Quality control in industrial systems manufacturing

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IBG - SA Instrumentation & Control Buyers' Guide

June 2003 News

In a recent visit to South Korea, LG hosted a training course with international delegates. While introducing the latest product developments, the delegates were afforded the opportunity to visit and tour the Cheonan production plant. Here they were able to inspect the research, development and manufacturing of LG Industrial Systems (LGIS) products.

Most people are aware of the ISO quality standards. LG is registered as both an ISO9001 and ISO14001 company - and also ascribes to the six sigma system. Made popular by Motorola, this system makes a 0,00034% defect rate achievable. Quality is a serious concern for LG; the mechanisms for achieving quality at LG are as follows:

* All LG industrial equipment undergoes stringent tests, to the point that the LG laboratories are in a position to certify other makes of equipment for compliance with various international standards (CE, UL and cUL).

* Vibration testing (see figure 1). All LG industrial products undergo stringent vibration withstand tests, the equipment being rated to withstand 15 G shock, and continuous 0,5 G 150 Hz vibration (IEC61131-2).

Figure 1. LG vibration testing system to test for IEC61131-2 compliance

* Lightning immunity (see figure 2b). All LG industrial products have a rated isolation voltage of 1500 V, but must withstand an electrostatic discharge pulse of 4000 V (IEC 61131-2 and IEC 1000-4-2).

Figure 2(a). Showering arc transient simulator, left, and (b) lightning surge simulator, right (IEC61131-2 and IEC1000-4-2)

* Environmental radiation (see figure 2a). Many ranges of industrial electronic equipment fail due to environmental radiation or 'dirty' mains feeds. LG equipment is designed and certified to withstand an enormous 10 V/m 500 MHz radiation field, 2 kV mains transients and 1 kV transients on the digital I/O (IEC 61131-2, IEC 1000-4-3).

* X-ray inspection (see figure 3): One circuit board in 10 is subjected to a full X-ray examination, the individual components even being internally checked for manufacturing integrity. Any 'fail to pass' rejects the entire production batch.

Figure 3. X-ray inspection facility

* All LG Industrial Systems' HMI, PLC and inverter products undergo a 36-hour, 40°C, 95% humidity test (under working conditions) before leaving the manufacturing facility. This ensures that the finished product lives up to its design criteria.

All this effort does bear fruit in the field. To date, after three years of concentrated marketing in South Africa LG PLCs have exhibited better than 99,9% reliability in the field (0,00034% defect rate), while inverters have experienced minor problems, most of which are human-induced.

Figure 4. Atmospheric test laboratory

Not content to rest on its laurels, LG continuously upgrades and improves the ability of all its equipment. Although the software is distributed free of charge, it too undergoes continuous revision. LG makes sure that the latest version is backward compatible, ie, the latest software works on older generation PLCs or inverters. This fresh approach is to be likened to the present day revolution in the computer industry where payment for software is becoming a thing of the past (the Linux operating system being one example).

The Six Sigma is adapted in every phase of LG's business operations not only in production, but also to human resources management, sales and customer service in order to secure a differentiated competitive edge. LG positions itself as a millennium partner and is interested in long-term sustained business relationships.

For more information contact Peter Gross, LG Industrial Systems SA, 021 914 9034, [email protected], www.lgis.co.za

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