Process quality in manufacturing PV power conversion products

✍ Scribed by Dale R. Stefanac

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 103 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1062-7995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-159x(199905/06)7:3<175::aid-pip267>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Inverter quality and reliability is expected to be no dierent than any other PV system component. System life-cycle costs are judged on a 20, if not 30 year, operating life. Meeting this challenge for an inverter manufacturer requires the integration of sales, customer support, research and development, design engineering, accounting, purchasing, quality and manufacturing. The key to consistently producing reliable, high-quality products requires that a multifunctional organization be able to work and communicate through concise processes established, documented and understood by everyone. The ISO 9000 Series of Quality Systems provides a detailed model for integrated organizations. This review discusses the ongoing implementation of ISO 9001 at Omnion Power Engineering Corporation and results seen to date. Omnion had no formalized quality system prior to the implementation of ISO 9000. Since Omnion is still in the implementation phase, the full bene®ts of ISO certi®cation have yet to be realized.