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Boating 1972 - Quality Control, part 2
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Poster:
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steved
(see this users gallery)
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Views:
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1145
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Date:
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Tue April 12, 2005
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Filesize:
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68.5k
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Dimensions:
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465 x 639
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Description:
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Text from article -
... with orders. Then, in 1971, Walters came through with another hot design – a 24-footer with optional tuna tower, and the plant had to step up its pace once more. And now, despite expanded productions facilities, they’re still running at top speed. This year, Aquasport will sell upwards of 1400 boats, which still won’t meet the demand.
Their formula remains what Coburn & Sargent started with: good design, good construction, no skimping on quality. On design, Walt Walters has brought out completely new 19- and 22-footers, so that today all four Aquasport models are Walter-designed. Three of the four are available with outboard or sterndrive.
Roger Smith considers that a key part of Aquasport’s quality control program is the training of their men, an obvious basic element which, he believes, is often overlooked. their own experience has been that thorough training is the starting point of ability and attitude in creating quality.
Although Aquasport hasn’t yet grown to a size where they have evolved their own formula for fibreglass resin, they do check every incoming shipment of resin and fibreglass for both chemical and physical properties. By having two deliveries of resin a week, they guard against over-age material.
On the production line, a Quality Inspector, who works directly with President Smith, has checklist forms for each model. A checklist card is used with every boat as it goes through each stage of construction and in its final assembly. This card becomes a permanent record at Aquasport.
Construction starts, as in most good fibreglass boats companies, with fibreglass fabric kits cut to pattern for each boat, for all the components – hull, stringers, deck and liner. Aquasport uses one layer of chopped fibreglass next to the gel coat to prevent print-through of the woven fibreglass, then follows it with five layers of hand layup. The laminating foreman checks each boat continuously during its layup in the mold. He regulates the catalyst that activates the resin, according to the ambient temperature and humidity. Every third or fourth component is weighed – and every boat – for conformity to the design specification of 30 % fibreglass.
A record is kept by model of the results of these checks to detect and correct trends. A 2-5% variation is considered reasonable, which would mean, for example, no more than 30-40 lbs. difference in the base 800-lb weight of a 17-footer. If a boat is substantially overweight – they’re never underweight – the foreman begins to weigh all the components to find where the fault lies. When it is localized, he leans on that layup crew to correct it.
At day’s end, the foreman makes an inspection of each boat, at whatever its stage from mold to roll-out. He recaps on a checklist for the Quality Control Inspector the word done on the boat that day. Thus every boat, in the eight working days from mold to roll-out, gets eight in-plant inspections. A complete final inspection is done at roll-out, and another is made prior to loading the boat for shipment, which may be several days later.
Sterndrives are installed by an outside contractor, who is responsible for the entire installation, although Aquasport maintains two full-time mechanics to speed the operation and to assist in the final mechanical check on the engine before shipment. This check includes actually running the engine on all models, and a complete check-out of the operation of the engine controls, transmission, and all gauges. All electrical work is inspected by Aquasport’s own final inspector.
Spot check water tests are run on the sterndrive 19- and 22-footers. But every one of the 24-foot sterndrives gets a four-hour workout on the ocean and Intracoastal Waterway to check all systems.
On boats equipped with tops or canopies, the canvas work is the final stage in assembly. The canvas is set up, fitted, and checked for accuracy. It is then knocked down and packed for shipment. Windshield and bow rails are dismounted and a package is made of all the boat’s separate parts. This package is checked for contents before the boat is loaded on the trailer. Bottom-painting is left for the dealer.
When each boat leaves Aquasport’s Hialeah plant it is covered by a two-year warranty and carries an owner’s registration card. The cards have a new importance under the Boat Safety Act, since manufacturers must now be able to notify original purchasers of their boats if major defects need correction. But whereas the industry pre-Act experience has been only 40 percent registry of new owners, Aquasport has been able to achieve nearly 100 percent by requiring their dealers to fill out the cards at time of sale.
But Smith doesn’t stop there. When the registration is received at the plant, he has a new program of following it up with a letter to the new owner asking such things as how the boat might be improved. Already, Smith reports, this questionnaire is yielding valuable data for quality control.
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Keywords:
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Boating 1972 - Quality Control, part 2
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UBBCode:
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[img]http://www.classicaquasport.com/gallery/data/515/27Boating_1972-2.jpg[/img]
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