SPC Software Implementation FAQ

  1. There are so many SPC Software in the market, which one is right for my factory?
  2. Does my factory need a Real-time SPC Software?
  3. Is my factory ready for Real-Time SPC Software implementation?
  4. How to select a right Real-Time SPC Software Vendor?
  5. What is the cost of Real-Time SPC Software?

1. There are so many SPC Software in the market, which one is right for my factory?

There are two broad categories of SPC Software in the market

        1. SPC Analysis Tools such as Minitab, Statgraphics and many Excel based SPC Plug-ins. Such tools are useful to provide Data Analyses And Chartings that are required for SPC, Quality and Process Control purposes. However, these tools are not designed to be used as a Plant-wide, Multi-user Operational SPC Software System.  This is because, they are normally, standalone software (not multi-user) that do not support integration to equipment and to other IT Systems. Furthermore, these tools are often VERY complex, NOT user friendly and are used for analysis by statisticians or graduate engineers.
        2. Real-time SPC Software such as FexQMS, InfinityQS, Measurelink, Lighthouse SPC.  Such software come with adequate SPC analysis features and many features and functionalities for implementation in factory settings such as Integration to Equipment, Online Alerts via emails, SMS and Electronic Display , Multi-Level User Access Security Features, Comprehensive Report Customization and are designed for large scale SPC implementation that supports multiple products, processes and manufacturing plants.

Typically,  Real-time SPC Software costs more than SPC Analysis Tools because it is designed as An Enterprise-Wide Operational Software System (for multi-users, multi-industries, multi-processes and multi-plants implementation).

2. Does my factory need a Real-time SPC Software?

          1. Real-time SPC Software offers manufacturers a “Reliable System” to Increase Quality Data Collection Efficiency and Improve Product Quality, Process Control, Productivity and Machine Utilization
            • It increases Quality Data Collection Efficiency by significantly reducing paperwork in the Quality Control Department such as Checksheets, Reports, SPC charts preparation as well as efforts to circulate Quality Information for verification and approval purposes.
            • It reduces cost by reducing Paper Usage, Filing Needs and Storage Space For Paper.
            • For Medium-sized Manufacturers (Revenue RM 50 million) , these savings alone is enough to justify the investment cost of the Real-time SPC Software.
          2. Real-time SPC Software improves effectiveness in many areas:
            • It significantly enhances data integrity by minimizing Human Involvement in the Data Collection Process.  A completely Integrated Real-time SPC Software avoids manual data entry and manual data transfer, thus ensuring that the measurement is accurately captured, calculated and aggregated into various quality and process control reports.  Error-free data is crucial for process and quality improvements.
            • It enables Fast and Accurate Feedback on quality and process issues.  Because of the ever increasing speed of computers, a Good Real-time SPC Software allows real-time calculation of each critical parameter that affects product and process performance.  Real-time Analyses for each product, process and machine can be calculated in real-time upon inspections and transformed into Statistical Control Charts, Process Capabilities, Defective Parts Per Million, etc. This information could then be circulated electronically to all related personnel and departments.  A Good Real-time SPC Software must be able to send Alerts for Out-of-Control, Out-of-Specification occurrence as well as when Process Capabilities for a machine is below par .
            • It allows easy searching and tracking of historical data and information. Often, we need to have fast and comprehensive historical quality data for a product at different processes when there are quality issues, customer complaints and quality audits. Real-time SPC Software can provide us with such information easily without digging into paper piles or requesting for paper documents from related departments.
            • It allows seamless integration to other Plant Software Systems to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness. A Good Real-time SPC Software provides integration with other manufacturing systems such as ERP, Warehousing or MES. This enhances the overall productivity of a company and increase the Business Value of the “Overall Integrated Software System”

All the above will translate into savings in terms of reduction of manpower, reduction of production issues and rejects and Increase customer satisfaction over time.

3. Is my factory ready for Real-Time SPC Software implementation?

          1. What are your reasons to embark on a Real-Time SPC Software project?  Do you have a clear objective of what you wish to achieve with the software?
          2. Is your organization prepared and willing to invest in such a Real-Time SPC Software?
            • Often, many inexperienced buyers allocate Insufficient Budget for Real-Time SPC Software purchase to achieve their Overly Ambitious Objectives and end up with the wrong software and vendor, failed projects, soured relationship with their software provider and even poor appraisal by their management.
            • You should allocate sufficient budget for your Real-Time SPC Software project to ensure that you can achieve your objectives.
          3. Do you have allocation for the Yearly Maintenance Contract for your Real-Time SPC Software?
            • Many first time software buyers have the misconception that software does not require maintenance and therefore no recurring cost is required after purchase.
            • Due to the dependency of software on its operating environment (such as hardware, operating system, database and other interdependent software and systems), the Real-Time SPC Software needs to be upgraded when its environment changes.
            • Furthermore, your Real-Time SPC Software also requires periodic data purging, archiving, backups and fine tuning.
            • In addition, all software comes with certain level of defects. You will need help to overcome these defects after the warranty period.
            • Therefore, you should allocate a yearly budget, typically 10% to 20% of your purchase price, for the above activities.
          4. Have you prepared an ROI (Return On Investment) workout for the Real-Time SPC Software?
            • You should work out the  Estimated Tangible ROI that your organization will achieve after the implementation of the Real-Time SPC Software project. This will help you to justify to your Senior Management on the feasibility of purchasing the Real-Time SPC Software.
            • In Malaysia, normally, Senior Management is looking at an average 3 year ROI from implementation of  the Real-Time SPC Software(such as reduction in manpower, saving in papers and space, saving in machine purchase due to machine utilization increase, etc).
          5. Have you prepared the Intangible Benefits you will achieve with the Implementation of Real-Time SPC Software?
            • You should also prepare a list of Intangible Benefits your organization will achieve with the implementation of Real-Time SPC Software
            • This is because, often, there are other factors that may be more important than tangible ROI to justify the purchase of Real-Time SPC Software.  Factors, such as, how the Real-Time SPC Software will improve the marketability of your business to customers and investors, how the Real-Time SPC Software will promote certain improvement initiatives (Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, etc) that your organization is undergoing,  as well as how the Real-Time SPC Software can help to comply with customer and regulatory requirements, will be important to justify its purchase.

4. How to Select the right Real-Time SPC Software Vendor?

In general, these are the questions you should ask when Selecting your Real-Time SPC Software Vendors in Malaysia.

          1. Does the Real-Time SPC Software have the features and functionalities that you require?
            • A good Real-Time SPC Software should provide the basic SPC charts and statistics that are required by your organization.
            • Besides that, depending on your needs, it should also be able to link to your digital measuring equipment and to provide you various reports and tables that you use regularly in meetings, customer reporting and audits.
          2. Is the Real-Time SPC Software User-Friendly for you and your team members?
            • Good features and functionalities are useless if they are complex, tedious to use and requires a lot of training to master.
          3. Does the Real-Time SPC Software have the capabilities to integrate with your measuring equipment?
            • If you have digital or computer-based measuring equipment that you want to integrate to your Real-Time SPC Software (now or in future), please confirm that the Real-Time SPC Software has such features before purchase. Some software does not provide these features off-the-self or requires you to purchase additional software from other vendors to do so. Bear in mind that having too many vendors for your Real-Time SPC Software will create a Support Nightmare in future.
            • Some Real-Time SPC Software support only their own brand of equipment. Usually, software provided by equipment manufacturers will work only with their equipment and have limited functionalities when used with equipment from other brands.
          4. Can the Real-Time SPC Software scale as your operation expands?
            • Since your operation will expand from time to time, you should look for a software technology that will cater for your future requirements, e.g increase of users, increase of integration to other measuring equipment, expansion the Software scope to cover Incoming QC and customer QC, expansion to another plant etc.
          5. Have any of your competitors or anyone in your industry used this Real-Time SPC Software in Malaysia?
            • This is to find out the suitability of the Real-Time SPC Software to your industry. However sometimes, what is suitable for the industry and for your competitor or at another country may not be suitable for your operation.
            • Because of this, the most important thing is to do a Trial Run of the Real-Time SPC Software in your factory before purchase to ensure that it really suits your operation.
          6. Is the vendor competent enough to support you at a reasonable cost?
            • Good Real-Time SPC Software may not necessary comes with good after-sales support. You should scrutinize your vendor during the software selection process.
            • Are they competent enough on the Real-Time SPC Software they provide?
            • Do they have enough experiences and capabilities to support you long-term? You can find out by looking at their customer-base for the Real-Time SPC Software. There are some Real-Time SPC Software vendors that sell all types of software under the sun and know little about their products and your industry requirements.
            • What is the cost of their support? Is the Support Cost too high because they are using engineers from other countries? Is the Support Cost too low until they have to use incompetent engineers, or worse still, unable to provide an engineer to support you?
          7. Have you asked for a software demonstration and trial-run of their Real-Time SPC Software?
            • Make sure that you organize a software demonstration with your vendor using the Real-Time SPC Software they provide. It is best to ask the vendor to perform the software demonstration using your operational information such as your products, parameters, charts and reports.
            • After the demonstration, make sure the Vendor provides you a Trial-Run of their Real-Time SPC Software in your factory.

5. What is the cost of Real-Time SPC Software?

        1. It is difficult to provide a rule of thumb price for real-time SPC Software because of the the diverse offerings and user requirements in the industry. However, it is useful to have some estimations for Budget Preparation and Vendor Evaluation purposes
        2. Real-time SPC software are typically sold  by Client Access Licenses (CALs ie No. Of  Users) and the price ranges  from RM 3,500 to RM 8,000 per CAL.
        3. A Typical Project Price of a Real-Time SPC Software consists of:
          • Software Licenses (CALs):  40% of the total software project price.
          • Implementation (installation, integration and training): 30% of total software project price
          • Hardware, Third-Party Software and some minor customizations: 30% of total software project price

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