In reply to Stuart Robinson:
This was posted on another thread last year about cosmetic seconds perhaps reiterating the steps that good manufacturers take.
Horse
Thanks for the mail.
DMM were the first hardware manufacturer to meet ISO 9001 and the first to adopt the 3 sigma quality standard.
We use only the best Aluminium stock - mainly 7075 and a little 6082. Every batch of Aluminium is isolated at Goods In until independently tested.
Every production batch is traceable back to the original bar stock. Every single operation on every batch is quality controlled and recorded.
The heat treatment is totally automated using software that was developed inhouse because we could not find a suitable program on the open market.
After heat treatment every further operation is again quality controled and recorded.
After final assembly every item is again visually checked and all moving parts operated.
Thus, for example, every Wire Lock biner receives 36 checks during its production.
After over 23 years of producing hardware DMM have the production of quality climbing goods pretty well dialed, evidenced by the fact that we make metalwork for both Wild Country and Petzl.
So where does all the wasteage come from?
After forging the excess flash needs to be clipped from the body of the item - this flash accounts for a large volume of the waste in the skips.
The majority of component /finished items in the skips are due to the 3 sigma batch testing. This requires the testing, both non-destructive and destructive, of a lot of kit. Once kit has been tested it can not be sold.
DMM also work closely with the governing bodies to try and prempt problems and this involves quite a lot of testing/destroying of kit.
In addition developement programmes often generate a lot of wasteage - thus items can appear in the skip that look normal, but the forging may not have filled out completely or the radiuses might be too tight.
Also mistakes do happen - that is why our QA is so thorough - and sometimes that means components have to be to thrown away.
However most of the wasteage is incurred ensuring that our products are safe to use.
Quality and, in this case safety, is not cheap.
I hope this clarifies the situation
Regards
Simon Marsh
DMM International