ROWA Lack: QUALITY IS OUR ASPIRATION
Pinneberg/Germany, September 2022 – In addition to flexibility, customer focus and innovation, product quality is one of the key pillars for the ROWA Lack corporate philosophy. For ROWA Lack, product quality also means ensuring consistently high quality in every batch of products manufactured and delivered. Over time, ROWA Lack has implemented ever more comprehensive measures in the incoming raw material inspection and outgoing finished goods inspection department in order to ensure this aspiration is achieved.
Regardless of the raw material supplier’s delivery specifications and inspection records, every batch of raw materials delivered is subject to an incoming goods inspection. The inspection criteria are optimized, to the greatest extent possible, for the ROWA Lack-specific properties of the raw material often differ from the raw material manufacturers’ inspection criteria, which are kept more general. Recurring fluctuations in characteristics which are within the specified range are communicated to production and can be taken into consideration when using the batch. The inspection values for every batch of raw materials delivered are stored in the long term in the LIMS database.
Every stored batch of raw materials is given an expiry date. Once this date has passed, the batch of raw materials is automatically set back to “not inspected” status – it therefore cannot be used in production. The batch of raw materials can only be released following complete re-inspection. This makes it impossible for outdated raw materials to be used in production. Direct integration of the LIMS system into the production planning and ERP system ensures that only raw materials which have been inspected and released can be used.
There is a similarly comprehensive inspection program for the finished products which are manufactured: A detailed and individual inspection plan is filed in the LIMS system for every product to be manufactured. Inspection criteria and tolerances are determined separately for each product and optimized as required as the pool of data increases. The respective batch can only be released if all inspection criteria are within the specified range. Full integration of the LIMS software into the ERP system makes it impossible for a batch of finished products which has not been released to be invoiced and therefore delivered.
In order to guarantee traceability in the event of any irregularities, a laboratory sample is archived for every batch inspected (raw materials and finished products). The current storage capacity is sufficient for a retention period of about two years, but in many cases the retention period is limited by the shelf life of the raw materials and finished products.
It is also worth noting that our production planning and ERP system ensures complete batch tracking – this means that the batches of raw materials used for production are documented in detail for every batch of finished products. Although ROWA Lack is already well-positioned in the field of raw material and finished product inspection with its current processes, that doesn’t mean that measures in this area are done and dusted: We are constantly working on further optimizing the processes in order to deliver the best possible quality. It is also worth noting that the processes outlined are, of course, only part of the measures taken to ensure consistently high and robust product quality. Processes are also continuously being optimized in production and in process technology.
About ROWA Lack:
The ROWA Lack GmbH was established in 1958 and is a partner in the ROWA GROUP of companies. The brand ROWA stands for technical competence, modern product design and customer oriented service the world over. Tailored customer solutions are part of the ROWA tradition and are a matter of course! The development of new products, the search for alternative raw materials and the constant and sustained optimization of our processes, coupled with modern technology, motivated employees and economical environment protection enjoy the highest priority in our company. In 2010 the ROWA GmbH has been renamed into the ROWA GROUP Holding GmbH and the departments Masterbatch and Lack were newly formed as ROWA Masterbatch GmbH und ROWA Lack GmbH specialist division: Special Lacquer Systems and Top Coats.
