Project Definition Case Study #1 Note: This case study is fictitious. Although based on an actual project the actual situation is purely imaginary. All quantities and values (scrap rates, part costs, etc etc) have been selected to illustrate project definition and bear no relationship to the actual situation. Background Your organization manufactures Time-of-Flight Laser Inspection Systems. These systems perform 3-dimensional scanning using laser light to probe an object. The laser range finder determines the distance of a surface by timing the round-trip duration of a pulse of light. This detects the distance in a specific direction of view at a point in time. To map the surface of an object, the laser scans the entire object by changing the direction of the laser beam through the use of a system of mirrors mounted on galvanometers. This type of configuration allows the mirrors to be rotated very quickly and with great accuracy allowing up to 100,000 measurements per second These are complex assemblies that are assembled in-house from procured sub-assemblies. A listing of the major components and procured costs are provided in Table 1. The total time to assemble and test the final unit is about 50 hours and is at a cost of $3000. The selling price of a completed system is $25000. For some time, customers have been complaining about a high rate of failure of recently installed systems and this is impacting profitability and customer satisfaction. This dissatisfaction was first noted about 12 to 18 months ago and is now at a level where problems need to be addressed. Using some or all of the following information, define a LSS project. Process Flow The basic process flow is very simple. Subassemblies are procured from subcontractors and held in stock. They are released to the floor in batches for production assemblies. Subassemblies are mounted to a chassis, wired up, the galvanometers and lasers are aligned and a simple functional test is performed. Once the technician is satisfied with the functional performance. The unit is closed and a final test process is performed. On completion of final test, the unit is packaged and shipped to customers for installation. Field installers report problems via an incident report. Once commissioned the systems remain under warranty for one year. If a problem is experienced, the customer can return the unit for repair or replacement. If a customer identifies an issue which requires that the equipment be returned, he informs the manufacturer and is issued with a Return Material Approval (RMA). The equipment is then returned and a troubleshooting exercise is conducted. On completion of troubleshooting, the unit is repaired as necessary and is either returned to the customer or goes into a replacement pool. There are currently 30 systems in the pool