Quality and inspection

How Japanese factories manage quality: QC process charts, inspection against the drawing, boundary samples, FMEA, root cause analysis and machine acceptance.

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  1. Quality #01: How to Create and Use a QC Process Chart (QC工程表) — A technical note on the QC process chart (QC工程表): what it is, its role, its main items, and how it relates to the standard work instruction.
  2. Technical Japanese #10 — Quality Japanese: Defects, Inspection, Dimensions and Tolerances — Quality vocabulary is judgement vocabulary — every word carries a pass or fail. Tolerances, limit samples, the two kinds of inspection and how to report a defect.
  3. Technical Japanese #24 — Reading a QC Process Control Table (QC工程表) — One row of a QC工程表 answers five questions: which step, what is checked, against what standard, measured how, by whom and how often.
  4. Technical Japanese #18 — Measuring Tools in Japanese: Calipers, Micrometers and Torque Wrenches — Name the tool and read the unit correctly — ノギス, マイクロメータ, トルクレンチ — plus how numbers, ミクロン and 規定トルク are spoken on the floor.
  5. Technical Japanese #26 — Standard Samples and Limit Samples: Judging Appearance Consistently — Not every defect can be measured. 限度見本 fixes the boundary between pass and fail for scratches, stains and burrs — and 観察条件 decides the verdict.
  6. Machine Design #98: Select Inspection Datums — A Datum Must Exist in the Real World — MINATA guide to inspection datum: function, process, tolerance, datum, inspection, failure evidence, and maintenance checks for dependable machines.
  7. Machine Design #40: Mechanism FMEA — From Failure Mode to Design Action — Turn mechanism FMEA from a scoring table into owned design actions with verification evidence and direct links to the real machine design before FAT and SAT.
  8. Machine Design #48: Root Cause Analysis — From “Sensor Failed” to Evidence of Cause — Run automation RCA from evidence preservation, timeline, and hypotheses through corrective action, effectiveness checks, and design feedback.
  9. Jig Design #05: Repeatability and Acceptance — How Do You Prove a Jig Is Really Stable? — How to build a jig acceptance protocol: separate repeatability, reproducibility, bias and measurement error, then set samples, criteria and FAT/SAT scope.
  10. Machine Design #42: FAT/SAT for Automated Machines — “It Runs Fine” Is Not Acceptance — Build FAT and SAT from requirements, measurable criteria, and evidence; manage deviations, retests, integration, safety validation, and handover.

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Tolerances & drawings · Pneumatics & mechanisms · Electrical & PLC · Materials & machining · Technical Japanese

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Quality and Inspection the Japanese Way — Learning Path & Templates | MINATA