Quality Problems in Greasex Line Discussion DISCUSSION BOARD: “You don’t inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in”. “Before you build qua

Quality Problems in Greasex Line Discussion DISCUSSION BOARD:

“You don’t inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in”.

“Before you build quality in, you must think it in”.

Discuss the implications of these statements.

At least 400 words for the initial post

At least 75 words for the each responses

CASE STUDY:

1. What are the causes of the quality problems on the Greasex line? Display your answer on a fishbone diagram.

2. What general steps should Hank follow in setting up a continuous improvement program for the company? What problems will he have to overcome to make it work? HANK KOLB CASE STUDY
•
Hank Kolb was whistling as he walked toward his office, still
feeling a bit like a stranger since he had been hired four weeks
before as director of quality assurance. All that week he had
been away from the plant at a seminar given for quality
managers of manufacturing plants by the corporate training
department. He was now looking forward to digging into the
quality problems at this industrial products plant employing
1,200 people.
Kolb poked his head into Mark Hamler’s office, his immediate
subordinate as the quality control manager, and asked him how
things had gone during the past week. Hamler’s muted smile
and an “Oh, fine,” stopped Kolb in his tracks. He didn’t know
Hamler very well and was unsure about pursuing this reply any
further. Kolb was still uncertain of how to start building a
relationship with him since Hamler had been passed over for
the promotion to Kolb’s job; Hamler’s evaluation form had
stated “superb technical knowledge; managerial skills lacking.”
Kolb decided to inquire a little further and asked Hamler what
had happened; he replied, “Oh, just another typical quality
snafu. We had a little problem on the Greasex line last week [a
specialized degreasing solvent packed in a spray can for the
high-technology sector]. A little high pressure was found in
some cans on the second shift, but a supervisor vented them
so that we could ship them out. We met our delivery schedule!”
Because Kolb was still relatively unfamiliar with the plant and
its products, he asked Hamler to elaborate; painfully, Hamler
continued:
We’ve been having some trouble with the new filling equipment
and some of the cans were pressurized beyond the upper
specification limit.
The production rate is still 50 percent of standard, about 14
cases per shift, and we caught it halfway into the shift. Mac
Evans [the inspector for that line] picked it up, tagged the cases
“hold,” and went on about his duties. When he returned at the
end of the shift to write up the rejects, Wayne Simmons, firstline supervisor, was by a pallet of finished goods finishing
sealing up a carton of the rejected Greasex; the reject “hold”
tags had been removed. He told Mac that he had heard about
the high pressure from another inspector at coffee break, had
come back, taken off the tags, individually turned the cans
upside down and vented every one of them in the eight
rejected cartons. He told Mac that production planning was
really pushing for the stuff and they couldn’t delay by having it
sent through the rework area. He told Mac that he would get on
the operator to run the equipment right next time. Mac didn’t
write it up but came in about three days ago to tell me about it.
Oh, it happens every once in a while and I told him to make
sure to check with maintenance to make sure the filling
machine was adjusted; and I saw Wayne in the hall and told
him that he ought to send the stuff through rework next time.
Kolb was a bit dumbfounded at this and didn’t say much—he
didn’t know if this was a big deal or not. When he got to his
office, he thought again what Morganthal, general manager,
had said when he had hired him. He warned Kolb about the
“lack of quality attitude” in the plant and said that Kolb “should
try and do something about this.” Morganthal further
emphasized the quality problems in the plant: “We have to
improve our quality; it’s costing us a lot of money, I’m sure of it,
but I can’t prove it! Hank, you have my full support in this
matter; you’re in charge of these quality problems. This
downward quality–productivity–turnover spiral has to end!”
The incident had happened a week before; the goods were
probably out in the customers’ hands by now, and everyone
had forgotten about it (or wanted to). There seemed to be more
pressing problems than this for Kolb to spend his time on, but
this continued to nag him. He felt that the quality department
was being treated as a joke, and he also felt that this was a
personal slap from manufacturing. He didn’t want to start a war
with the production people, but what could he do? Kolb was
troubled enough to cancel his appointments and spend the
morning talking to a few people. After a long and very tactful
morning, he learned the following information:
1. From personnel. The operator for the filling equipment had
just been transferred from shipping two weeks ago. He had no
formal training in this job but was being trained by Wayne, on
the job, to run the equipment. When Mac had tested the highpressure cans, the operator was nowhere to be found and had
only learned of the rejected material from Wayne after the shift
was over.
2. From plant maintenance. This particular piece of automated
filling equipment had been purchased two years ago for use on
another product. It had been switched to the Greasex line six
months ago and maintenance completed 12 work orders during
the last month for repairs or adjustments on it. The equipment
had been adapted by plant maintenance for handling the lower
viscosity of Greasex, which it had not originally been designed
for. This included designing a special filling head. There was no
scheduled preventive maintenance for this equipment and the
parts for the sensitive filling head, replaced three times in the
last six months, had to be made at a nearby machine shop.
Nonstandard downtime was 15 percent of actual running time.
3. From purchasing. The plastic nozzle heads for the Greasex
can, designed by a vendor for this new product on a rush order,
were often found to have slight burrs on the inside rim, and this
caused some trouble in fitting the top to the can. An increase in
application pressure at the filling head by maintenance
adjustment had solved the burr application problem or had at
least forced the nozzle heads on despite burrs. Purchasing
agents said that they were going to talk to the sales
representative of the nozzle head supplier about this the next
time he came in.
4. From product design and packaging. The can, designed
especially for Greasex, had been contoured to allow better
gripping by the user. This change, instigated by marketing
research, set Greasex apart from the appearance of its
competitors and was seen as significant by the designers.
There had been no test of the effects of the contoured can on
filling speed or filling hydrodynamics from a high-pressured
filling head. Kolb had a hunch that the new design was acting
as a venturi (carrier creating suction) when being filled, but the
packaging designer thought that was unlikely.
5. From the manufacturing manager. He had heard about the
problem; in fact, Simmons had made a joke about it, bragging
about how he beat his production quota to the other foremen
and shift supervisors. The manufacturing manager thought
Simmons was one of the “best foremen we have…he always
got his production out.” His promotion papers were actually on
the manufacturing manager’s desk when Kolb dropped by.
Simmons was being strongly considered for promotion to shift
supervisor. The manufacturing manager, under pressure from
Morganthal for cost improvements and reduced delivery times,
sympathetized with Kolb but said that the rework area would
have vented with their pressure gauges what Wayne had done
by hand. “But I’ll speak with Wayne about the incident,” he said.
6. From marketing. The introduction of Greasex had been
rushed to market to beat competitors, and a major promotional
advertising campaign was under way to increase consumer
awareness. A deluge of orders was swamping the order-taking
department and putting Greasex high on the back-order list.
Production had to turn the stuff out; even being a little off spec
was tolerable because “it would be better to have it on the shelf
than not there at all. Who cares if the label is a little crooked or
the stuff comes out with a little too much pressure? We need
market share now in that high-tech segment.”
What bothered Kolb most was the safety issue of the high
pressure in the cans. He had no way of knowing how much of a
hazard the high pressure was or if Simmons had vented them
enough to effectively reduce the hazard. The data from the can
manufacturer, which Hamler had showed him, indicated that
the high pressure found by the inspector was not in the danger
area. But, again, the inspector had used only a sample testing
procedure to reject the eight cases. Even if he could morally
accept that there was no product safety hazard, could Kolb
make sure that this would never happen again?
Skipping lunch, Kolb sat in his office and thought about the
morning’s events. The past week’s seminar had talked about
the role of quality, productivity and quality, creating a new
attitude, and the quality challenge; but where had they told him
what to do when this happened? He had left a very good job to
come here because he thought the company was serious
about the importance of quality, and he wanted a challenge.
Kolb had demanded and received a salary equal to the
manufacturing, marketing, and R&D directors, and he was one
of the direct reports to the general manager. Yet he still didn’t
know exactly what he should or shouldn’t do, or even what he
could or couldn’t do under these circumstances.
Discussion 1
The two statements “You don’t inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in” and “Before you
build quality in, you must think it in”, are correlated but have key differences explained below.
Businesses are incredibly competitive, so they need to ensure each product produced adheres to a
higher standard of quality and services. The quality of a product and service of a company is the
differential factor that sets superior companies apart from the rest. The first statement, “You don’t
inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in” means that these companies are taking proactive
measures rather than reactive to ensure they are delivering the best quality product and services to
their consumers. At each stage in the production process care is taken to ensure a quality product or
service is created; workers are well trained, thought and attention to detail is considered, equipment is
in good working condition and raw materials used are quality materials. By taking these proactive
measures, it guarantees all products and services are meeting the quality standards set by the company
and its consumers which then reduces inspection activity. Businesses are required to take such steps to
maintain its position in the competitive market.
The second statement, “Before you build quality in, you must think it in” implies that the company and
its management has considered the big picture and thought of the long-term conditions of quality.
During the design stage of the process, the company thoroughly considered how to build their product
or service to ensure a quality product. This means they took the time to think the process through,
research the attributes and measures that are required for producing quality products and
implementing the quality into the product or service in an appropriate manner. By doing this, they have
created business principles, processes and systems that ensures their workers and equipment are
geared towards making a higher quality of products or services consistently over an extended period.
Discussion 2
“You don’t inspect quality into a product, you have to build it in”. Refers to the fact that once
inspections happens it too late to correct the flaws of a product that already produced. A company must
anticipate possible missteps or short falls before they happen and have a plan to combat any such issues
that come up. Attempting to correct a issue after the fact can be a costly, in manufacturing, design,
marketing, training for personnel, and maintenance to fix the issue. A company should remain proactive
and vigilant in maintaining it 14 steps of quality improvement.
“Before you build quality in, you must think it in”. Before a company builds a product they should
consider the many different applications their product can and will be used for. Based on those ideas the
product should be designed accordingly. The product should be made to last the life of its requirements
with limited maintenance. It should also be designed in a way to prevent miss uses that could be
dangerous, and come with warning labels not to be used in certain manners.

Purchase answer to see full
attachment