![]() The consultant used Minitab as the application to generate the Pareto Charts with the output as shown below: He decided to use the Pareto Charts due to its 80-20 prioritization rule. He needed a tool to prioritize the defects. He used the check sheet to collect data on various problems and with the help of the check sheet, he was also able to generate a frequency list of the issues that causes the defects. The consultant was getting closer to solving the problem of defective nuts. The consultant designed a simple check sheet for this purpose and asked the process team members to record their data for every nut inspected. The company bought its raw materials from 3 different suppliers and it was important for the consultant to determine if raw material quality was the cause of fluctuation. For example, the company didn’t track which raw materials were they using. The consultant on speaking to the process experts found out that data was not available for quite a few of the causes. Should there be a data collection mechanism? The Cause and Effect Diagram presented a nice view of what causes contribute to the high percentage of defectives in the Heat Treatment process. The consultant mapped the process in a macro-view to gain understanding of the major sub-process contributing to the state of defectives. He used a macro-level flow to understand the various steps in the process. ![]() The starting point for the consultant was to locate the problem. The company had suffered a loss of $250,000 in the last 1 year due to these defectives accounting to a revenue loss of 30% and about 10% clients left the company to choose another competitor. ![]() The measured rate of defectives was at about 15% versus the last year comparison of 8%. In the last 1 year, the company had begun making a lot of defectives. These specifications were provided by the customer. The company had to make nuts in the specifications provided as 3 mm and 5 mm as diameter of the nuts. This case study highlights how the use of the quality tools enabled quicker business decision making. In December 2013, as part of a consulting project, the Head Trainer and Consultant of The School of Continuous Improvement used 7 QC Tools to solve a problem of “ High % of defectives in nuts” for a manufacturing company.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |