After reading the case study in the Module 1 assignment, (Quality Management Systems and Business Performance) offer your initial thoughts on what you think are the fundamental improvements needed at Absolute Zero if you are the Quality Manager.

Identify three (3) improvements

Abselute Zero Case Stady Absolute Zero ( A ) is a froden food processi, M buys 4ruits and veretakies trom farmers, prepares and Hreedes them, and sells them into trade chanels that uhimately get dowis to the homeraker, telaurata, or hotel. Thin is an eaternely competitie business. Several aiant companies operate nationaly, othering a beoad product lne including frades meat, vegetables, frim, truit, asd joices, plus a widening asortment of prepared piek, dinners, efc. These giants uell under their oen brand name, which they aswertive to creace direct contumer feceptition. A 4 one of the manr amaller cempaniss operating Ine, and on a gecgeaphical regional basiz. ati: Brined to fruitand vegetables, and even these are limited to popslar hema swch as: asparafut. beans. corn, peaches, raspoetriet, thubarb, and atrawbetriet. A2 currently has saies around 90 to 100 millon. The year around statt is about 500 peopie. The. increares bo abou4 4,600 duting the peak sales weavon. Todd, the precident, wosld like to ungade the cempany to become the leader in the industry. He doubes that any one apenwach can do thic, so he is proceeding on sereeal toonts- fow preducts, moce marketing that is ackersive, lower cests bettee qualit. Thit will require investment. However, the company's present financial condition recuires a gradual, rather thas a crash approsch towart investing: money- Dreaniration \$trocture and Poles Pereident = Todd Vice President of Finnne Caetrolet Vice President ef Marketing Sales Manazer (inuit) Product Manager iFnet] Prodact M Mrager (Vegetablea\} Adeertising Makager Vice President of elesearch Product ferearch Process Research Packating lipearch Censral Laboeasories Vice President of Manulacturing Plant Cperafioms Production Englmeeried Production Plarinine Rualfy Manager Vice Prevident Purchasing Yice Preident Persannel AI of these activities are at company headquarters except several field salks offices and the plants. There are eighe food-pecocssing plants located in the food trowint arnin. The plants are all organized en a conernon pattern an follows: Hant manager Pradurtion maprintendent Processing superethors Packing supervisers Plant manager Preduction superintendent Practesurte inpervisaes Packing supervars Preduction planning manacer Pant engireer Plant contreller Persoenel assistant Ruality superoiser Contrel Laboratery Marketing company and the leader an its fieid. Mead tas his pen ideas on how to do thes. He arloomes nea the main toof wifl be marketing skifl-attractive packagine, smart premention, shrod dealis a th customers, etc. by separating the planning function from the selling function. He now has fwo fuf-tace prodact managers, Koned and Weave. Their job is to plan the product line and so busdpet ales. grofiac and advertisire. expedien new peoducts through the comeany, and perfism stil ather chorm. deliveries and wach. Because the product manager setup is nee, the Marketirg Deparmen is stil also ace getting ieno some eew relationships with Resparch, Finance, and Productert. Torse sound but that it ad take time 4 or it to become efiective. Mramwhile, lacking the teiources of a national arganizatign with a magk brand nume, at mancrntrakes As operations in the Northeast. it sels to rome food chains but is obleed to puttere oharis mane an the product. AZ dso seils bo food datributers using its own brand name of Hifrost. in addeion, lacking a brand name that "sels itself," M is farsed to gre price concesuons the newit as a rew secialty products with higher mare ns and hopes to 10 to market with the yesen. Quality Policy Whe eo buid AZs mage as a "qualy house" The purchanife and productisn pecele ferl that dere a no evidence that qual fy diferences can be made evident anseeh to cartamen fo pey fer the eutra conth aff materiat. Qaterial a believed generally to be the most infuential factor in coroumer ancirgtablity of the final product.). The higher ups have disowsed how 10 distingunh their prodact an a "ouali-y" prod product affered policy, nor do they necessardy tave a vison for wuat ty. The most specific comments fusie tecen alore the noth, what ehe matteri" Cuality Pannine The formal daalfy planning as is done af M ? is carried out by central Guaity. This decart- eut prepurei in the forrt of Cuality Planning The formal eualy plafeing as is dote at AZ is catried out by central Qualey, This departmest prepares inspection and teif plans, whether for matenat sonfrol, process oontrol, or fruithed goods contrel. it drafts the manuals and forms, secures the agreement of the departmenta, and isoes the official plard. Devond this plan-ing twhich in tor product acceptance and process controf. AZ has dormal qualty plans in the form of : Specifications for material. procesk, and sroduct verifcation linepectionl conducted an the individual planta Cuntemer complant itwevticatisen and reporting Budgeting and reporting the percent of grade "AF" Procedure for reviewing and disposinioni-g preduct held for qualty reason New Product Derelspment A2 is working to increase its product lne, particularfy in the direction od froten dintersand other aidst to the homemater. The sequence of new product develcoment, as it attects qualty, is a followes: The product manager, who hak responskily for recommending to management what should be the makeup of the product ane, icreers ide as for new products. The product manager doen this terecing based on krowiedge of the trends in the market, profit marges, availabelitr of material, etc. the first techrical wees in new groduct develspment are conducted in the Central iaborataries. There. conpering products arestufied, and a provitional formula is worked out. Central 1 aboratones has adequuate facilties for develeging groducts, Grecesses, bnd protectiee packagine. The taberatorier cant wimulate msit of the conditions the prod act wit encourt er on tis way fo the consimer and can test for eftect of uach conditions on the prodact. Taste testing in the laboratories is done ty laboratory beraorel in an unofficial fest panel. Whth a previsionat iormula, enough packages are made up tor kitchen testong in Mra. Menger's spotlesi kiachen. Tha kiechen is a part of Certral Lasoratoriei and is wed to teril out warieus recipes \{A2 hoper aho to adeertise filen Menger into a wirbol of excelpnce for prepared freven dinnenj. The khohen staff, working wirh the researchers, constitutes the second handie of new pecoduct eealuation. A thing sqep in new peoduct development is use of the Convumer 7est fafel, A few vears agn, the Gueribien of vetting up a convutiet panel had been dricusied. A2 decided to tet us a panel of 50 emplayees who would be wilreg to make warious tests. AZ feovided these employees wish senal food producta, ebc. These employees were prorided with iree food for thei trouble in camping out the varsous bests and in reporting the resuits that are anahped stafoticaly: Stativtical Methods Righ now, AZ's key qualey peosle covld use some tranieg in atatistical methods to help eut in peotent usch as: SetEine up tabcratcry teit pateh for sensery qualities Determination of reliable nasple vaes Presction of fosd trethneis Determination of erroes of meanurement and of sampling Study of caute-and-effect telatisnship between process vardales and product oualy Statistical process control Executive fleports on Bualify A2s repoeting 3y4em a aimed primarly at day-to-day control. It does a good job on this. The uaperwivers get a quick feedback from the process contral people. The productiont suger-inendeats and plant managers get a daily feedback from the plant quatify suberviaor, Centrat Qual fy gets daly reports and samples. The top people in AZ get wmmaraed information as tollows: Study of cause-and-effect relationship between process varables and product quality Statistical process control Executive Reports on Quality AZ's reporting system is aimed primarily at day-to-day control. it does a good job on this. The supervisors get a quick feedback from the process control people. The production super- intendents and plant managers get a daily feedback from the plant quality supervisor. Central Quality gets daily reports and samples. The top people in AZ get summarized information as follows: Percent of product that has been graded A versus budgeted percent (monthly) Quality comptaint summary (monthly) Cost of overfill (annual) Periodic special reparts Quality Culture At the top of the company, everyone is for making sure that quality of product is not a liability, Le, let's have less blunders, let's have more uniformity, more predictabilty, etc, but without raising the cost. On the matter of making quality a positive asset in selling the product, there is no such unanimity. An important school of thought holds that the consumer is unable to distinguish costly differences in product; that the differences among the various frosen brands are trivial compared to the difference between frosen food as a class and fresh food as a class, that the frosen foed companies are selling corvenience and avaitability, not quality. There are also some personal problems among the top people with respect to quality. Acosta, the competent and aggressive product research head, had brovght in Belings. Acosta was not fand stial is not) satisfied with the conduct of quality activity under Manufacture. Acosta felt that the approach was limited to day-o-day acceptance, that it lacked imazination, and is reactive in nature. In the plants, the production supervisors are faced with multiple targets-the schedule, the cost budget, the percent grade A budget, and others. The supervisors are mature, since their job is regarded as a terminal job. The supervisors have extensive experience in the materials, the production machinery, and the process. They also have a big training problem because of the seasonal rise and fall amount of job rotation departments. People who started in the laboratory fill the quality key posts. Their technical training has been in food technology for the most part. Generally, the qualty people have made good progress in the company. advancing to posts in Production, Research, and Marketing as well as in Quality itself. AZ has no trouble hiring good people for the laboratories since it can honestly show them a career as well as a job