Product Specifications Entry & Maintenance program

Overview
This program receives and stores product quality limits (automatically imported or entered directly into Testream/CS by keyboard), and delivers those limits to all of the Testream/CS programs requiring them: Interface Applications for use during data acquisition; Real-Time Display for real time reporting/analysis, and ReportWriter for print/html reports.

The Product Specifications Entry & Maintenance program can store a wide variety of limits: product specifications, user defined statistical values, historical results, and so on. These limits are then available to be compared against test results. For example, the first comparisons made are by the Testream/CS Interface Application program while the sample is being tested. Technicians are immediately alerted to potential quality problems as they test and before the test results are sent to the database. The Interface Application’s audio and visual alarms quickly identify out-of-limit readings.

Test results are again compared as they are published on the Real-Time Display web page. Out-of-limit results—both individual readings, as well as test result averages—are color-coded for rapid visual identification. Print reports also use different fonts to highlight out-of-limit results.

Specification and Auxiliary Limits
Two categories of user-defined limits may be entered into Testream/CS: specification limits and auxiliary limits. Specification limits typically consist of a set of seven numbers: a target value surrounded by three upper limits (upper warning, upper hold and upper reject) and three lower limits (lower warning, lower hold and lower reject). Test results (both averages as well as detailed points) in violation of a limit are color-coded on the Interface Application program display and the Real-Time Displays for quick identification. They are also highlighted (with color or font changes) on print reports.

Auxiliary limits may consist of any other user-supplied values (numbers or text). Up to five different auxiliary values may be defined. They can be displayed on Testream/CS reports, but will not cause color-coding or font changes. Auxiliary limits might contain historical operating results, quality limits specific to one particular customer, brief text notations, and other information.

You decide which limits to use in any particular print report, Interface Application, or Real-Time Display. For example, testers may interact with a particular set of lab-specific limits as they do their testing, production personnel may want to see product specifications on the Real-Time Displays, and sales people may want print reports showing customer-specific limits. All are possible with Testream/CS’ Product Specification Entry & Management program.

Product Specification History for ISO Support
When creating a new set of limits or editing existing limits, you will be prompted to assign an activation date and time for these changes and, optionally, a deactivation date and time. This capability permits tight control over when new or edited limits should go into effect.

Testream/CS keeps track of all changes made to a product’s quality limits, noting the change’s activation date. Bring up the Testream/CS ‘Grade History’ view and you can quickly peruse the activation date list for any product. Simply double-click on a date to see the full set of limits in effect for that product as of that date.

Test data is always presented with the limits in force at the time of testing! Whenever quality limit changes need to be made, the Testream/CS Revision Comment field is a great place to describe the reasons for the changes. Revision Comments are easily accessed via the Testream/CS Lab Data Display—a helpful reference when test results come up ‘out of limits’.

Extensive Text Comment Capabilities
In addition to the Revision Comment, Testream/CS also provides for the entry of Master Grade Comments. Master Comments are free text entry pages that may be used to note furnish information, machine set-up particulars, customer-specific issues, and other information that production/quality personnel should be able to review when running a particular grade. As with Revision Comments, the Master Comment is also quickly retrieved via single keystroke from the Lab Data Display web page.

Testing Frequencies
The Testream/CS Product Specifications Entry and Maintenance program also maintains test frequency notations. This is an important capability to enable the Testream/CS Lab Data Display to clearly inform technicians which tests are to be conducted on each sample received in the lab: a letter “T” is displayed beside each “to test” property. Acquired test results simply replace the “T”.

A single keystroke brings up a concise list of all tests remaining to be conducted for any sample shown. When testing is complete for an entire sample, a ‘*’ flag so indicates. Should the required testing never be completed, management is made aware of this via the Test Frequency Audit Log.

Two testing frequencies are supported: the testing frequency required when going onto a new product (‘start up’ frequency), and the standard testing frequency in use when that product has been running on machine for a period of time (‘standard’ frequency). Testream/CS automatically uses the correct frequency based on the number of samples submitted for that product type.

But what if there are quality problems? Testream/CS can also be set up to automatically increase test frequencies if the upper, lower, or either upper/ lower limit is exceeded. Test frequencies can be increased when the warning limit is exceeded, or perhaps only if the hold (or reject) limit is exceeded. This may be determined on an individual test property basis.

A ‘To Test’ notation can be added to the next sample as well as to previous sample(s) if they were not tested. With Testream/CS, no ‘gap’ in critical testing can occur.

QC Limit Import Options
Quality limits may be entered into Testream/CS via keyboard or automatically imported from other mill-wide information systems. Imported limits are typically refreshed either at each sample’s entry into Testream/CS, or when changes have been made to those limits in the other system.

When importing limits from another system, Testream/CS can be set up to prevent any editing of those limits within Testream/CS. Imported limits may, however, be supplemented with any additional data fields offered exclusively by Testream/CS.