A-Able printing services

Alice was a manager at A-Able printing services. She was examining the process for delivering price and delivery estimates for custom texts used by schools. Currently, the process had the following steps. First, a customer contacted A-Able with a request to put together an estimate. Alice asked customers fill out a request form specifing the kind of cover and binding, type of paper, printing type (color/B&W), and an estimate of the number of copies required. The form also listed the articles or other materials to be included, and requirements for a table of contents and/or an index. Typically, Alice had to work with the customer at this stage to explain options and make sure that the form was filled out properly and completely.

Next, Alice contacted the representatives of any copyrighted contents specified in the form, and asked for the costs for permission to reproduce. Sometimes the copyright owners could not be contacted, or they refused to grant the permission to reproduce. In such cases, Alice had to contact the customer and ask for additional direction.

Then, Alice collated all of the materials, and calculated the total number of pages. She estimated the amount of time required to prepare the table of contents, index, and any other custom parts of the book. Alice then calculated a per unit cost based upon reproduction fees (royalties), printing costs, setup costs, and material costs.

To estimate delivery dates, Alice checked the production schedule with the production supervisor to see when the job could be started. She then estimated total job time required based upon the setup, printing, and assembly time estimates. These scheduling and cost estimates were communicated with the customer.

3-1. Draw a process diagram (blueprint) for the estimate process. (15 points)

3-2. Identify at least five potential problems (e.g., opportunities for mistakes, service failures, or other quality related problems) with the process. (7.5 points)

3-3. For each potential problem develop and explain a poka-yoke. (7.5 points)