Process control at Walkers

Walkers Snack Foods Limited, part of the worldwide PepsiCo Company, operates in a highly competitive sector of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. With increasingly discriminating customers, they need the competitive edge of high-quality manufacturing to help them retain customer satisfaction. This means that they must keep close control of all their manufacturing processes, a task which is especially difficult when success of your products means booming sales and therefore continually increasing production volumes. Walkers uses a version of statistical process control, which they call control point management (CPM), to maintain and improve their quality levels, in the companys Doritos plant completing control chart sheets. The control points in the manufacturing process where process variables are measured are all specified for each production line. If any measurements fall outside the control limits, procedures in the form of decision trees help to guide the production technicians in bringing the process back within standard.

(a) What do you think are the characteristics of product quality for Walkers products which influence overall customer satisfaction? Your discussion should be based on the dimensions of quality. (16) Why is it important that direct production staff, as opposed to managers or engineers, collect, and analyse process data? (5) (c) What purpose do the corrective decision trees serve in controlling the manufacturing process? (4) 2.2 What are the major disadvantages of multiple layers of management in a business organization? Is teamwork typically implemented in organizations that have multiple layers of management or organizations that have flat hierarchies? Motivate your response with theory and practical examples. (10)

2.3 Briefly describe the five stages of the life cycle of a team. Is it important for a team to pass through each of these stages? Why or why not? Provide relevant examples to demonstrate your understanding of the theory. (15)