For companies working with manual and semi-automated assembly processes, continuous improvement is a daily topic. Error-proofing, kaizan, poke-yoke, six-sigma, quality management, or quality assurance are a way of life when humans are involved in part of the assembly process. Your teams work hard to catch as many of these defects as possible before the mistake makes it to the customer or consumer. “Quality is our Culture” or “Continuous Improvement Conscious” are regularly seen in factories as not-so-subtle reminders to all of us that while perfection is impossible, the pursuit of perfection in our product is something we should live daily.

For those in management or engineering who are responsible for the quality of production in a factory, this can be a heavy burden. Regardless of how flexible we are in manufacturing, the more things we can automate in our processes will help reduce our errors and improve the end quality of our products.