QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN FOR ASCON REBAR COUPLERS
RAW MATERIAL SOURCING
The Raw Material best suited for manufacturing Rebar Couplers is EN8D Grade and is primarily sourced from Primary Steel Manufacturers such as VSP(RINL), Modern Steel etc. We do not source our Raw Material – EN8D Rounds from Re-Rollers.
RAW MATERIAL SHIPPING
The Raw Material Ordered is transported in long body trucks or are cut to fit the general size trucks. Bending of the Rounds are not acceptable as per our QC Policy.
RAW MATERIAL TESTING
The incoming Raw Material is visually inspected for any surface defects, dimensions etc and are then subjected to manufacturing a small lot of 100 Couplers. Out of these a batch size of 03-10 couplers are randomly picked and sent for testing at our pre-approved laboratory for the following tests:
1. Static Tensile Test of the Coupler with TMT Bars
2. Physical Strength Testing of the Raw Material Round (in form of dumble),
3. Chemical Composition Test of the Raw Material
CUTTING
During cutting of the Steel Rounds by a semi automatic Band Saw Machine, one in every 20 pieces are checked for dimensional correctness and the cutting angle. Rejections at this stage is hardly 01%
DRILLING
During drilling of the cut size coupler by Pillar Drilling Machines and Lathe Machines, straightness of the bore is checked with a Go – No GO Gauge. About 01-03% rejections are made at this stage owing to faulty drilling. The drilled pieces are then cleaned and sent for CNC Machining.
CNC MACHINING
The air cleaned drilled couplers are fed into the CNC Turning Centres where a taper bore is formed followed by chamfering of the edges and threading onto the taper bore. The piece is rotated once to complete the process and 1/25 couplers are checked with a GO / NO-GO Gauge for any manufacturing defects. About 01-02% of these couplers may face rejection due to wrong commands by the CNC Operator during manufacturing. These pieces are then sorted and sent to the scrap yard.
STAMPING
All couplers are then Stamped using a Hydro Pneumatic Marking Machine with their SIZE , MAKE, and BATCH NO so that the Raw Material Traceability is maintained. The Batch No is related to the Invoice/Test Report of the Raw Material Supplier and the same is documented for future use.
PACKING
The Stamped Couplers are again inspected visually and with Gauges and upon Inspection they are packed in Polythene Envelopes and thereafter in Corrugated Boxes with batch no on all boxes. The Couplers are now ready to be shipped to Customers.