The Assignment

The following assignment allows students to apply the concepts and tools presented in this book.

Students should complete the assignment, not simply scan the description and assume they "got

it$."$ Completing the assignment will solidify understanding of quality concepts and tools before

readers attempt to apply them in real project practice.

Background

Beads R Us is a producer of high$-$quality plastic beads for commercial use. The production

process is as described in the red bead experiment. Workers produce beads in lots of fifty by

dipping a paddle into a bin of beads and withdrawing fifty at a time. Some of the beads are red;

red beads are defective. If the production lot is less than fifty, the absent beads count as defects.

Recently, management has become dissatisfied with the number of defects during production.

Beads R Us obtains materials from Bead World, one of three suppliers worldwide. Materials

include defective beads, which must be eliminated prior to delivery to customers.

A major customer of Beads R Us has informed management that it will reject any future delivery

that includes more than fifteen defective beads in a sample of fifty to be taken on the receiving

dock at the time of delivery. Beads R Us has engaged your project team on a consulting contract

to analyze its process, and identify any shortcomings, and recommend solutions.

Data Collection

Six members of your project team were secretly sent to Beads R Us as new employees to gain

first$-$hand experience with the bead production process. They worked for five days before being

withdrawn. The performance data for the six team members are summarized as shown in this

table:

Figure $1-$ Results of a red bead experiment.

Name Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Total Average

Worker $117676541$

Worker $2871081144$

Worker $39914161260$

Worker $41016811954$

Worker $51010107845$

Worker $672011111362$

Total $6168605958306$

Average $10\mathrm{.}2$

The six team members also prepared a report of their work experiences. The key points in their

report are summarized below.

$1.$ Training is not good. New hires are not given any training. They are immediately placed on

the production line and told to do what the person next to them is doing. Beads R Us calls

this $"$on$-$the$-$job training."

$2.$ Communication is not good. Workers are not allowed to ask questions and are not allowed to

talk to each other while on the line. Anyone caught talking is punished. Beads R Us

managers tell workers that there is no time for frivolous behavior. They are paid to work, not

talk.

$3.$ Management is not good. When things go well, managers take all the credit. When things do

not go well, managers blame the workers and threaten punishment.

$4.$ Leadership is not good. Managers are seldom seen on the production line. When they do

show up$,$ they walk quickly through the area and tell people to do better or their jobs are at

risk.

$5.$ The work environment is not good. The production area is covered with posters containing

quality slogans such as "Mistakes cost us money," "Work hard, keep your job," $"$We$$re

counting on YOU," and $"$No defect is a good defect." Workers have trouble understanding

the meaning of these slogans and have no idea about how to implement them.

$6.$ Quotas are unreasonable. Management has assigned quotas for production that have never

been achieved by anyone. Managers continually harp on the quotas and threaten

punishment of those who do not make quota.

$7.$ Rewards are inconsistent and inequitable. Two people can produce the same quality and one

gets a reward while the other does not. A worker can be rewarded one day for good

performance and punished the next day for poor performance. A worker who performed

particularly well one day received an on$-$the$-$spot bonus and a pin that said "Employee of the

Day." The next day, the same employee was fired for poor performance.

Requirement

Apply your quality knowledge and meet all contractual requirements. Specifically:

Analyze the process of bead production at Beads R Us$.$

Identify any shortcomings that indicate inability to meet customer requirements.

Recommend solutions that eliminate any shortcomings.

Tips

This practical exercise does not include a prescribed solution. Readers should be creative in their

solution approach; results will vary from reader to reader. Readers should apply as many of the

quality tools as possible. Some tools are intended for group use. Not all may be beneficial.

Readers will better understand the utility and limitations of the tools as they try to put them to

use. Here are some suggestions.

$1.$ Collecting data

A check sheet might be prepared to show defects by day or by worker. The matrix in

Figure $1$ is already a collection of data.

$2.$ Understanding data $(1$ Point$)($Choose one$)$

A histogram might be used to show how defects are distributed by worker or by day.

A Pareto chart might be used to iden