UNIVERSITY OF MALTA

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
B.ENG.(HONS.) IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Year IV SEMESTER II
MAY/JUNE 2014 SESSION OF EXAMINATIONS

MFE3207 Quality Management and Control

13th June 2014

9.15-11.15 hours

Stationary: Graph Paper

Use of Calculators Allowed
List of Equations

This paper contains FOUR questions. You are to attempt THREE questions.

1. Plastics Ltd. is a company whose main business is to provide sub-contracting of plastics parts
manufacture using injection moulding machines. The focus of the business activity occurs in the
injection moulding shop, that comprises of 20 injection moulding machines and employs 26
workers on a 2-shift, 5 day week. The companys main customers are requesting Plastics Ltd to
achieve ISO 9001 certification.
(a) What is Total Quality Management (TQM) and how does it support a company?
(3 marks)
(b) Describe the 5S process in detail.
(10 marks)
(c) Why are tools such as Kaizen, Quality Circles and 5S important in the implementation of
TQM, and how can they be applied to the above case study?
(10 marks)
(d) What are the different levels in a Quality Management System (QMS)?
(4 marks)
(e) What are the main clauses of ISO 9001, and how do they interact together to meet a companys
customer requirements?
(6 marks)

2. A printing press in Malta is in the process of analysing its operating costs for the production of
hardback books. This exercise is being carried out since the company has seen a significant drop
in profits over the past years.
(a) What procedure should the company adopt to run a Cost of Quality Exercise?
(5 marks)
(b) Carry out the Cost of Quality exercise using the costs listed in Table 1 below and discuss the
results.
(15 marks)
(c) Make use of the Pareto Analysis tool on the Cost of Quality analysis to decide which costs you
would tackle to increase the companys profit margins.
(5 marks)

The costs for 50,000 books printed and sold to date are detailed in Table 1 below. All the
costs listed are in (x100) . The products are sold at the average piece price of 10.
Table 1 - Business Costs Incurred
Cost Centre
Cost (x100)
300
Manufacturing
5
Supplier monitoring
5
Training
0.5
Product Replacement
40
Inspection of product
5
Calibration
15
Scrap disposal
8
Product Rework

(d) Which new quality tools would you employ if you wanted to carry out an improvement
project to target the problems identified?
(8 marks)

3. A gear manufacturing company has been receiving many complaints and returns from its
customers due to out of tolerance parts. For this reason the company has decided to monitor
the situation by carrying out Statistical Process Control (SPC) at the end of the gear
production line. Table 2 shows the SPC Data collected during an 8 hour shift. The
specification for this product dimension is 20.0mm0.5mm
Time
8.00
8.30
9.00
9.30
10.00
10.30
11.00
11.30
12.00
12.30
13.00
13.30
14.00
14.30
15.00
15.30
16.00

Table 2 - SPC Data

Sample 1
Sample 2

20.1
19.9
20.1
19.8
20.3
19.8
19.6
20.4
20.5
20.3
19.9
19.9
20.1
20.0
20.0
19.7
20.1

Sample 3

20.3
19.8
20.2
20.1
19.9
20.1
19.7
20.0
20.4
20.5
20.0
19.9
20.1
20.0
20.4
20.2
20.2

20.2
20.2
20.5
20.0
19.9
20.0
20.5
19.8
20.5
20.4
20.2
20.0
20.2
19.9
20.0
20.0
20.0

(a) What benefits does the use of SPC bring to the company?
(3 marks)
(b) What type of SPC chart should be used for this study, and why?
(2 marks)
(c) Plot the relevant SPC Charts using the graph paper provided.
(10 marks)
(d) Analyse the data and SPC chart plotted, and state your observations.
(10 marks)
(e) Which of the old quality tools would you employ if you wanted to improve the way this
company records and analysis its data?
(8 marks)

4. A manufacturer for bike frames made of a carbon composite material is monitoring the
production process by carrying out Statistical Process Control (SPC) before shipping the
parts. Table 3 shows the SPC Data collected over a month. 15 units were inspected for each
sample. The table records the number of bike frames that needed some form of rework.

Sample
No.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

Table 3 SPC Data

No of Defective
Sample No.
Parts per Sample
0
1
2
1
1
0
2
2
1
2
1
1
3
5
2

No of Defective
Parts per Sample

Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Day 29
Day 30

3
1
2
0
1
2
1
2
0
2
1
2
1
2
0

(a) Plot the SPC Chart using the graph paper provided.
(10 marks)
(b) Analyse the SPC chart plotted, and state your observations.
(5 marks)
(c) Why is variation in processes important in quality management and control?
(5 marks)
(d) How can variation be provided for in the design of products?
(5 marks)
(e) Why is the use of sampling important when inspecting large quantities of material? Use
diagrams, and give examples where appropriate.
(8 marks)