Question 1 (10 points) Create a Graph showing the data supplied on page two of the case. What does it tell you, and what do you think needs to be done to improve the quality? Paragraph V BI U *** h > E Question 2 (10 points) Do you think that Tumbler Plastics takes quality seriously? Justify your answer. Frank Edmonds is a quality engineer assigned to the Injected Moulding Commodity Team at Electronic Devices. The commodity team is responsible for evaluating, selecting and negotiating agreements with plastic-injected moulding suppliers to be used throughout the company. The team is also responsible for improving service quality and materials that Electronic Devices receives from suppliers. Frank's role after supplier selection involves working directly with suppliers that require training or technical assistance conceming the quality control and quality improvement. Electronic Devices spends about 70% of each sales dollar on purchased goods and services, so suppliers have a major impact on product quality. Frank just received a call concerning a recurring manufacturing problem at Electronic Devices plant 3. The plant buyer said the plant is experiencing some quality variability problems with a key plastic-injected moulding component supplied by Tumbler Plastics. The component is sometimes too short, or too long to fit properly with other components I within the finished product. On occasion, the bracket snaps, causing end-product failure. Although the unit cost of the plastic-injected moulding component is only $1.55, these quality issues (length variability and snapping) are creating production problems that far exceed the component's purchase price. The local buyer also announced he was having difficulty resolving the problem with Tumbler Plastics and called to ask for support from the corporate commodity team. The buyer said, "You corporate guys selected this supplier that we all have to use. The least you can do is help us out of the jam your supplier choice is causing." The buyer's comment surprised Frank, although Frank would soon come to understand that, the plant personnel resented not being able to select their own suppliers. After investigating the problem during a tension-filled meeting with Plant 3 personnel, Frank determined he would have to visit the supplier directly. He would work with Tumbler's process engineers to address the manufacturing variability caused by the non- conforming component. Frank went back and reviewed his team's actions when selecting a single supplier to provide an entire family of plastic-injected mouldings. Tumbler had quoted the lowest price of all competing suppliers and had provided samples that passed Electronic Devices engineering tests. Upon his arrival at the supplier, Frank learned that Tumbler did not have a dedicated process engineer. One engineer, Shawn Smythe, was responsible for the plant layout, process, quality, and industrial engineering. Smythe, who was hired only two months previously, was still becoming familiar with Tumbler's procedures. When Frank asked to Page 1 of 2 MGMT-6087 Quality Management review the supplier's quality control procedures, Shawn had to ask several people before he could locate Tumbler's procedure manual. Frank decided the first step was to understand the process responsibility for producing the defective component. At an afternoon meeting, Frank asked Shawn for actual output data from Tumbler's process. Shawn explained they did not collect data for process capability studies or for statistical control charting of continuous production. However, he did say that sometimes things do not seem to be operating well with the equipment that produces the component. Tumbler uses an inspector to examine every finished item to determine if it should be shipped to the customer. After explaining the basics of process capability to Shawn, Frank asked him to collect data from the process that produced the bracket component. Frank requested that Shawn take exact measurements periodically from the process so they could draw statistical conclusions. Frank said he would return in three days to examine the data. Upon Frank's return three days later, Shawn shared with Frank the details of the data collection effort as shown in the Process Output Data Chart below 4.01 4.04 4.00 4.05 3.99 3.98 3.99 Process Output Data for Part ED03217666 4.02 4.00 3.99 3.98 4.00 4.00 4.02 4.07 3.95 3.98 4.01 4.03 3.96 3.94 3.98 3.99 4.02 4.01 3.98 3.97 4.03 4.07 4.04 4.02 3.96 4.00 4.00 4.01 40.2 4.02 3.99 3.94 3.93 4.00 4.02 4.00 4.02 4.04 4.00 3.96 3.97 4.00 4.03 4.00 4.00 4.01 4.01 3.97 4.01 Component Number: ED03217666 Description: Bracket Design Specification: 4 +0.06 inches Examining the data, Frank calculated a preliminary process capability and examined the training and control procedures at Tumbler Plastics. He realized he had some serious work ahead of him. Page 2 of 2