Case #$1$: Excellent Year, Inc.$*$

Excellent Year, Inc. $($EYI$)$ is a market leader in producing quality Dry Erase Markers that conform

to ASTM D$2436.$ The markers are known to have minimal odor and is supplied to educational

institutions throughout the United States. The markers are produced in several colors, but the highest

selling markers are of black, red, and green color. The company prides to have all its markers produced

in the United States due to its founders and owners Joseph DiMaggio and Karen Lull. They are both

military veterans and took early retirements to start EYI. They aspired to sell these markers

internationally from the get$-$go$.$ Therefore, they are in the process of submitting EYI$$s application to

earn an ISO $9000-2015$ certification.

As they were preparing to increase their production to match with the sale, they saw a

downward slide of its sales as the U$.$S$.$was locked down during the pandemic beginning in March $2020.$

As more educational institutions, who are the power users of markers, went online, the sales went

down. In October $2020,$ the company took a decision to cut $50\%$ of its operation to stay afloat. Joe and

Karen laid off $72\%$ of EYI workers with the promise that they will be called once the sales orders pick up$.$

In July $2021,$ they found the writings on the walls that most educational institutions are going to

open by adopting CDC$$s social distancing and masking options. In anticipation EYI slowly opened its

doors to a selected group of workers to produce markers. They operated on only $1$ shift with the intent

to bring in more workers if the demand increases. Even during this pandemic, EYI$$s resourceful

marketing manager, Jennifer Fast, reached out to her prior customers to assess the needs through

December $2021.$ She was very encouraged that the month over month growth of the demand for

markers is anticipated at $18\%.$ She met with Joe D$.,$ and Karen L$.$ to convey this good news. They

suggested that Jennifer meet with Chevy O$$Hair$,$ VP of Production, and Leila Fernandez, Manager of

Quality Initiatives to start production gradually.

Jennifer called a meeting of Chevy O$.$ and Leila F$.$ to discuss about the marketing plan for the

next $12$ months. They were all excited about the future of EYI. They left the meeting with an

effervescent enthusiasm about making up the grounds they lost due to COVID $19.$ Of course, they did

not expect to meet after $3$ months $($in October$)$ in a diametrically opposite circumstance as evidenced

below.

In early October, Jennifer F$.$ started getting calls from irate customers. The EYI markers that

held the quality banner of the industry suddenly were found to be having dry tips, broken bodies, ink

leakage, over$-$sized caps. The defect rates were outrageous with the return rate in July, August,

September aggregating $11\%,14\%,$ and $12\%$ respectively. The internal and external failure costs have

risen to $$12$ m$,$ $$15$ m$,$ and $$16$ m in those $3$ months.

Thus, it was time for Jennifer F$.$ to meet Chevy O$.$ and Leila F$.$ to find out the reasons for such

colossal failure in marshalling a production process that EYI was known for. She wanted not only

explanation but also actions from production and quality departments to reverse the situation that is

bringing tarnished reputation to EYI. She demanded that the situation needs to be solved permanently

without sacrificing the short term needs of changing the course.

Leila F$.$ was swift to action. True to herself, she has made her name in a highly male dominated

industry due to her quick wit and a sense of unarming humor. She called a meeting of $14$ skilled workers

$2$

that she thought could brainstorm to contain the damages first and then develop solutions to impact

long term viability. She used the chart below to create a sense of urgency. Leila F$.$ was cognizant of the

fact that these workers are adept at performing their job functions but are not very familiar with

quantitative data.

The meeting on October $4$th was productive in identifying a list of why defective items are

produced. These $14$ workers brainstormed to produce a set of language data $($see below$).$ Leila F$.$

facilitated the meeting with the understanding that a consultant familiar with several facets of quality

analytics, like you, will be brought to look at the language and feeling data to solve the problem of

excessive defective produced in the production line.

$(1)$ Excessive chatting at work

$(2)$ Work dissatisfaction

$(3)$ Insufficient leadership training of supervisors

$(4)$ Cannot fix work situations

$(5)$ Insufficient Personnel due to leave

$(6)$ Unstable attendance rate

$(7)$ Personality conflicts with fellow workers

$(8)$ Time devoted to training

$(9)$ Check miss

$(10)$ Check insufficient

$(11)$ Defectives increased

$(12)$ Chronic deficiency

$30\mathrm{.}2\%$

Percentage of Defects

Dry markers Broken tips Cracked body Ink spill Miscellaneous

$10\mathrm{.}7\%$

$30\mathrm{.}2\%$

$25\mathrm{.}7\%$

$21\mathrm{.}1\%$

$12\mathrm{.}3\%$

$3$

$(13)$ Insufficient checking time

$(14)$ Operating time is tight

$(15)$ Work Disorg