Finishing system requirements for wood flooring are based on Voice of the Customer (VOC) as it relates to end user specifications including: wood species, width, stain color, gloss, coating/wood visual and overall durability and maintenance. Because different plants have different UV finishing lines, variability in the UV process can cause manufacturing issues. Controlling the variability has been a major part of our quality improvement efforts. This paper begins with a history of Armstrong's flooring and UV/EB chemistry development followed by Armstrong's Wood Coatings Quality Journey. Within the quality journey, this paper will review three primary steps: 1) Finishing Process Specifications, 2) Statistical Process Control, and 3) Product Quality Control. A sigma process map will identify CTC (Critical to Customer attributes) and CTQ (Critical to Quality) input variables for the Finishing Process Specifications. The associated CTQs reviewed include: sanding, UV stains and finishing. Quality improvement in color matching, UV finishing system requirements, e.g., coating structure/performance, and statistical process control methodology for monitoring coating parameters and radiometry across multiple plants will be reviewed.
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