ABC Electronics is a medium$-$sized company specializing in manufacturing electronic components. Recently, the company has noticed an increase in customer complaints regarding the quality of one of its key products, the X$100$ circuit board. The management team at ABC Electronics has decided to initiate a Six Sigma project to address these quality issues.

Your Role: You are part of the Six Sigma team tasked with analyzing the manufacturing process of the X$100$ circuit board and making recommendations for improvement.

Project Scope: The project will focus on the assembly line of the X$100$ circuit board, particularly the soldering and quality inspection stages.

Data Sets Provided:

Production Data: This includes daily production volumes, number of units failing quality inspection, and time logs for each stage of the assembly process.

Quality Inspection Data: Details of defects found during quality inspections, categorized by type $($e$.$g$.,$ soldering errors, component misplacements$).$

Customer Feedback Data: A summary of customer complaints and returns related to the X$100$ circuit board.

Tasks:

Problem Definition:

$$ Analyze the provided data sets to define the quality problem with the X$100$ circuit board. Draft a SMART problem statement focusing on the identified issues.

Process Measurement:

$$ Use the production data to calculate key metrics such as defect rates and process efficiency. Identify any trends or patterns that suggest areas of concern in the assembly process.

Cost of Quality Analysis:

$$ Conduct a basic Cost of Quality analysis using the data provided. Estimate the financial impact of the quality issues on ABC Electronics.

SIPOC Diagram:

$$ Create a SIPOC diagram for the assembly line of the X$100$ circuit board. Identify key suppliers, inputs, process steps, outputs, and customers.

Data Analysis and Recommendations:

$$ Analyze the data to uncover root causes of the quality issues. Based on your analysis, make recommendations for process improvements. Justify your recommendations with data and explain how they align with Six Sigma principles.

Deliverables:

A comprehensive report including:

The defined problem statement.

Key findings from the process measurement and CoQ analysis.

The SIPOC diagram.

Detailed analysis and data$-$driven recommendations for process improvement.

A presentation summarizing your analysis and recommendations.

Evaluation Criteria:

Your project will be evaluated based on:

The accuracy and relevance of the problem definition.

The thoroughness of the process measurement and CoQ analysis.

The clarity and completeness of the SIPOC diagram.

The quality of the data analysis and the feasibility and creativity of the recommendations.

The effectiveness of communication in the report and presentation.