System and method for identifying and exploiting quality information associated with a web converting manufacturing process

A method of providing quality information suitable for use in connection with a high speed web converting manufacturing process for manufacturing a composite product during a production run from a sequential addition of component parts, said component parts including a part added as a continuous web of material and a part added as a discontinuous web of material, said method comprising:

• automatically inspecting a quality aspect of a sample set of composite products manufactured during the production run;
• providing a quality parameter associated with the automatically inspected quality aspect of the inspected composite products;
• correlating the quality parameter to the inspected composite products;
• and
• selectively storing the correlated quality parameter in a quality data subsystem.

A quality information system, suitable for use in connection with a manufacturing production line producing a composite product from a sequential addition of component parts during a production run, said component parts including a component added as a continuous web of material and a component added as a discontinuous web of material, said quality information system comprising:

• a communication network;
• an inspection system for automatically inspecting a quality aspect of a composite product produced during the production run, said inspection system providing an inspection parameter associated with said inspected aspect, said inspection parameter being correlated to an inspected composite product;
• an information exchange system obtaining via the communication network the inspection parameter, said information exchange determining a quality parameter associated with the inspection parameter;
• and
• a quality system obtaining the quality parameter via the communication network, said quality system storing the quality parameter.

A method of adjusting a manufacturing process set point associated with a high speed web converting manufacturing process manufacturing a composite product from a sequential addition of component parts, said method comprising:

• providing a raw material database having quality data stored therein correlated to a raw material used to supply at least one component part of the composite product;
• accessing the raw material database and extracting the quality data therefrom;
• obtaining the extracted quality data;
• determining an adjustment to the manufacturing set point as a function of the extracted quality data;
• and
• adjusting the manufacturing process set point as a function of said determined adjustment to the manufacturing set point.