Quality Management Proof of Concept

Digitize One Control Plan and Prove Full Quality Traceability

One product family, one control plan, your real gauges. Inspections are guided and timed, measurements captured at source, out-of-control conditions trigger a reaction workflow, and a full lot trace can be produced while the auditor is still in the room.

Digitize my control plan Talk to a manufacturing engineer

Typical duration4–8 weeks

Pilot scopeOne product family, one control plan, selected process steps

Primary buyerQuality Manager

Decision at the endRollout design across control plans and lines

Is this the problem you need to solve?

Inspection results are written on paper and typed into a spreadsheet hours later, if at all.
A process drifts out of control and it is noticed at the end of the shift, or by the customer.
Nonconformity handling depends on who is on duty and how good their email discipline is.
A traceability request means someone spends two days in a filing cabinet.

Primary buyer: Quality Manager · Quality Engineer · Plant Manager · Production Manager · Compliance Manager

What this PoC will prove

Can the control plan be executed digitally at the workstation, including sampling frequency?

Are measurements captured at source, with gauge integration where gauges support it?

Does an out-of-control condition trigger a reaction within the time your process requires?

Can a nonconformity be raised, routed, approved and closed inside the system?

Can a full forward and backward lot trace be produced in minutes rather than days?

Recommended pilot scope

One product family and the process steps where quality risk actually concentrates.
One control plan with its real characteristics, tolerances and sampling frequencies.
The gauges and measuring devices in use at those steps, integrated where they allow it.
The defect and nonconformity catalogue and the approval roles behind it.
The lot or serial rules that define the traceability chain.

What will be live during the PoC

Guided inspection at the workstation, following the digital control plan.

Measurement capture with gauge integration where available, manual entry where not.

SPC charts on the scoped characteristics with out-of-control rules applied.

Nonconformity workflow from raising to approval and closure, with lot traceability behind it.

How this PoC runs

Week 1

Discovery and decision definitionSelect the product family and steps, review the control plan, tolerances, sampling and defect catalogue, and agree what a valid measurement and a valid reaction look like.Exit gate: Control plan, defect catalogue and reaction rules agreed.

Week 1–3

ConfigurationDigitise the control plan, configure characteristics, sampling, gauge connections, defect codes, approval roles and the traceability chain.Exit gate: An inspector completes the full plan on the shop floor without help.

Week 2–3

Baseline measurementEstablish the current inspection completion rate, entry error rate, reaction time, NCR closure time and trace retrieval time from existing records.Exit gate: Baseline agreed with quality and production.

Week 3–7

Controlled live operationThe scoped steps run on the system across shifts. Real out-of-control events and at least one nonconformity are handled end to end.Exit gate: At least one genuine reaction and one NCR completed inside the system.

Week 7–8

Rollout decision and business casePresent the digital control plan, the SPC view, the NCR example, the traceability demonstration, the baseline comparison and the rollout design.Exit gate: Go, adjust or stop.

Durations are typical, not guaranteed. What extends a schedule: missing or incomplete data, security and network approvals, hardware lead times, sample collection, installation access, the production schedule, ERP test access, and the time your team needs to review results.

No unplanned shutdown is expected. Any installation window or controlled interruption is agreed with you in advance and scheduled around production.

How success will be measured

How success will be measured
Metric	How it is defined	Where the number comes from	Type
Inspection completion	Share of required inspections performed on time at the agreed sampling frequency.	MSF platform data	Operational
Measurement timeliness	Time between the inspection being due and the result existing in the system.	MSF platform data	Operational
Manual entry errors	Transcription and unit errors found, compared with the paper and spreadsheet baseline.	Agreed baseline measurement	Technical
Out-of-control response time	Time from an out-of-control condition being detected to the reaction being recorded.	MSF platform data	Operational
NCR closure time	Time from a nonconformity being raised to it being approved and closed.	MSF platform data	Operational
Trace retrieval time	Time to produce a complete forward and backward trace for one lot, versus the current process.	Agreed baseline measurement	Operational
Gauge integration accuracy	Agreement between the value the gauge shows and the value recorded, on a sample of readings.	Sensor, meter or device data	Technical
Scrap and rework baseline	Scrap and rework quantities for the scoped steps during the period — established as a baseline, not claimed as an improvement.	MSF platform data	Financial

Before implementation, MSF and your team agree how each metric is calculated, where the baseline comes from, what data is excluded, and what result supports a rollout decision. This page lists what gets measured; the actual targets belong in the written PoC scope, not in a marketing claim.

What you need to provide

Specifications, tolerances, control plans, sampling frequencies and measurement methods.
Defect and nonconformity codes, approval roles and escalation rules.
Lot and serial rules, plus the certificates and records you must be able to produce.
Existing baseline data — even paper records — for the comparison.

Who does what

Meta Smart Factory provides

Discovery workshop and scope facilitation
Solution configuration for the agreed scope
Integration and connection work inside that scope
MSF hardware listed in the proposal
Training for the pilot users
The KPI definitions and validation method
Issue tracking and support during the pilot
The final result report and rollout design
The digitised control plan, gauge connections and reaction workflow for the scoped steps.
A traceability demonstration run against a lot you choose, not a prepared one.

You provide

A named business owner and a named technical owner
Timely access to users, the line, machines and approved systems
An accurate explanation of the process and the master data
Network, power, mounting and safety access
ERP, PLC and vendor documentation, plus the experts who know them
Representative samples or historical data
Validation that the baseline is fair
Feedback and the acceptance decision
Inspectors and a quality engineer available during the live period.
Access to the gauges, and their documentation where integration is in scope.

Defined in the written proposal

Panel PCs, tablets, servers and GPU servers
Cameras, lenses, lighting and enclosures
Scanners, printers, RFID readers, meters and sensors
Travel, installation, freight, import duty and local electrical work
Whether hardware is rented or purchased
Whether any PoC fee is credited against a rollout

Commercial terms, hardware ownership, travel, integration scope and any rollout credit are defined in the written PoC proposal. They are not the same for every product, and this page does not promise them.

What you receive at the end

A digital control plan running on the shop floor.
Live guided inspection workflow with measurement capture.
SPC view for the scoped characteristics.
A worked nonconformity example, start to finish.
Traceability demonstration on a lot you select.
Baseline comparison and rollout design for further control plans.

Dependencies, exclusions and limits

This PoC depends on

A control plan that reflects what is actually inspected today.
Gauge documentation where automatic capture is in scope.

Not included in this PoC

Laboratory information management and external test-house integration.
Gauge calibration management and measurement system analysis studies.

What this PoC does not claim

Capability indices such as Cp and Cpk are not displayed as PoC results unless the measurement process and the sampling assumptions behind them have been confirmed as valid. A capability number computed on an unvalidated gauge is a decoration, not evidence.

Go, adjust or stop — the decision gate

GoGo: the control plan runs digitally with real reactions and traceability — roll out to further plans and lines.

AdjustAdjust: the workflow is right but the control plan, sampling or defect catalogue needs revision first.

StopStop: the constraint is measurement capability itself, which belongs to a metrology project before software.

Frequently asked questions

Do our gauges need to be connected?

Not necessarily. Manual entry with validation already removes most transcription errors. Gauge integration is scoped where the devices support it and where the characteristic is measured often enough for the integration to pay for itself.

Will you show Cp and Cpk?

Only where the measurement process supports it. SPC charts and out-of-control detection work regardless; capability indices need a valid gauge and valid sampling assumptions, and this program will say so rather than print a number that looks reassuring.

How is this different from the Computer Vision PoC?

This one digitises the inspection your people already do and the quality system around it. Computer Vision automates a specific visual check. They complement each other, and a vision result can feed straight into this workflow — but they answer different questions and are proven differently.

Can we prove reduced escaped defects?

A PoC establishes the baseline and shows faster detection and reaction. Escaped-defect reduction is measured over a longer period than a pilot, so it is presented as a projection built on your own measured reaction times, clearly labelled as such.

Request this Proof of Concept

Tell us the scope you have in mind and we will come back with a written PoC plan: what gets connected, what you provide, how success is measured and what the decision at the end looks like.