CASE STUDY

The parts passed inspection.

The defects shipped anyway.

They asked us to turn their paper inspection sheets into an app. The real problem: the data those sheets captured reached the quality team a shift late — so by the time a process drifted, suspect parts had already left the dock for the OEM.

Real Problem

"Build us an app to replace our paper inspection sheets. The clipboards are slowing the line."

Scope

The clipboards weren't the cost — the latency was. Quality data reached engineers a shift late, after suspect parts had already shipped to the OEM.

The Challenge

A tier-2 automotive-components supplier in South Africa's Eastern Cape — feeding just-in-time into the OEM assembly plants under IATF 16949 — ran hundreds of line-side quality and machine checks per shift on paper, keyed into the ERP and the customer scorecard a shift later. In automotive, a defect that reaches the OEM isn't a return; it's a PPM hit and a risk of stopping the customer's line. A diagnostic found three compounding causes.

  1. Captured on paper, entered a shift later. Quality data trailed the line by hours — drift was always found after the fact.
  2. Containment stalled in email. A quality hold could sit half a day while suspect stock moved toward dispatch.
  3. The same reading keyed into two systems. ERP and the OEM scorecard — transcription errors, no live PPM trend.

The Solution

  • Capture at the line: We rebuilt the checks as a Power Apps form on a tablet at the station — validated against the control plan, with photos.
  • Contain in real time: A failed check auto-raises a quality hold in Power Automate, pages the engineer, and quarantines the batch — with the audit trail IATF demands.
  • Connect + Copilot: Readings flow into the ERP and scorecard with no re-keying, and Copilot answers "what's our PPM trend on Line 3?" in plain language.

The Impact

85%

Less manual data entry

Re-keying into the ERP and scorecard eliminated.

40 min

Faster quality containment

Down from ~6 hours — quarantined before dispatch.

25%

Lower customer PPM

Fewer defective parts reaching the OEM.

The answer wasn't the app. Catching the defect before the truck left was.