LABORATORY: WASHING MACHINE AUDIT
Coming clean and spotless reputation
During its service life, an average washing machine performs more than 2 thousand washing cycles under the conditions of constant load, vibration, high temperatures and exposure to household chemicals. At the same time, it must stay functional and reliable. To ensure the quality of each unit, our plant has a washing machine audit laboratory.
100% CONTROL
Tatyana Goncharova,
Senior Quality Engineer:
– Our laboratory of washing machine extended acceptance tests monitors the quality of the finished products and interacts with all departments and divisions that ensure the correct operation of the assembly workshop. There are about 20 people working in the laboratory. Each QA operator checks and tests 15 washing machines per shift. Some of the operations are carried out on the assembly line according to the checklist, which it includes everything: 100% control of the internal connection correctness, external inspection, measurements of fit-up gaps, and document verification. Then, the laboratory performs extended acceptance tests of each 14th machine and reliability tests at the 50th, 250th and 2500th cycles of operation.
We have purchased and installed new equipment, such as a leakage current tester, which significantly improves the quality and reliability of the test. Now, product consumer safety audit is also carried out according to a new methodology, it ensures taking into account a wide variety of risks. A separate task is the analysis of complaints concerning returned washing machines: you need to find the cause of the breakdown, analyze the present issue and eliminate any future problem.
Tatyana Goncharova,
Senior Quality Engineer:
– Our laboratory of washing machine extended acceptance tests monitors the quality of the finished products and interacts with all departments and divisions that ensure the correct operation of the assembly workshop. There are about 20 people working in the laboratory. Each QA operator checks and tests 15 washing machines per shift. Some of the operations are carried out on the assembly line according to the checklist, which it includes everything: 100% control of the internal connection correctness, external inspection, measurements of fit-up gaps, and document verification. Then, the laboratory performs extended acceptance tests of each 14th machine and reliability tests at the 50th, 250th and 2500th cycles of operation.
We have purchased and installed new equipment, such as a leakage current tester, which significantly improves the quality and reliability of the test. Now, product consumer safety audit is also carried out according to a new methodology, it ensures taking into account a wide variety of risks. A separate task is the analysis of complaints concerning returned washing machines: you need to find the cause of the breakdown, analyze the present issue and eliminate any future problem.
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To work in our laboratory, you need to have a technical mindset, a desire to learn, be able to adapt quickly, be proactive and hardworking. During an interviewing, you can see that if a person is proactive, inquisitive, and not afraid to learn new things, this is our person.
I have been working at the Beko plant since 2021. My leadership principle is to trust the team I work with. I always encourage proactive employees and motivate everyone to develop themselves. In management, the key things are fairness and teamwork. Within three years, we have made a good team and already understand each other without words.
Most of all, I enjoy being in a team with colleagues who are motivated and involved in the process, they are interested in it, fascinated by it. Even difficulties are nothing for them. For example, achieving a three-shift work schedule was a hard task for us. The team worked overtime, literally till worn out, to ensure the product quality. And I thank everyone for the work they've done.
I'm proud of my team. All those who show good results, regardless of the length of experience at the plant, can be recognized as the best employees of the laboratory. They prove themselves by preventing defects, identifying critical errors, training new operators, and finding technical solutions to quality problems. I would like to recognize the efforts of those who has undergone training this year and prepared for the 4th labor grade qualification tests – this is a major step forward in their professional growth. These are Anton Bobrov, Mikhail Stepanov, Olga Sviridova, Yekaterina Bogunova, and Viktor Bogunov.
We have a lot to improve in our current projects and learn as a team when launching new ones.
Most of all, I enjoy being in a team with colleagues who are motivated and involved in the process, they are interested in it, fascinated by it. Even difficulties are nothing for them. For example, achieving a three-shift work schedule was a hard task for us. The team worked overtime, literally till worn out, to ensure the product quality. And I thank everyone for the work they've done.
I'm proud of my team. All those who show good results, regardless of the length of experience at the plant, can be recognized as the best employees of the laboratory. They prove themselves by preventing defects, identifying critical errors, training new operators, and finding technical solutions to quality problems. I would like to recognize the efforts of those who has undergone training this year and prepared for the 4th labor grade qualification tests – this is a major step forward in their professional growth. These are Anton Bobrov, Mikhail Stepanov, Olga Sviridova, Yekaterina Bogunova, and Viktor Bogunov.
We have a lot to improve in our current projects and learn as a team when launching new ones.
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Our absolute priority is to ensure product quality all the time. Quality is when customers return, not products!
FUNCTIONAL TESTING
Tatyana Pavlova,
QA Master:
– I have been working at the plant since April 2008. I started as an operator, and a year and a half later I became a QA foreman. My functional responsibilities include managing the shift and checking the configuration on the assembly line, the correct part installation, as well as visual inspection. We check the whole assembly line a few times per shift. A functional test is mandatory for each washing machine. Special attention is required when one model is replaced by another on the assembly line. Additionally, we take samples of finished products from the warehouse and check them.
I like both my work and my team. I mainly have young people reporting to me, for them the position of a QA operator is a career start. They have a lot to learn, and some of them will become foremen or engineers.
Compared to my first years at the plant, there are now considerably more models and functions, it is more difficult and interesting to work with them.
Tatyana Pavlova,
QA Master:
– I have been working at the plant since April 2008. I started as an operator, and a year and a half later I became a QA foreman. My functional responsibilities include managing the shift and checking the configuration on the assembly line, the correct part installation, as well as visual inspection. We check the whole assembly line a few times per shift. A functional test is mandatory for each washing machine. Special attention is required when one model is replaced by another on the assembly line. Additionally, we take samples of finished products from the warehouse and check them.
I like both my work and my team. I mainly have young people reporting to me, for them the position of a QA operator is a career start. They have a lot to learn, and some of them will become foremen or engineers.
Compared to my first years at the plant, there are now considerably more models and functions, it is more difficult and interesting to work with them.
CONFIDENCE AND STABILITY
Yegor Mironov,
QA Master:
– What is the most important thing in our work? First of all, it's attention to detail. We must keep a close eye on everything, every single detail, because defects can be found in different places, and we can come across something new every day. Besides, it's a desire to work, a commitment to the common cause. And then the rest will come in due course. Of course, you have to work hard and learn a lot. After all, there are a lot of components in a washing machine, and you need to know all of them, understand their functions.
On the assembly line, we have two control points: at one of them, we check the correctness of cable connection and plugging in, at the other one, we carry out a detailed visual inspection and document verification. This has to be done very quickly, so as not to stop the assembly line, but at the same time we must miss nothing and check every detail carefully.
In the laboratory, we check the machines for possible short circuit, measure whether the rpm value and temperature are in line with the selected washing mode. We also check additional features and button performance. We carry out a full visual inspection, check optic fiber light guides, gaps between the housing and the wall, and so on. After that, we send the equipment to the finished products warehouse and then to the customer.
In each shift we have six QA operators and a foreman. Operators alternate checking, work intermittently, so as not to lose concentration and miss anything. I have been working as an audit laboratory foreman since this July. I graduated from the Kirzhach Machine Building Vocational School, now students of our vocational school come to me for an internship and training. It is interesting to work here. And what is most important, we have confidence and stability.
Yegor Mironov,
QA Master:
– What is the most important thing in our work? First of all, it's attention to detail. We must keep a close eye on everything, every single detail, because defects can be found in different places, and we can come across something new every day. Besides, it's a desire to work, a commitment to the common cause. And then the rest will come in due course. Of course, you have to work hard and learn a lot. After all, there are a lot of components in a washing machine, and you need to know all of them, understand their functions.
On the assembly line, we have two control points: at one of them, we check the correctness of cable connection and plugging in, at the other one, we carry out a detailed visual inspection and document verification. This has to be done very quickly, so as not to stop the assembly line, but at the same time we must miss nothing and check every detail carefully.
In the laboratory, we check the machines for possible short circuit, measure whether the rpm value and temperature are in line with the selected washing mode. We also check additional features and button performance. We carry out a full visual inspection, check optic fiber light guides, gaps between the housing and the wall, and so on. After that, we send the equipment to the finished products warehouse and then to the customer.
In each shift we have six QA operators and a foreman. Operators alternate checking, work intermittently, so as not to lose concentration and miss anything. I have been working as an audit laboratory foreman since this July. I graduated from the Kirzhach Machine Building Vocational School, now students of our vocational school come to me for an internship and training. It is interesting to work here. And what is most important, we have confidence and stability.
IMPROVEMENTS EVERY YEAR
Anastasia Brykina,
Technician:
– We are the final point, completing the entire assembly line stage. And we fully analyze the machine so that it has no defects. It is very interesting to work here, because every day there can be something new, a different task. We are sort of detectives, we search, look for defects, and analyze them. Sometimes you also have to use your hands, work with an electric screwdriver to remove the back cover, for example.
I started to work at the plant eight years ago on a washing machine assembly line. I got familiar with the plant and became very interested in working in the washing machine laboratory. At that time, everything was simpler, more modest. Later, I went on maternity leave, then I returned here, but I was given other, more interesting tasks, and I took a number of training courses, after which I was promoted to the position of a technician. Now I have more tasks, I delve into everything, I hope it will be even more interesting. Each year, we have improvements, new projects, and new models. For example, we had no service department before, and now we have it, we have the opportunity to study each complaint in detail, find the cause, and solve the problem.
It is interesting to work.
Anastasia Brykina,
Technician:
– We are the final point, completing the entire assembly line stage. And we fully analyze the machine so that it has no defects. It is very interesting to work here, because every day there can be something new, a different task. We are sort of detectives, we search, look for defects, and analyze them. Sometimes you also have to use your hands, work with an electric screwdriver to remove the back cover, for example.
I started to work at the plant eight years ago on a washing machine assembly line. I got familiar with the plant and became very interested in working in the washing machine laboratory. At that time, everything was simpler, more modest. Later, I went on maternity leave, then I returned here, but I was given other, more interesting tasks, and I took a number of training courses, after which I was promoted to the position of a technician. Now I have more tasks, I delve into everything, I hope it will be even more interesting. Each year, we have improvements, new projects, and new models. For example, we had no service department before, and now we have it, we have the opportunity to study each complaint in detail, find the cause, and solve the problem.
It is interesting to work.
DID YOU KNOW?
- In the first half of the 20th century, washing machines did not have a housing to cover the moving parts of the mechanisms. It often led to accidents.
- Overloads in the washing machine drum in the spin mode at a speed of 800 rpm reach about 130–140 G. If you lose all caution and spin the laundry at a maximum speed of 1,400 rpm, the overloads will reach 500 G. For comparison: the overloads during the emergency descent of the legendary Soyuz spacecraft were about 25 G.
- It was a washing machine that gave rise to the well-known concept of "money laundering". The famous mafioso Al Capone, wishing to legalize money obtained by dishonest means, opened a huge US network of laundries with very low prices. It was difficult to check up on the actual number of customers, so practically any income could be reported.
The Price Expert magazine analyzed data on washing machine purchases in Russia in 2023–2024. The study took into account the entire array of data: the number of sales and complaints, the official test results (obtained by Rostest), feedback from marketplace buyers, usability, reliability of design, and the adequacy of the price-quality ratio. Beko washing machines made the top three of the rating with a score of 9.5-9.6 out of 10 in several categories simultaneously. And this is thanks to you!
© Beko 2024