Hank Kolb -- Production Improvement

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Background

Hank Kolb had been Quality Assurance director for only four weeks. After his return from a seminar, Kolb was finally able to look into quality problems at an industrial products plant employing 100 people. Kolb's first encounter with deficient quality was with the Greasex line (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 in order to meet their delivery schedule.

From talking with Mark Hamler, his quality control manager, Kolb knew more about the background of the Greasex production line. He found two main problems

· Filling equipment. There was some trouble with the new filling equipment and some of the cans were pressurized beyond the upper specification limit.

· Production rate. The production rate was below standard. Mac Evans, the inspector for that line, found the problem, tagged the cases "hold", and went on about his duties. When he returned at the end of the shift to write up the rejects, Mac had found that Wayne Simmons, his first-line supervisor, had vented the can and removed the "hold" tags. Evans didn't document this occurrence, but verbally informed Hamler of the situation. Hamler responded by asking Mac to check with maintenance and make sure the filling machine was adjusted. He also recommended that the "hold" products be sent through rework next time.

· Production Value. Some have wrong production attitude that it is well only for meeting the deadline.

Causes of the Quality Problems

To make clear why the quality and productive problems occurred, Kolb reviewed the following causes on the current Greasex line.

Top managerial level Morganthal, general manager, pointed out the plant was lacking a quality attitude. Morganthal hope to improve quality and reduce the operation cost so that this downward quality-productivity-turnover spiral should be ended.

Personnel The operator for the filling equipment lacked sufficient training. When Evans had tested the high-pressure cans the operator was nowhere to be found and had only learned of the rejected material from Wayne after the shift was over.

Plant maintenance The automated filling equipment had been adapted by plant maintenance for handling the lower viscosity of Greasex, for which it had not originally been designed. Preventive maintenance was not scheduled. The parts for the sensitive filling head had been replaced three times in the last six months.

Purchasing Plastic nozzle heads purchased for the Greasex can caused some trouble in fitting the top due to slight burrs found on the inside rim. Increasing the application pressure at the filling head was implemented to solve the burr application problem.

Product design and packaging The Greasex can had been uniquely contoured to allow better gripping by the user. However, marketing did not have any testing done on the effects of the contoured can on filing speed or filling hydrodynamics from a high-pressured filling head. Kolb suspected the new design was acting as a venturi when being filled, although designer thought that was unlikely.

Manufacturing manager Simmons bragged about how he beat his production quota to the other foremen and shift supervisors. The manufacturing manager was under pressure to improve costs and reduced delivery times. Although Wayne sympathized with Kolb, he justified his actions by stating the rework area would have vented with their pressure gauges what he had done by hand.

Marketing. Greasex was being pushed to be first-to-market and a major promotional advertising campaign was underway. Marketing didn't care if the product was a little off spec. They felt " 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."

Responsibility

As quality assurance director in the Quality department for the Greasex product, Kolb should take responsibility to improve quality and solve production problems. He was concerned about the safety issue of the high pressure. Kolb 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. The inspector, however, had only used a sample testing procedure to reject the eight cases. Even if he could morally accept that there was no product safety hazard, Kolb cannot make sure that this would never happen again.

Secondly, Kolb thought quality, productivity and also creating a new attitude were his challenges; he should make clear what to do when these quality and productivity problems happened.

Suggestions and Solutions

Kolb should summarize the above causes and undertake the following solutions

1. Consistency of purpose. Firstly, Kolb needs to set up a work target to improve the Greasex plant and its products.

. More communication with marketing department. He should let them know the importance of the quality and the reason why he is trying to improve it. Kolb should communicate with marketing that in the view of long-term development of company in the market, quality and service was very important issue if they wanted improve customer loyalty and get more new customers.

. Full usage of equipment to improve productivity. Kolb may need to research the need to purchase new machinery that was more fit to the Greasex production line. This can help to reduce nonstandard downtime and expand the actual running time. If Kolb cannot buy machinery because of the cost and time for equipping, he needs to set regular preventive maintenance in order to make sure that the equipment is running in good condition.

4. Improvement on the awareness of quality in purchasing. Kolb should work with purchasing to help them understand the importance of quality and the need for quick solutions.

5. Awareness of costs associated with the poor quality. The first cost is prevention cost associated with reducing the potential for defective parts or services. The second one is appraisal cost related to evaluating products, processes, parts, and services. The third one is internal failure cost resulted from production of defective parts or services before delivery to customers. The last one is external costs occurred after delivery of defective parts or services.

6. The relationship with manufacturing should be improved. Kolb can establish a project group and include the quality control manager, inspector, and first-line supervisor. With Hamler, Mac, Simmons and other specialists' plant working experience, Kolb can find more solutions to quality and productivity.

7. Full and continual support from top level of management. By effectively and sufficiently reporting to Morganthal directly, Kolb can get more support and help from Morganthal for his work on the Greasex plant.

8. The use of problem solving tools could also be helpful in determining root causes of quality issues.

a. A Process Flow Chart could help Kolb identify responsibilities. For example, if the flow shows that marketing is supposed to send new product designs for testing, Kolb can point to the failure to follow this process as a key reason for the quality problems.

b. A Fish-Bone diagram can also be used to spot possible causes for the poor quality.

c. Because of the number of variables involved, Kolb can also use an x-chart and R-chart.

. Improvement a CAPA program (Corrective Action, Preventive Action). This program requires that once a quality issue arises, the first step is to correct the problem. The second step is to determine the causes and make the necessary changes to prevent its occurrence. Part of this program is documentation. This was a key issue at Kolb's plant. No one documented any of the problems or solutions.

In conclusion, quality management requires a never-ending process of continuous improvement that covers human resources, equipment, suppliers, materials and procedures. Kolb is key in building a work culture that endorses quality awareness and continuous improvement.

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