Fluent Essays

DISCUSSION BOARD:You dont inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in.Before you build quality in, you must think it in. Discuss the implications of these statements.At least 400 words for the initial postAt least 75 words for the each responsesCASE STUDY:1. What are the causes of the quality problems on the Greasex line? Display your answer on a fishbone diagram.2. What general steps should Hank follow in setting up a continuous improvement program for the company? What problems will he have to overcome to make it work? hank_kolb.docx responses_for_the_discussion_board.docx Unformatted Attachment Preview HANK KOLB CASE STUDY • Hank Kolb was whistling as he walked toward 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 1,200 people. Kolb poked his head into Mark Hamlers office, his immediate subordinate as the quality control manager, and asked him how things had gone during the past week. Hamlers muted smile and an “Oh, fine,” stopped Kolb in his tracks. He didnt 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 had been passed over for the promotion to Kolbs job; Hamlers 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 typical quality snafu. We had a little problem on the Greasex line last week [a specialized degreasing solvent packed in a spray can for the 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 continued: Weve 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 percent 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, firstline 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 couldnt 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 didnt 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 didnt say much—he didnt know if this was a big deal or not. When he got to his office, he thought again what Morganthal, general manager, had said when he had 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.” Morganthal further emphasized the quality problems in the plant: “We have to improve our quality; its costing us a lot of money, Im sure of it, but I cant prove it! Hank, you have my full support in this matter; youre 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 customers 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 didnt 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 trained by Wayne, on the job, to run the equipment. When Mac had tested the highpressure 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. Nonstandard downtime was 15 percent 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 heads 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 for Greasex, had been contoured to allow better gripping by the user. This change, instigated by marketing research, set Greasex apart from the appearance of its 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 venturi (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 foremen and shift supervisors. The manufacturing manager thought Simmons was one of the “best foremen we have…he always got his production out.” His promotion papers were actually on the manufacturing managers 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 Ill 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 in that high-tech segment.” What bothered Kolb most was the safety issue of the high pressure in the cans. He had no way of knowing how much of a hazard the high pressure was or 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? Skipping lunch, Kolb sat in his office and thought about the mornings events. The past weeks seminar had talked about the role of quality, productivity and quality, creating a new attitude, and the quality challenge; but where had they told him what to do when this happened? He had left a very good job to come here because he thought the company was serious about the importance of quality, and he wanted a challenge. Kolb had demanded and received a salary equal to the manufacturing, marketing, and R&D directors, and he was one of the direct reports to the general manager. Yet he still didnt know exactly what he should or shouldnt do, or even what he could or couldnt do under these circumstances. Discussion 1 The two statements You dont inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in and Before you build quality in, you must think it in, are correlated but have key differences explained below. Businesses are incredibly competitive, so they need to ensure each product produced adheres to a higher standard of quality and services. The quality of a product and service of a company is the differential factor that sets superior companies apart from the rest. The first statement, You dont inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in means that these companies are taking proactive measures rather than reactive to ensure they are delivering the best quality product and services to their consumers. At each stage in the production process care is taken to ensure a quality product or service is created; workers are well trained, thought and attention to detail is considered, equipment is in good working condition and raw materials used are quality materials. By taking these proactive measures, it guarantees all products and services are meeting the quality standards set by the company and its consumers which then reduces inspection activity. Businesses are required to take such steps to maintain its position in the competitive market. The second statement, Before you build quality in, you must think it in implies that the company and its management has considered the big picture and thought of the long-term conditions of quality. During the design stage of the process, the company thoroughly considered how to build their product or service to ensure a quality product. This means they took the time to think the process through, research the attributes and measures that are required for producing quality products and implementing the quality into the product or service in an appropriate manner. By doing this, they have created business principles, processes and systems that ensures their workers and equipment are geared towards making a higher quality of products or services consistently over an extended period. Discussion 2 You dont inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in. Refers to the fact that once inspections happens it too late to correct the flaws of a product that already produced. A company must anticipate possible missteps or short falls before they happen and have a plan to combat any such issues that come up. Attempting to correct a issue after the fact can be a costly, in manufacturing, design, marketing, training for personnel, and maintenance to fix the issue. A company should remain proactive and vigilant in maintaining it 14 steps of quality improvement. “Before you build quality in, you must think it in. Before a company builds a product they should consider the many different applications their product can and will be used for. Based on those ideas the product should be designed accordingly. The product should be made to last the life of its requirements with limited maintenance. It should also be designed in a way to prevent miss uses that could be dangerous, and come with warning labels not to be used in certain manners. ... Purchase answer to see full attachment