Globalisation spurs changes in quality: if your process is more sensitive than your tests, you need better tests. according to executives at Alpha Technologies. (Rubber news).(quality control in rubber industry)

European Rubber Journal, January, 2003 by Shaw, David

Quality control in the rubber industry is going through a rapid evolution, according to Jeremy Clarke, Alpha Technologies' vice-president for sales in the European region.

"In the past," he said, "processors used the manufacturing process equipment as the test. They might have run a battery of tests on the rubber, but then found that it did not process as expected, so the process machinery was a more sensitive test than their laboratory tests."

Now there is a transition going on, he said. At the most basic level, some companies still have a dedicated quality control department, with inspectors based in a central office, where the production team brings samples for testing. At the next level production employees take responsibility for their own...

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