Aviation Products Company is a subcontractor that specializes in producing housings for landing gears on jet airplanes. Its production process begins with Machine 1, which bends metal into cylinder-shaped housings and trims off the rough edges. Machine 2 welds the seam of the cylinder and pushes the entire piece into a large die to mold the housing into its final shape.

Joe Mee, the production supervisor, believes that the current process creates too much scrap (i.e., wasted metal). To verify this, James Kincaid, the company’s accountant, began comparing the amounts of scrap generated in the last four weeks with the amounts of scrap the company anticipated for that period. Kincaid could not complete his analysis; his incomplete report appears below. Mee asks you to complete the report and submit a recommendation to him.

1. Present the information in two ways:
a. Prepare a table that shows the difference between the actual and expected scrap in pounds per machine per week. Calculate the difference in pounds and as a percentage (divide the difference in pounds by the expected pounds of scrap for each week). If the actual poundage of scrap is less than the expected poundage, record the difference as a negative. (This means there is less scrap than expected.)
b. Prepare a line graph for each machine showing the weeks on the x axis and the pounds of scrap on the y axis.
2. Examine the differences for the four weeks for each machine, and determine which machine operation is creating excessive scrap.
3. What could be causing this problem?
4. What could Mee do to encourage early identification of the specific cause of suchproblems?

Transcribed Image Text:

Avlation Products Company Comparlson of Actual Scrap and Expected Scrap Four-Week Period Scrap in Pounds Difference Under (0ver) Actual Expected Pounds Percentage Machine 1 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Machine 2 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 36,720 36,720 54,288 36,288 71,856 35,856 82,440 35,640 43,200 18,180 39,600 18,054 7,200 18,162 18,000 18,108