OM08
Quality Management
(For
CNM Cases)
Assignment - I
Assignment
Code: 2016OM08A1
Last Date of Submission: 30th
April 2016
Maximum Marks: 100
Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and
carry equal marks.
Section-A
1 Explain
the various steps of Benchmarking
2 Using
a schematic diagram, explain the five phases of Strategic Quality Management
(SQM)
3 How
does the conceptual approach to ISO 14001 differ from ISO 9001? Which of the elements in ISO 9001 are similar to
ISO 14001?
4 Select
one chronic quality-related problem in your organization. In respect to that:
(a) Write a
brief problem statement.
(b) Write a
mission statement for a quality improvement team.
(c) What data
could be collected to show proof of the need to address the problem?
(d) What
departments should be represented on the team?
(e) State one
or more symptoms of the problem.
Section-B
Case Study
Hank Kolb was whistling as
he walked towards his office, still feeling a bit like a stranger since he had
been hired four weeks before as director of quality assurance. All that week he
had been away from the plant at a seminar given for quality managers of
manufacturing plants by the corporate training department. He was now looking
forward to digging into the quality problems at this industrial products plant
employing 1200 people.
Kolb poked his head into
Mark Hamler’s office, his immediate subordinate as the quality control manager
and asked him how things had gone during the past week. Hamler’s muted smile
and an “Oh, fine” stopped Kolb in his tracks. H didn’t know Hamler very well
and was unsure about pursuing this reply any further. Kolb was still uncertain
of how to start building a relationship with him since Hamler has been passed over for the
promotion to Kolb’s job. Hamler’s evaluation form had stated “superb technical
knowledge; managerial skills lacking.” Kolb decided to inquire a little further
and asked Hamler what had happened; he replied, ‘Oh just another quality snafu.
We had a little problem on the Greasex line last week ( a specialized
degreasing solvent packed in a spray can for high-technology sector) . A little
high pressure was found in some cans on the second shift, but a supervisor
vented them so that we could ship them out. We met our delivery schedule!” Because Kolb was still relatively unfamiliar
with the plant and its products, he asked Hamler to elaborate; painfully Hamler
continuted.
We’ve been having some
trouble with the new filling equipment and some of the cans were pressurized
beyond the upper specification limit.
The production rate is
still 50% of standard, about 14 cases per shift, and we caught it halfway into
the shift. Mac Evans ( the inspector for that line) picked it up, tagged the
cases “hold” , and went on about his duties. When he returned at the end of the
shift to write up the rejects, Wayne Simmons, first –line supervisor, was by a
pallet of finished goods finishing sealing up a carton of the rejected Greasex;
the reject “hold” tags had been removed. He told Mac that he had heard about
the high pressure from another inspector at coffee break, had come back, taken
off the tags, individually turned the cans upside down and vented every one of
them in the eight rejected cartons. He told Mac that production planning was
really pushing for the stuff and they couldn’t delay by having it sent through
the rework area. He told Mac that he would get on the operator to run the
equipment right next time. Mac didn’t write it up but came in about three days
ago to tell me about it. Oh, it happens every once in a while and I told him to
make sure to check with maintenance to make sure the filling machine was
adjusted; and I saw Wayne in the hall and told him that he ought to send the
stuff through rework next time.
Kolb was a bit dumbfounded
at this and didn’t say much – he didn’t know if this was a big deal or not.
When he got to his office he though again what Morganthal, general manager, had
said when he hired him. He warned Kolb about the ‘lack of quality attitude’ in
the plant and said that Kolb ‘ should try and do something about this’.
Monganthal further emphasized the quality problems in the plant: “We have to
improve out quality; it’s costing us a lot of money. I’m sure of it, but I
can’t prove it!. Hank, you have my full support in this matter; you’re in
charge of these quality problems. This downward quality-productivity-turnover
spiral has to end!”
The incident had happened a
week before; the goods were probably out in the customer’s hands by now, and everyone
had forgotten about it (or wanted to) . There seemed to be more pressing
problems than this for Kolb to spend his time on, but this continued to nag
him. He felt that the quality department was being treated as a joke, and he
also felt that this was a personal slap from manufacturing. He didn’t want to
start a war with the production people, but what could he do?, Kolb was
troubled enough to cancel his appointments and spend the morning talking to a
few people. After a long and very tactful morning he learned the following
information.
1.
From
Personnel. The
operator for the filling equipment had just been transferred from shipping two
weeks ago. He had no formal training in this job but was being treated by
Wayne, on the job, to run the equipment. When Mac had tested the high-pressure
cans, the operator was nowhere to be found and had only learned of the rejected
material from Wayne after the shift was over.
2.
From
plant maintenance: This
particular piece of automated filling equipment had been purchased two years
ago for use on another product. It had been switched to the Greasex line six
months ago and maintenance completed 12 work orders during the last month for
repairs or adjustments on it. The equipment had been adapted by plant
maintenance for handling the lower viscosity of Greasex, which it had not
originally been designed for. This included designing a special filling head.
There was no scheduled preventive maintenance for this equipment, and the parts
for the sensitive filling head, replaced three times in the last six months,
had to be made at a nearby machine shop.
Non standard downtime was 15 % of actual running time.
3.
From
Purchasing: The
plastic nozzle heads for the Greasex can, designed by a vendor for this new
product on a rush order, were often found to have slight burrs on the inside
rim, and this caused some trouble in fitting the top to the can. An increase in
application pressure at the filling head by maintenance adjustment had solved
the burr application problem or had at least forced the nozzle head on despite
burrs. Purchasing agents said that they were going to talk to the sales
representative of the nozzle head supplier about this the next time he came in.
4.
From
product design and packaging. The can, designed especially Greasex,
had been contoured to allow better gripping by the user. This change,
instigated by marketing research, set Greasex apart from the appearance of this
competitors and was seen as significant by the designers. There had been no
test of the effects of the contoured can on filling speed or filling
hydrodynamics from a high pressured filling head. Kolb had a hunch that the new
design was acting as a venture ( carrier creating suction) when being filled,
but the packaging designer thought that was unlikely.
5.
From the
manufacturing manager.
He had heard about the problem; in fact Simmons had made a joke about
it, bragging about how he beat his production quota to the other foreman and
shift supervisors. The manufacturing manager thought Simmons was one of the
‘best foreman we have….. he always got
his production out”. His promotion papers were actually on the manufacturing
manager’s desk when Kolb dropped by. Simmons was being strongly considered for
promotion to shift supervisor. The manufacturing manager, under pressure from
Morganthal for cost improvements and reduced delivery times, sympathetized with
Kolb but said that the rework area would have vented with their pressure gauges
what Wayne had done by hand. “But I’ll speak with Wayne about the incident,”.
he said.
6 From
Marketing. The
introduction of Greasex had been rushed to market to beat competitors, and a major promotional advertising campaign was
under way to increase consumer awareness. A deluge of orders was swamping the order-taking department and putting
Greasex high on the back-order list. Production
had to turn the stuff out; even being a little off spec was tolerable because
‘it would be better to have it on
the shelf than not there at all. Who cares if the label is a little crooked or
the stuff comes out with a little too
much pressure.? We need market share now I that high-tech segment.
What bothered Kolb most was
the safety issue of the high pressure cans. He had no way of knowing how much
of a hazard the high pressure was of if Simmons had vented them enough to
effectively reduce the hazard. The data from the can manufacturer, which Hamler
had showed him, indicated that the high pressure found by the inspector was not
in the danger area. But, again, the inspector had used only a sample testing
procedure to reject the eight cases. Even if he could morally accept that there
was no product safety hazard, could Kolb make sure that this would never happen
again?
Case Questions:
1. What are the causes of the quality problems on the Greasex
line? Use a fish bone diagram to display the causes.
2. What general steps should Hank follow in setting up a
continuous improvement program? What
problems will he have to
overcome to make it work?
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