Create a Word file with a report on your analysis of the new bagging process, a decision on the termination of Worker 4 and recommendations to improve the current bagging process.

Panama Presidente Caf (PPC) is a coffee producer located in Santiago, Panama that sells high quality coffee beans to both the local market and international buyers. Several years ago PPC doubled their coffee acreage by purchasing the neglected farm of a neighbor. Upon securing title to the land, PPC removed all of the old coffee plants and replaced them with new coffee seedlings. After several years of growth, the plants were now mature and producing coffee. Anticipating this increase in supply, PPC secured contracts with multiple international buyers to sell the new supply of coffee beans. In order to meet the demands of these international buyers, PPC changed the bagging process in an attempt to double bagging capacity without adding additional workers.

Prior to the change in the bagging process, it took 2 employees working together to fill the 25 pound bags of roasted coffee beans. There were 3 teams of 2 workers assigned to the bag filling process for 25 pound bags. Ten days before the process change was implemented PPC collected random samples of 4 bags from the filling line (Table 1). Management felt the process was in control and that both the variation in the bag weights and the average bag weights were acceptable. After implementing the process change, 1 worker could now fill the 25 pound bags by themselves, thereby doubling the capacity of the bag filling process. However, several weeks into the change, management was not sure how the new process was working since there were some discrepancies between the workers.

Worker 4 was the least productive worker and was the only worker who did not use the large

shallow scoop the workers were given to fill the bags. Instead, Worker 4 used a smaller but

deeper scoop to fill the bags. Management felt that the use of this smaller scoop slowed down

worker 4s productivity. Worker 6 was the most productive of the 6 employees and always

exceeded their quota, which qualified them for the highest productivity bonus. Workers 1, 2, 3,

and 5 consistently qualified for a lower bonus, but Worker 4 never qualified for a bonus.

Management was considering terminating worker 4 for their poor performance but decided to

collect data on the bag filling process for Worker 4 (Table 2) and Worker 6 (Table 3) for 10

days. During the data collection one of the managers noted how clean the floor was around

Worker 4, while the floor around the other workers had a very noticeable amount of spilled

coffee beans. These spilled beans were swept up at the end of the day and undamaged beans

were washed and dried for packaging for the next day. This salvage process took one worker

about 90 minutes each day. And, an unknown amount of coffee beans were damaged and

therefore disposed of in the compost pile.

Your job is to assess the current bag filling operation and compare it to the process before the

change. Follow the below steps and assess the ability of Worker 4 and Worker 6 to properly fill

their 25 pound bags of coffee.

1. Using the data in Table 1 (Pre-process Change Data), construct an R-Chart and an X-bar

Chart. Your charts should include the center line, upper and lower control limits, and the

plotted data points (sample range and sample average).

2. For Worker 4 construct an R-Chart and an X-bar Chart using your control limits and center

lines from Step 1 and the sample range and the sample average for Worker 4. You need to

calculate the sample range and the sample average for Table 2.

3. For Worker 6 construct an R-Chart and an X-bar Chart using your control limits and center

lines from Step 1 and the sample range and the sample average for Worker 6. You need to

calculate the sample range and the sample average for Table 3.