Application of Knowledge

Congratulations! Youve just been hired by a company as their new Quality Manager. They are a large manufacturer of parts for the aerospace industry. The boss sits you down on the first day and indicates that quality seems to be all over the place. He asks you to analyze the various parts of the process and provide some details and recommendations. He says: Youve got your job cut out for yougood luck!

He gives you the following data for # of bad parts produced per day for the last month and the bad parts produced per machine in the last month:

As a newly trained Quality Assurance Manager, you know that proper data analysis will be the first step.

You go visit Ray, the Production Supervisor, for an overview of the process. He says: Well, we get the raw material from our suppliers. As it comes in, we do an inspection and if product is good, it goes to the inventory area. However, if its bad it goes into our quarantine area to go back to the supplier. We get an order to make new parts, so we will pull the stock from inventory to one of our 5 machines. The lead operator sets up the machine and then needs to get authorization the setup is ok. If its ok, then we will run the order. If its not, they redo it again until it is. Once the order is running, they will inspect 1 in every 10 pieces. They assess this sample to make sure its ok to keep running. If the inspection is bad, they go back to working on the setup. Once the order is done, its sent to shipping. They wrap the order and send it to the customer. Pretty easy, really.

You also find out they hired a consultant before you but she left before she was able to properly analyze the data and determine Upper and Lower control limits. However, the company, based on feedback from their customers, wants to see a goal of zero defects to a maximum of 10 per day.

As you continue your investigation, you find out there has been a brainstorming session before you arrived so they could try to understand the recent quality issues. They put together the ideas in the minutes but havent done any other analysis with them so far. They are:

Our raw stock over the last few months seems to be getting worse

We got a lot of new operators over the last few months whove been pushed to the floor quickly

The dial on Machine No 4 is worn out and very hard to read

Weve been using the same specifications since I started here 10 years ago

I really dont know how they expect us to check the samples when half the lights are burnt out above the machineI cant see anything!

I dont know what the issue is I follow the standard procedures, same as John on Machine 1. Not my fault the other guys do things their own way.

I dont know how they expect the glue to hold when its so cold in the warehouse

Machine No 3 has some very old parts that are loose

Bill is the only one who seems to know how to do the proper checks and hes off on sick leave

Im told to do a different type of quality check by the designers, the supervisor and even the boss!

When setting up our dies, the wood used on the dies is brittle and can crack causing issues

Ive tried to check the depth of the finished goods, but the tape measures are all different

Digging further, you determine that the organization has set up an AQL for their inspections as per below:

Major Issue AQL of 0.1 with a lot size of 25,000 pieces and using General Level 2

Medium Issue AQL of 0.65 with a lot size of 25,000 pieces and using General Level 2

Minor Issue AQL of 6.5 with a lot size of 25,000 pieces and using General Level 2

Finally you are given the following quality costs for the last year:

Qualifications of Supplier Products $675

Laboratory Support $575

Process Control measurements $1960

Field Performance Evaluation $2555

Depreciation Allowance $2354

Review of Test and Inspection Data $265

Measurement Equipment $585

Inspection and Test Materials $554

Purchasing Appraisal Costs $155

Maintenance & Calibration labor $4558

Retrofit Costs $360

Warranty Claims $39,890

Recall Costs $28,000

Disposition Costs $250

Troubleshooting costs $38,675

Scrap Costs $22,000

Material Review and CAR Costs $4,560

Supplier Reviews $1,200

Operator Quality Education $50

Contract Review $225

QualityAdministration $550

Now that you have everything, its time to get to work!

, you must do the following:

1. Analyze the quality costs, separate each one into each cost type and determine % in each cost type. Do not round up or down show to two decimal points (i.e.: 00.00%).

2. Create an Ishikawa Diagram of the brainstorm session

3. Create a detailed flowchart of the process

4. Create a control chart of the appropriate data show your calculations and do not round up or down show to two decimal points (i.e.: 00.00).

5. Create a pareto chart of the appropriate data

6. Calculate what the AQL information is

7. Finally, on minimum two full pages to maximum three full pages (font size 12, single spaced), provide a summary of your observations and recommendations based on each of the data metrics youve analyzed

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