Quality first
In ammunition manufacturing, quality control is an especially crucial part of the process. Ammunition must be manufactured dimensionally and functionally conforming related requirements, and production of ammunition shall be manufacturing to avoid excessive scrap and rework costs. Small arms ammunition production is inherently high speed and a defective machine condition can be responsible for producing thousands of scrap components within an hour. Furthermore, completed lots of ammunition must not contain any “critical” type defects, almost no “major” and very few “minor” types. For these reasons there is a continuous striving for highest ammunition quality.
Quality control enters into all phases of the small arms ammunition production process. It starts with the customer’s specification and moves into production engineering, materials purchasing, methods planning, manufacturing, inspection, proof testing, packaging, shipping and back to the customer, whose needs must be satisfied with quality small arms ammunition.
Procedures
Belom company has a full-service quality control and assurance through its inspection and testing facilities. Effective small arms ammunition control is accomplished through the following procedures:
- Interpreting Requirements-Preparing such documents as “Quality Assurance Provisions” for Inspection for Incoming material, “Quality Control Instruction” and “Detail inspection Plans” for process Inspection guidance.
- Evaluating Conformance-All ammunition elements (cartridge cases and bullets) and cartridges during production are going under statistical quality control by serial sampling and inspection of products from each manufacturing machine. Further, each made lo of ammunition elements and cartridges is going under acceptance test by statistical lot inspection. Ammunition ballistic characteristics, functionality and safety are tested by firing from most of all the weapons it is intended for and for every condition the warfighter would experience.
- Acting When Necessary-Taking corrective action when appropriate, e.g., when standards are not attained, trends toward defective conditions are discovered, “assignable causes” (variation beyond the stable predicted pattern) and erratic, unstable conditions are exhibited.
- Recommending Improvements-Analyzing quality data and submitting proposals for modification of processes to achieve more efficient operation and to resolve quality difficulties.
Inspection
Inspection process comprises the next:
- Operator Inspection-The machine operator is the first line of defense against the occurrence of defective work. He continuously inspects the production obtained from the machine. The line foreman also checks the work under their charge at random intervals.
- Process Inspection-Process inspection is vital to the effective functioning of the small arms ammunition quality control system. The process inspection element appraises conformance by performing the following: the first piece inspection, machine inspection, 100% inspection for critical defects, and lot sampling inspection.
Belom’s Quality Control Department doing inspection by numbers of instruments and gauges for dimensional checking. Moreover, there are special inspection machines for 100% control of critical and major types of defects.
Control tests
During the manufacturing cycle, in addition to dimensional and visual inspections, proof testing is conducted to assure conformance to functional and ballistic requirements. Small samples, identified to a particular machine, machine group, or lot of materials, are taken at specified intervals, identified, processed into finished cartridges and fired. The results of these tests are utilized to verify processes, make necessary process adjustments or confirm the effectiveness of new material. The tests are called dally production control tests and they include: EPVAT test, precision test, bullet extraction test, primer sensitivity test, function and casualty test, waterproofness test, stress corrosion test.
The same tests are done during lot proofing testing, but on the bigger sample taken randomly from the finished ammunition lot. The results must be in accordance by related specifications. Testing procedures are based on the associated NATO, CIP, SAMMI and SORS documents.
Belom’s Quality Control Department includes chemical laboratory and indoor and outdoor shooting ranges for these types of control and acceptance testing.
Quality control
In ammunition manufacturing, quality control is an especially crucial part of the process. Ammunition must be manufactured dimensionally and functionally conforming related requirements, and production of ammunition shall be manufacturing to avoid excessive scrap and rework costs. Small arms ammunition production is inherently high speed and a defective machine condition can be responsible for producing thousands of scrap components within an hour. Furthermore, completed lots of ammunition must not contain any “critical” type defects, almost no “major” and very few “minor” types. For these reasons there is a continuous striving for highest ammunition quality.
Quality control enters into all phases of the small arms ammunition production process. It starts with the customer’s specification and moves into production engineering, materials purchasing, methods planning, manufacturing, inspection, proof testing, packaging, shipping and back to the customer, whose needs must be satisfied with quality small arms ammunition.
Belom company has a full-service quality control and assurance through its inspection and testing facilities. Effective small arms ammunition control is accomplished through the following procedures:
- Interpreting Requirements-Preparing such documents as “Quality Assurance Provisions” for Inspection for Incoming material, “Quality Control Instruction” and “Detail inspection Plans” for process Inspection guidance.
- Evaluating Conformance-All ammunition elements (cartridge cases and bullets) and cartridges during production are going under statistical quality control by serial sampling and inspection of products from each manufacturing machine. Further, each made lo of ammunition elements and cartridges is going under acceptance test by statistical lot inspection. Ammunition ballistic characteristics, functionality and safety are tested by firing from most of all the weapons it is intended for and for every condition the warfighter would experience.
- Acting When Necessary-Taking corrective action when appropriate, e.g., when standards are not attained, trends toward defective conditions are discovered, “assignable causes” (variation beyond the stable predicted pattern) and erratic, unstable conditions are exhibited.
- Recommending Improvements-Analyzing quality data and submitting proposals for modification of processes to achieve more efficient operation and to resolve quality difficulties.
Inspection process comprises the next:
- Operator Inspection-The machine operator is the first line of defense against the occurrence of defective work. He continuously inspects the production obtained from the machine. The line foreman also checks the work under their charge at random intervals.
- Process Inspection-Process inspection is vital to the effective functioning of the small arms ammunition quality control system. The process inspection element appraises conformance by performing the following: the first piece inspection, machine inspection, 100% inspection for critical defects, and lot sampling inspection.
Belom’s Quality Control Department doing inspection by numbers of instruments and gauges for dimensional checking. Moreover, there are special inspection machines for 100% control of critical and major types of defects.
During the manufacturing cycle, in addition to dimensional and visual inspections, proof testing is conducted to assure conformance to functional and ballistic requirements. Small samples, identified to a particular machine, machine group, or lot of materials, are taken at specified intervals, identified, processed into finished cartridges and fired. The results of these tests are utilized to verify processes, make necessary process adjustments or confirm the effectiveness of new material. The tests are called dally production control tests and they include: EPVAT test, precision test, bullet extraction test, primer sensitivity test, function and casualty test, waterproofness test, stress corrosion test.
The same tests are done during lot proofing testing, but on the bigger sample taken randomly from the finished ammunition lot. The results must be in accordance by related specifications. Testing procedures are based on the associated NATO, CIP, SAMMI and SORS documents.
Belom’s Quality Control Department includes chemical laboratory and indoor and outdoor shooting ranges for these types of control and acceptance testing.
