Material Defects#

Estimated time to read: 9 minutes

Material Defects in manufacturing occur when a Product is improperly manufactured and departs from its intended design. It is something or a lack of something that results in incompleteness, inadequacy, or imperfection (example: a flaw in a Product that creates an unreasonable risk of harm in its normal use).

A Material Defect in any item, whether tangible or intangible, is something that substantially prevents the item from operating or functioning according to its specifications.

Material Defects can result from the manipulation and fabrication processes of Materials, and in manufacturing, a defect, is one that the manufacturer did not intend.

Defects in Materials are known to have a negative effect on the device performance. Removing or decreasing the number of such defects is a common challenge for every industry.

Moreover, if you consider Product Policy, which ensures consistency and alignment across all stages of the lifecycle of the Product, it is important to mention that in some industries, such as the Medical Industry, some defects for specific critical Products are not acceptable, so even the possibility of managing these defects is not doable.

This document will guide you through the required configurations for the Material Defects functionality.

Overview#

The Material Defects functionality is intended to support the inspection processes in the capture of defects in a Material and by managing the lifecycle of those defects. The defects need to be recorded so that they can later be handled in a rework/repair/classification station. The concepts and functionalities of the Critical Manufacturing Material Defects functionalities will be described in more detail over the next sections.

Defect Lifecycle#

After a defect has been captured it needs to be handled in a rework/repair/classification station. A defect can be:

• Marked as a False
• Marked as Accepted
• Fixed, by performing a repair action (example: by replacing the part)
• Considered as Not Fixable in which case, the Material is scrapped

Setting up Material Defects-Related Entities#

To enable the Material Defects functionalities, you have to set up specific Critical Manufacturing MES entities.

Follow the steps as described in the table below to set up the needed Material Defects entities:

Table: Steps to set up the Material Defects-related Entities

The MES object model is displayed in the figure below:

graph LR
    A1[Step] --- N1[Defect Reason]
    A3[Product] --- N1
    N1 --- N2[Repair Action]
    A1 --- A2[Material]
    A2 --- A3
    A2 --- L1[Material Defect] --- N2
    A1 --- L2[Part Number] --- L1

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The next sub-sections will cover the required configuration steps in more detail.

1 - Reason#

The classification of a defect in a Material is registered under the Entity Type Reason having the Type defined as Defect.

You can define a set of Repair Actions for a Reason that are operations which can be performed in the Material in order to fix a defect. For each Repair Action, you can also define if a replacement of a part can take place, as displayed in the image below:

As can be seen, the following Part Replacement Modes are available:

• Not Allowed: you cannot select a Material to replace the defective part.
• Allowed: you are allowed to select a Material to replace the defective part.
• Required: you must select a Material to replace the defective part.

2 - Step#

After the creation of the Defect Reasons, these can be configured in the Step through the Manage Reasons wizard available in the Reasons section of the Step page, as displayed in the image below:

3 - Product#

When recording a defect it is possible to indicate the location of the defect in a CAD snapshot or a drawing. To enable this, you can configure a CAD (ECAD or MCAD) File and/or a Drawing and Schematic for the Product. Alternatively, a picture can also be provided at the time of recording the defect.

Furthermore, if a Default BOM is defined for the Product, it will be possible to replace defective parts.

Using Material Defects#

After setting up the required configurations mentioned in the previous sections, the Material Defects functionalities can be used, as described in the next sections.

Record Defect#

MaterialDefect.Record

If a Material is in a Step with Defect Reasons defined, it is possible to record a defect through the Record Material Defects wizard available in the Defects view of the Material.

There are three options to record a defect:

• Record Using no Drawing: you specify a Sub-Material (optional), a Reason (mandatory), Reference Designator (optional), Part Number (optional), and a Remark (optional) as shown in the image below:

  

• Record Using CAD - depending on the CAD Content Type (ODB++ or STEP) of the Product, the following is possible:

  ECAD: you specify a Sub-Material (optional), a Reason (mandatory), Reference Designator (mandatory), Part Number (displayed upon selection of Reference Designator), Pin (optional), and a Remark (optional) as shown in the image below:

  

  Alternatively, when the ECAD file is open, and only if it has defined Product Components, you can select the defective component, as displayed in the image below:

  

  MCAD: you search or select a component, select on the component, specify a Reason (mandatory), Remark (optional), and a Sub-Material (optional) as shown in the image below:

  

  When you select Add, the defect will appear in the Defects panel on the right.

• Record Using Picture: you specify a Defect Reason in a Drawing, either in a snapshot of the CAD file or in an image. The image can either be provided by the Drawings linked to the Product of the Material or provided when recording the defect, as displayed in the image below:

  

  In the Drawing, it is possible to select where the defect is found by using either a pre-defined shape, such as a square or circle, or you can draw a specific shape, as displayed in the image below:

  

For more information, see Record Material Defect.

Modify Defect#

MaterialDefect.Edit

If you want to change the information of the defect, it can be done through the Modify Material Defect wizard as displayed in the image below:

Mark as False#

MaterialDefect.MarkAsFalse

If a defect is identified as a false defect - that is, it has been opened in error, it can be closed through the Mark Material Defect as False wizard, as displayed in the image below:

Mark as Accepted#

MaterialDefect.MarkAsAccepted

If you want to acknowledge and accept the defect as-is, it can be accepted using the Mark Material Defect as Accepted wizard, as displayed in the image below:

Repair Defect#

MaterialDefect.Repair

To fix a defect, you can access the Repair Material Defect wizard and select a Repair Action, as displayed in the image below:

Depending on the Parts Replacement Mode of the Repair Action, you can (or must) select a Replacement Material. The Materials available for selection must have the same Product as the Material Defect Part Number and they must be in the same Facility as the Material being fixed.

Mark as Not Fixable#

MaterialDefect.MarkAsNotFixable

If the defect cannot be fixed, it can be marked as non-fixable using the Mark Material as Not Fixable wizard, as displayed in the image below.