Frito-Lay, the multi-billion-dollar snack food giant, produces billions of pounds of product every year at its dozens of U.S. and Canadian plants. From the farming of potatoes—in Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan—to factory and to retail stores, the ingredients and final product of Lay’s chips, for example, are inspected at least 11 times: in the field, before unloading at the plant, after washing and peeling, at the sizing station, at the fryer, after seasoning, when bagged (for weight), at carton filling, in the warehouse, and as they are placed on the store shelf by Frito-Lay personnel. Similar inspections take place for its other famous products, including Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles, and Tostitos.

Discussion Questions

1. Angela is now going to evaluate a new salt process delivery system and wants to know if the upper and lower control limits at 3 standard deviations for the new system will meet the upper and lower control specifications noted above.

The data (in percents) from the initial trial samples are:

Sample 1: 1.98, 2.11, 2.15, 2.06

Sample 2: 1.99, 2.0, 2.08, 1.99

Sample 3: 2.20, 2.10, 2.20, 2.05

Sample 4: 2.18, 2.01, 2.23, 1.98

Sample 5: 2.01, 2.08, 2.14, 2.16

Provide the report to Angela.

2. What are the advantage and disadvantages of Frito-Lay drives stocking their customers’ shelves?

3. Why is quality a critical function at Frito-Lay?