Deadly Disease (Taken from several Internet sources and due credit is given) \"Quality cannot be inspected into a product.\" The controversial move by the USDA last week to streamline chicken inspection by cutting by 75% the number of government inspectors who eye chicken carcasses for defects. The Los Angeles Times (June 6, 2012) reports that the USDA move to let chicken slaughterhouses run production lines 25% faster is angering food safety advocates and poultry plant workers. The USDA says it can eliminate 800 inspector positions and save the federal government $30 million a year. Consumer advocates said the rising rates of salmonella infection in recent years should give pause to any plans to cut the number of inspectors. But in testing its relaxed rules at 25 poultry slaughterhouses, the USDA found little difference with conventional plants in the instances of salmonella and other diseases. \"The test plants performed exceptionally well\CHICKEN TQM GAME SIMULATION Ali Sultanzai, Robert Walker, and John Wandke ENM 604 Quality Management School of Engineering, Technology, and Media at National University Dr. Shekar Viswanathan DEADLY DISEASE ABSTRACT Quality management is a process that ensures quality in a company's product and services. If done effectively, it can satisfy an ever-demanding consumer and keep the company remain competitive, thereby aiding business growth. This game was developed to illustrate the mechanics, effects, and improvements in quality management. The goal was to learn about TQM by developing an educational game dealing with quality and ethics. Students learned how to maximize company profit while maintaining continuous quality improvement by selecting calculated TQM variables including production rate, inspectors, and inspection. This TQM game can be used as an effective tool to teach students about the aforementioned areas of quality management. PROBLEM DEFINITION GAME PLAY AREA USDA plans to eliminate 800 inspector positions in Chicken slaughterhouses Save federal government $30 million a year by overlooking food safety Controversial move to let production lines run 25% faster Relaxed rules allow lines to speed to 175 birds per minute 59% of slaughterhouse workers already have carpal tunnel syndrome Rely on plant employees to spot defective carcasses PARETO CHART GAME FEATURES MS EXCEL Game Engine Visual Basic for Application (VBA) Code Integrated audio music (.wav) files and graphics (.jpg) for realistic sound and images 64 possible input combinations QUALITY VS. COST Quality scale results Ethical scale results Pareto chart calculations and display Quality vs. cost analysis and display VARIABLE DATA TABLE LEARNING OUTCOMES VARIABLES USED IN THE GAME Learn Total Quality Management (TQM) Principles Learn Operational Processes Learn Ethical Issues Learn Quality vs. Cost Benefit / Breakeven analysis CONCLUSIONS Learning outcomes were achieved. Players got a better idea of TQM principles and Breakeven analysis Learned how to evaluate ethical issues INPUT Employees Inspectors Production (Line Speed) OUTPUT Employees Inspectors Production Injuries Salmonella VARIABLE RELATIONSHIP CHART INJURIES = Production - Employees RESULTS & FINDINGS SALMONELLA = Production - Inspectors ETHICS = Injuries QUALITY = Employees Poster Design & Printing by Genigraphics - 800.790.4001 + Salmonella + Inspectors - Production COST = Employees + Inspectors + Production + Injuries + Salmonella Companies face ethical challenges as they strive to increase profit margin by improving production. The companies must evaluate the negative impacts that they can have on workers, and quality if all of the issues are not properly addressed. Companies must continually examine and improve their processes in order to stay competitive and provide the highest quality product to the consumer