Longxi Machinery Works Quality Improvement (A)

Based from this Article, Longxi Machinery are having problem on their end product which is themulti-cylinder engine used in agricultural sector. One particular component of this product, called DGS(Duo-gear Shaft) was considered as the main cause of failure. There were 14 incidents of breakdownthat were correlated to the failure of the DGS. Based from this article, the company was losing profitbecause they were force to cover the cost of sending a technical personel to replace the broken part(DGS) or in case of major breakdown replacing the engine itself.From this current situation of Longxi Machinery, I focused my reaction paper in their QualitySystem, particularly on the process of making the DGS. Based from our TQM discussions, we can say thata quality system is reactive when an inspection process occur after the product has been released fromthe production area, It is usually called defect detection system. This system was very expensive and notgood for business. But when a product was released from the production area and directly shipped tothe customers,then the system can be called proactive quality system. In a proactive quality systemcontrols are incorporated in all the process of the production area. Each process undergoes analysis andcontrols are put in place to assure that each product are within the target specification.Going to the process of making DGS, There are 5 major process with many sub-process beforewe can make this component reliable. Since it was identified as the most likely to fail component, wewill identify a process that we can improve and apply some controls. Based from Inspection departmentof the company, numerous quality problem had occured in the Thermal treatment Workshop (TTW) andengineers were unable to determine the cause of quality problems. The TTW plays a critical role in termsof the hardness and reliability of the material. Thus unmeasurable specification will require a littletechnology to standardized procedures of measurement and inspection. In process 4: sub-process # 3(refer to process mapping chart) , Plunging DGS to water to dropped the temperature from 850cs to200c-300c was critical because the monitoring requires visual capability and require extensiveexperience in the process, wrong judgement will lead to a softer or more brittle material. Thus tostandardized this process and put control, we must have a standard time on how long a material shouldbe submerged in water. Thus, 1st control here is time. The second control here must be on thetemperature, at a certain period of time the material will have a certain temperature while it wassubmerged. To measure temperature relative to time, they must invest in an infrared thermometer tocapture the temperature of DGS at any given time. Then to have a standard control for the process, theoperator must determine how long it should take for the material to reach the target temperature thatwill provide a more reliable material. As Tom Marco quoted:

You cant control what you cant measure.

Thus, having unit of measurement for this process will allow us to control variability on theprocess.Another thing I notice was the inspection controls per process. Having too many visualinspection will allow your quality system to be fallible, this due to human factor related to inspection.Oneway to mitigate this risk is to motivate people to perform their job. Implementing controls is easybut sustaining it was the big challenge. People usually failed to capture rejects due to lack of motivation.Management should find ways to motivate their people. As for the case of Longxi Machinery, theymotivate their poeple by having a good reward system incorporated to their quality performance.