.

Many companies have been severely impacted by the pandemic, both in their operations and their finances, with plant closures and reduced employee shifts. Justifiably, the number one priority for companies in the industry was to protect the health of both their workforce and the customer’s staff, who typically visited manufacturing plants to ensure that work was progressing smoothly.
The closure of production units and the restrictions on travel have accelerated the digitisation of many field service activities and have opened up the possibility for companies to connect field workers with remote personnel to ensure business continuity, efficiency and sustainability at multiple levels of the chain, including at the critical inspection stage.

Remote collaboration in inspection.

Modern digital tools such as Augmented Reality for remote FAT execution bring unprecedented benefits to companies that use them, starting with reducing deployment times and technological innovation of supervised equipment, while also ensuring a more agile response to customer requests and greater knowledge transfer within and outside the organisation.

Remote collaboration in inspection.

Modern digital tools such as Augmented Reality for remote FAT execution bring unprecedented benefits to companies that use them, starting with reducing deployment times and technological innovation of supervised equipment, while also ensuring a more agile response to customer requests and greater knowledge transfer within and outside the organisation.

Conclusions

Remote collaboration applied to manufacturing.

This collaboration introduces a new perspective to inspection. All the components of a machine, its automation and its design development can be tested and monitored remotely, thus eliminating any errors arising during the production process and opening the door to the era of virtual commissioning.

Conclusions

Remote collaboration applied to manufacturing.

This collaboration introduces a new perspective to inspection. All the components of a machine, its automation and its design development can be tested and monitored remotely, thus eliminating any errors arising during the production process and opening the door to the era of virtual commissioning.

The Group