E Ink Corporation is the originator, pioneer and commercial leader in ePaper technology. The company delivers its advanced display products to the world’s most influential brands and manufacturers, enabling them to install extremely durable, low-power displays in previously impossible or unimaginable applications and environments.

Growing demand for E Ink’s products meant that E Ink wanted to further integrate its quality processes, taking advantage of all of the benefits of a comprehensive quality management system.

Challenge

Like many enterprises, E Ink’s initial step in its quality journey was to implement a document control system. But as the company grew, so did its quality issues. As the document control system neared the end of its life, and the company decided to attain ISO 9001 certification, its quality team realized they needed a more comprehensive quality management system.

E Ink began searching for an enterprise QMS (eQMS) that would grow with the company, allowing it to implement additional quality applications and capabilities as needed over time.

Solution

E Ink considered numerous systems, ultimately choosing Reliance due to its ability to grow as the company’s needs grew and its competitive pricing. E Ink’s quality team implemented Reliance, starting with the Document Control and Corrective Action (CAPA) modules. After receiving positive feedback about the initial implementation, E Ink’s quality team launched additional quality modules, including Deviations/Waivers, Nonconforming Material, Quality Records, Assets, Calibration and Maintenance, Contract Management and several customized applications created specifically for the company — all of which are integrated to allow for seamless data transfer and communication between each application. E Ink uses the Reliance eQMS to track more than 6000 pieces of equipment across manufacturing, facilities, and testing functions — everything from pumps and motors to temperature and O2 sensors, pH probes, and particle counters. E Ink’s quality team can schedule and record calibrations, preventative maintenance and repairs, including detailed calibration and preventative maintenance instructions. Reliance Reliance automatically sends designated teams or people reminder emails and electronically stores records in an easily accessible location.

Results

With Reliance in place — specifically the Calibration and Maintenance module — E Ink has cut unplanned equipment downtime by virtually 100%. Quality team members and employees across the organization can more easily review maintenance and repair reports and adjust cycle times to reduce potential downtime. Team members can also track waivers, deviations, and other important information without maximum accuracy. Today, nothing falls through the cracks or gets lost in paper forms. E Ink is able to use Reliance’s CAPA module to track how long it takes to close out a corrective action and see improvement in resolution times.

E Ink’s quality team appreciates Reliance’s easeofuse and “self-serve” learning resources like Reliance Academy and the Reliance community, but also the fact that support is responsive if they need expert help. And app managers, engineers, and other employees across the organization have shared that they love Reliance and how it helps them more effectively complete their work. In addition, Reliance’s user-friendliness helped E Ink’s recent ISO 9001 recertification audit proceed smoothly. Quality team members were able to easily navigate Reliance to explain the company’s processes and workflows, quickly finding the information they needed to answer questions. A specific example was following a record in the Nonconforming Material module and link to the corresponding specification in Document Control, Corrective Action (CAPA) and Waiver records. Another example would be that E Ink stores and manages all of its SOPs within Reliance, so the company can easily access that information if it came up in an audit.

“Today, nothing falls through the cracks or gets lost in paper forms, and we are able to use Reliance’s CAPA module to track how long it takes to close out a corrective action and see improvement in resolution times.”

E Ink Quality Team