Quality Control in Soft Contact Lens Manufacture — A Case Study

Over the past few years considerable attention has been focused on the implementation and usage of SQC techniques and the need to increase awareness and knowledge of SQC has been highlighted by many authorities. The work reported here was part of a large research project carried out to investigate the barriers to acceptance of production management techniques in UK manufacturing industry and addresses the quality control/scrap problems faced by a small company manufacturing soft contact lenses. The case study demonstrates the benefits that can be gained, even when applied in a relatively simple manner, from using mean and range charts. The problems identified were those concerned with the manufacturing operations and the raw materials used and it was the use of SQC techniques which helped to identify these problems.