Questions and Answers of Marketing Research

Visit a local machine shop, bakery, or similar factory to determine what type of measurements they perform, what instruments they use, how they use the data, and how they ensure the precision and
What is a process map (or flowchart), and what benefits do these maps provide to project team members and decision-makers?
Two scales at Aussieburgers, Ltd., were used to weigh the same 25 samples of hamburger patties for a fast-food restaurant in Australia. Results are shown in Ch04Data.xlsx file for Prob04-07 on the
A gauge repeatability and reproducibility study at NEW Gauge, Inc., collected the data for three operators, two trials, and eight parts, as found in the worksheet Prob04-08 in the Excel file
Describe the different approaches to sample selection and provide an example in which each would be most appropriate.
What are the sources of systematic error in sampling, and how can systematic error be overcome?
Explain the differences between the techniques for determining sample sizes for discrete versus continuous variables (population measures).
For the data from Speciatronics, Ltd. (Prob04-09 in Ch04Data.xlsx on the Student Companion Site), the upper specification limit was USL = 5.25, and the lower specification limit was LSL = 1.75.
A machining process has a required dimension on a part of 0.515 ± 0.007 inches. Twenty-five parts were measured as found in the Ch04Data.xlsx file for Prob04-10 on the Student Companion Site. What
Adjustments were made in the process discussed in Problem 10, and 25 more samples were taken. The results are given in the Ch04Data.xlsx file for Prob04-11 on the Student Companion Site. What can you
Explain why processes that rely on visual interpretation of product characteristics or manual reading of gauges and instruments may encounter error rates from 10 to 50 percent. What can be done to
What are the basic questions organizations must ask in order to collect accurate data?
Identify some of the major processes a student encounters in a college or university. What types of noneducational institutions perform similar processes and might be candidates for benchmarking?
Datacrackers, Inc., generated preliminary data from a client’s process as found in Prob04-05 in spreadsheet Ch04Data.xlsx on the Student Companion Site.a. Apply the Excel Descriptive Statistics
Describe different types of check sheets that are useful in quality improvement.
Discuss the following questions related to the Casper Merrill Six Sigma in Practice vignette:a. What role did analysis of the variation in the ice cream freezers and the extrusion process play in
Discuss the basic questions that must be addressed in a sampling study.
State the four rules for calculating probabilities of events.
The standard deviation of the weight of filled salt containers is 0.4 ounce. If 2.5 percent of the containers contain less than 16 ounces, what is the mean filling weight of the containers?Salt
List the most important types of probability distributions used in quality management.
Kiwi Oil is sold in 950-milliliter (ml) cans. The mean volume of oil placed in a can is 920 ml with a standard deviation of 12 ml. Assuming a normal distribution, what is the probability that the
Explain the multiplication rule of probability. How does independence of events affect the multiplication rule?
From the data for Prob04-12 for Kermit Theatrical Products on the Student Companion Site, calculate summary statistics and construct a histogram. If the specifications are 24 ± 0.03, compute Cp,
Describe the science of metrology.
Suppose that a process at Manuel Automation with a normally distributed output has a mean of 50.0 cm and a variance of 3.61 cm.a. If the specifications are 51.0 ± 3.75 cm, compute Cp, Cpu, Cpl,
What is calibration and why is it important to a good quality assurance system?
Explain the term process capability. How can process capability generally be improved?
Define the process capability indexes, Cp, Cpl, and Cpu, and explain how they may be used to establish or improve quality policies in operating areas or with suppliers.
Devise an experiment similar to the Megalife battery example to test different levels of some factor and conduct a statistical analysis using ANOVA on the results. Write up your experiment and
Why are statistical inference and predictive statistical methods important to Six Sigma?
In the GE-Fanuc case, why did the experimental design have to be so complex? Why were so many individuals involved in this project?
The Turkuman Rug Company buys medium grade carpet in 100-foot rolls. The average number of defects per roll is 1.8. Assuming that these data follow a Poisson distribution, use the Poisson spreadsheet
Explain the difference between an experiment, an outcome, and a sample space.
What might have been some contributing factors that caused GE-Fanuc to select the Ni-Au over the cheaper boards in the past?
State the meaning of the central limit theorem in your own words. How important is it to the development and use of statistical quality control techniques?
The dimension of a machined part made by Machinheimer Machinery has a nominal specification of 11.9 cm. The process that produces the part can be controlled to have a mean value equal to this
Explain the difference between population parameters, such as μ and σ and sample statistics, such as x̄ and s.
How do discrete probability distributions differ from continuous probability distributions?
Wayback Cleaning Co. has found that standard size offices have a standard deviation of 5 minutes for their cleaning time. The operations manager knows that 95 percent of the offices require more than
What are some of the statistical tools related to probability distributions available in Microsoft Excel, and how can they be used?
The Monterey Fiesta Mexican Restaurant is trying to determine if its popular Pan Con Mucho Sabor breadsticks are correlated with the sales of margaritas. It has data on sales of breadstick baskets
A Teclear, Inc. call center requires service operators to answer telephone calls from customers in an average time of 0.15 minute or less. A sample of 36 actual operator times was drawn, and the
Softswift, a software developer, is trying to determine if any of three potential subcontractors has better programmers in order to outsource a development project. The three subcontractors agreed to
A quality analyst at Paintfast Manufacturing Co. wants to determine if a new paint formulation, used to paint parts for a customer’s assembly operation will dry fast enough to meet the customer’s
The quality manager at Newvis Pharmaceutical Company is certifying a new process that must produce 90 percent (or better) good product before certification can be completed. A sample of 49 containers
Explain the differences between correlation and regression. How are they related?
A process engineer at Sival Electronics was trying to determine whether three suppliers would be equally capable of supplying the mounting boards for the new “gold plated” components that she was
What is a confidence interval? What value do they have?
Define a hypothesis test, and list the steps that are required to conduct one.
River Bottom Fire Department is evaluating their response times in order to determine whether a new fire station is needed. Samples were taken for 30 random days from 6 stations. These data can be
What is the statistical basis for ANOVA; that is, what hypothesis is it designed to test?
A flowchart for a fast-food drive-through window is shown in Figure 6.2. Determine the important quality characteristics inherent in this process and suggest possible improvements using the Deming
What is a root cause? How does the “Five Why” technique help uncover the root cause?
Describe a factorial experiment. Provide some examples of factorial experiments that you might use to solve some types of quality-related problem.
What is the purpose of design of experiments?
Describe the structure of a cause-and-effect diagram.
The current process for fulfilling a room service request at the Luxmark hotel can be described as follows: After the tray is prepared at the room service station, the server proceeds to the room,
Placewrite, Inc., an independent outplacement service, helps unemployed executives find jobs. One of the major activities of the service is preparing resumes. Three word processors work at the
What is flexibility and why is it important to a modern organization?
Design a process for the following activities:a. Preparing for an examb. Writing a term paperc. Planning a vacationd. Making breakfast for your familye. Washing your carDraw a flowchart for each
Work with your school administrators to identify an important qualityrelated problem they face. Outline a plan for improvement. If time permits, apply some of the problem-solving tools to collect
Maintaining accuracy of books on the shelves in a college library is an important task. Consider the following problems that are often observed.a. Books are not placed in the correct shelf position.
What is reengineering? How does it relate to Six Sigma practices?
Describe a personal problem you face and how you might use the Deming cycle and QC tools to address it.
What is a stretch goal? How can stretch goals help an organization?
What are the key impacts of cycle time reduction?
In the Six Sigma in Practice case, what results were attained in specific areas of targeted improvements?
What is the Deming cycle? Explain the four steps.
Work with teachers at a local high school or elementary school to identify some students who are having difficulties. Apply quality tools to help find the source of the problems and create an
What are the fundamental questions that should be asked when analyzing a process using a process map?
Search the Internet for John Grout’s poka-yoke website. Read several of the interesting articles available there and write a report on the information you discovered.
Interview a plant manager or quality professional at one or more local companies to see if they have used any poka-yoke approaches to mistake-proof their operations.
Why do people make inadvertent mistakes? How does poka-yoke help prevent such mistakes?
Check out the website http://www.isixsigma.com/tools-templates/. This contains descriptions and examples of the use of quality improvement tools. Find some that have not been discussed in this
Explain the Japanese concept of kaizen. How does it differ from traditional Western approaches to improvement?
List and explain the three levels of mistake-proofing.
Visit a local production plant, bank, or mail processing facility (preferably one that is known to have a total quality or Six Sigma process) and determine whether they track processing information
Why is brainstorming an important tool in the Improvement phase of DMAIC?
How can one check whether process owners have true responsibility for controlling a process?
Investigate how political polls are conducted and tracked during a state or national campaign. Contact your federal elected representative’s office to find leads on how to gather data for this
Define statistical process control and discuss its advantages.
Discuss the three primary applications of control charts.
What are the disadvantages of simply using histograms to study process capability?
Sketch an example of each of the six patterns of control charts mentioned in the text that may indicate that the process is out of control. Contrast them with Figure 7.2. Suggest some typical
How might you design an automated system to “analyze” a control chart and provide conclusions about the state of control without human intervention? If you can program in a high-level computer
What does the term in statistical control mean? Explain the difference between capability and control.
Explain the difference between a c-chart and a u-chart.
Why is the s-chart sometimes used in place of the R-chart?
Briefly describe the process of constructing a p-chart. What are the key differences in construction when compared with an x‾-chart?
What does one look for in interpreting control charts? Explain the possible causes of different out-of-control indicators.
Briefly define the seven quality and management tools.
How do quality costs differ between service and manufacturing organizations?
Prepare a pie chart showing the different quality cost categories and percentages for the Great Press Printing Company. See the data in the Excel workbook C03Data.xlsx. How might this information be
Cost of quality data are often expressed as indexes by dividing by some reference value, such as cost/sales dollar or cost/labor dollar. Compute a labor cost base index for Loire Valley Wine Co. from
Use Pareto analysis to investigate the quality losses at Basawas Paper Converters, using data in the worksheet Prob03-05 in the Excel workbook Ch03Data.xlsx on the Student Companion website. What
Nebulas Software Vendors sells programs that reside exclusively “on the cloud.” They use contract programmers around the world to develop modules for the programs, assemble the subassemblies, and
Shazam Modular Manufacturers, Inc., (SMMI) makes flash memory modules for tablet computers. The data in the worksheet Prob03-07 in the Excel workbook Ch03Data.xlsx on the Student Companion website
Explain the importance of projects and project management in Six Sigma, especially as it relates to initial training of Six Sigma experts.
What can an organization do about individuals who “aren’t good with numbers” if the organization has a policy that these individuals must become green belts, and later, black belts, as a
Investigate the extent of team participation at some local companies. What kinds of teams do you find? Do managers believe these teams are effective?

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