CMC Electronics: From Qualigram to Pyx4: The Success of Continuous Improvement
Esterline CMC Electronics, a Canadian company, is a leader in advanced electronic products as well as in aviation and global geolocation.
Ten years ago, the company decided to equip itself with a tool specialised in process modelling.
- Health
- Large company
- Saint-Laurent, Qc Canada
Customer Case Esterline CMC Electronics
Background
The aerospace industry is a highly regulated sector, both private and military, with many requirements that Esterline CMC Electronics must meet.
In particular, the company must comply with
- aS9100 and ISO 14001 environmental requirements
- canadian Goods Program export control trade compliance requirements
- nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program for Quality of Aerospace and Defense Goods)
- and the specific requirements of aviation regulators such as Transport Canada.
Beyond an easy-to-use software tool, PYX4 is also a human and professional team, which was able to adapt to our needs and provide us with specific support until we obtained our ISO certification.
Arcangela SCARFONE
Quality System Advisor
CMC Electronics
– Aerospace
In brief
How to make process management and modelling accessible?
Context
- Optimisation of internal organisation : to model its processes and involve the teams in the exchange during the modelling
- Interactive: to set up inter-communicating processes, intuitive in their handling
- Evolutive: A quick and evolutive migration between Qualigram and PYX4
Results
- Better involvement and contribution between teams
- Intuitive process mapping that facilitates employee training
- 770 graphs and 1206 documents converted by the Pyx4 migration team in 6 weeks
Solutions
Esterline CMC Electronics uses the PYX4 Process module
Discover the integrated solution at Esterline CMC Electronics and start a similar process that meets your challenges and objectives.
Our teams are available to answer your questions.
Interview
Arcangela SCARFONE / Quality System Advisor
How do you rate the quality of service provided by the PYX4 teams during the migration?
- Customer support and follow-up by a team that is available and focused on people.
- A personalised training of the Pyx4 tool as well as the implementation of adapted and evolving training materials.
- The team also allowed us to revise certain good practices and to put the methodologyback at the heart of the process modelling.
- Fast and methodical: migration time respected between Qualigram and PYX4.
Since the migration to PYX4 almost 2 years ago, what changes have the teams observed in their daily tasks?
- Intuitive manageability in the assignment of responsibilities: our teams are involved, operational in the mapping and empowered in the updating of processes
- Today, our employees are actors in the modelling and evolution of their processes: this is a real internal pride for them
- Valuation of the Quality department, where the confidence of our employees in the processing of their requests through continuous improvement is assured
Have you put in place any KPIS specific to this project? Can you share with us the results in figures (productivity gains, time, etc.)?
- Our main objectives and KPIs are around time savings, such as the time to implement changes, or to communicate changes
- We observe a big reduction in training and communication time thanks to PYX4
- Thanks to this time saving, the quality team can spend more time on lean manufacturing and change management
What convinced you to migrate to PYX4?
The Qualigram documentation methodology, which is still the foundation of PYX4, is now embedded in the company’s culture. The employees even call the processes “Qualigram” and not ISO processes! Older employees already know the methodology, and it is easy for newcomers to understand. Everyone knows very quickly where to find their processes and documents. For these reasons, we wanted to keep the same philosophy
A second thing we saw as a great improvement was the contribution module now available in PYX4. It allows interaction between the different participants during the development of a process and allows teams to be involved and have feedback during the modelling. We have three sites around the world, and being able to comment in real time with all participants makes it much easier than sending email after email. What’s more, the documentation system is easy to explain and audit.
How does our tool address issues specific to your sector?
The aerospace sector is a highly regulated sector, both private and military, with many requirements that Esterline CMC Electronics must meet.
In particular, we must comply with
- aS9100 and ISO 14001 environmental requirements
- canadian Goods Program export control trade compliance requirements
- nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program for Quality of Aerospace and Defense Goods)
- and the specific requirements of air regulators such as Transport Canada.
PYX4 allows us to integrate these requirements into our daily processes and avoid having orphan processes that are not known or followed.
Another advantage of having a system that maps our processes is the ease of training our employees. Indeed, seeing a process graphically makes it easier for a new employee to understand. During their onboarding process, each employee is given a presentation of PYX4.
What were the expectations related to the Qualigram to PYX4 migration project?
The two main expectations of the project were :
- That there would be no downtime between the two systems.
- That the migration between the two systems be as transparent as possible for the employees.
What are the medium-term objectives of your department?
Esterline CMC Electronics is moving from a Quality Management System to an Integrated Management System. We are working hard on continuous improvement and Lean Management.
We also want to ensure that the processes communicate with each other, such as the reception process and the purchasing process.
Finally, we have established a rule in the company: paper processes are forbidden and must all be accessible in PYX4. This digitalisation took 3 to 4 years to really be implemented, and is subject to regular reminders, whether through internal or external audits.
How would you rate the quality of service provided by the PYX4 teams during the migration?
- Customer support and follow-up by a team that is available and focused on people.
- Personalised training on the Pyx4 tool as well as the implementation of adapted and evolving training materials.
- The team also allowed us to revise certain good practices and to put the methodologyback at the heart of the process modelling.
- Fast and methodical: migration time respected between Qualigram and PYX4.
Since the migration to PYX4 almost 2 years ago, what changes have the teams observed in their daily tasks?
- Intuitive manageability in the allocation of responsibilities: our teams are involved, operational in the mapping and empowered in the updating of processes
- Today, our employees are actors in the modelling and evolution of their processes: this is a real internal pride for them
- Valuation of the Quality department, where the confidence of our employees in the processing of their requests through continuous improvement is assured
Have you put in place any KPIS specific to this project? Can you share with us the results in figures (productivity gains, time, etc.)?
- Our main objectives and KPIs are around time savings, such as the time to implement changes, or to communicate changes
- We observe a big reduction in training and communication time thanks to PYX4
- Thanks to this time saving, the quality team can spend more time on lean manufacturing and change management
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