FRANCINE LUANNE M COLLANTES OPEMAN

OVERALL ANALYSIS ON THE CASE OF HANK KOLB

Quality improvement should be everyone s business. This was evident in the case. The people working in the industrial plant apparently know their jobs, but can be considered reckless in going about them. The challenge presented to Hank Kolb was that as the newly appointed Director for Quality Assurance was a very difficult one. Problems sprung from practically all sides and/or areas of the plant. The people working there seemed to have lost focus on what they were supposed to do whenever glitches happen. They seemed to tolerate inconsistencies and have practiced a that s fine attitude, without regard for urgency on improvements that should be immediately addressed. The pressure from the market demand was no help as well. Since the product was prematurely advertised in the market, without checking if product tests have been made, unnecessary pressure was placed in the hands of production to meet these demands. The company that Hank Kolb was working in was one which had the makings of failure if not immediately addressed or checked. They have a system, that is true. But the system itself will not work on its own without the people who will regard the system as that which is of utmost importance. They seemed to have lost the passion to do things and build in the quality in their product, moreso in the manner they produce it. Everything stems from the attitude of the people across the organization. Apparently, the people were the root cause of the problem. They themselves did not care nor felt the need to address deficiencies as it happens in front of them. This is a bad case of having forgotten the philosophy that they should be practicing and implementing companywide. What could be the reason behind this? I can say that the I don t care attitude may come from the fact that the company lacked the physical means to check and analyze if their processes are working as required. They lacked the tools to monitor and check how each area of the plant is doing. They also lacked a feedback system so that each person can tell if he is doing the right thing, or if the whole process is still on the right track.

FRANCINE LUANNE M COLLANTES OPEMAN

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? What can be said as the main problem would be the personnel working in the plant. It can be said that for a system like this to succeed, it is not enough just to lay down the policies. Personnel across the whole organization should be able to demonstrate, implement, observe, and support these policies in order for the operations to succeed. In the case, it can be said that glaring examples of non-observance and regard to quality matters begin from the Management itself, as demonstrated by Mark Hamler, the Quality Control Manager. Having an easy going attitude, he might be one of the most influential people whom plant personnel would be emulating because he himself tolerate variances in the process. Mr Kolb, being a newly appointed Director of Quality Assurance should look over some of the effects of the main problem such as putting schedule and addressing market demands as dictated by market share above quality and conformance to specifications as promised. The very reason why there was a high demand for Greasex is because their brand promise is one that is far greater than that of competition s. Non-conformance and tolerance to variances is evident as the lack of regard cascades down to those working on the shop floors of the organization. It was clear that they regarded value as just secondary to meeting the demands of production, so long as the product lands in the hands of customers. However, looking beyond, once customers take note of the lack in specs of the product delivered, then they will not repeat buying or patronizing the brand anymore, and this is very critical to the success of the product. As a result of the negative attitude towards conformance, these created a host of other problems, small as they may seem at first, would be seen to snowball if compiled altogether. Production itself was not the only one experiencing the problem. The entire organization is being burdened by other quality concerns as stated in the case namely the following: Plant maintenance machineries originally procured to produce for another product line was being utilized for Greasex. Some tweaking and a lot of work orders were done to address the specifications for the line. However, it was evidently not enough to carry out the specifications required for the product. To add to these, I am assuming that the numerous work orders not only cost the company a lot of money, but also time and effort from the people working at trying to force the machine to fit the production of the product. Purchasing actual raw materials specification were overlooked and were tolerated by the company, thus burdening them with another set of adjustments to address the burr application problem. Design and Packaging is another problem area as there was no test of the effects of the contoured can on filling speed from a high-pressured filling head. Although the thought of considering the user was there, it was not enough.

FRANCINE LUANNE M COLLANTES OPEMAN

WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS? As the newly appointed director, I believe that Hank needs to familiarize himself with the entire manufacturing process of Greasex. He should be guided by his training about the company s high regard for quality outputs. Afterwhich, he needs to be able to spearhead a program to improve the plant s performance and operations. He can begin by looking over each of the problem areas and finding out what causes them. However, he cannot do this alone as he needs everyone s commitment to the program. He should make known and/or remind the plant personnel across the organization the value of quality and conformance, and make such a philosophy on how they should do things hereon. Attitude across the organization need to be changed in order for this to work. This should serve as the driving force, and he should make everyone comprehend how important this philosophy is by making everyone aware that poor quality would cost the company, and might eventually cost them their jobs if there will be no one to buy their product in the long run. Workers need to belong and have a sense of ownership so that they realize how important their contributions are. One mistake can cause an adverse effect on production, and this should be communicated. He could also offer refresher training for the plant personnel. Moreover, he could also get the ones directly working in the shop floors and involve them in problem solving by interviewing and soliciting their advices or feedback on how they can improve each area. He could also form different groups of people to perform fail safing through quality tools and metrics, thus feedback can be regularly done and reported in order to correct errors and defects immediately. This way, personnel would be more mindful of how they do things, as they know that there will be people to oversee that specifications are followed to the letter. As far as the machineries are concerned, he should look over the performance of each by starting to collect data on the probable reasons and causes of breakdowns. After analyzing the results, he can eventually move at making a proposition on buying a new machine if there is a need to, or if the machines are still at par with performance, he can always get someone to do the work orders without compromising any quality and conformance concern. Proper machine maintenance should also be conducted to prevent further errors from occurring. Furthermore, he should immediately set a meeting with the purchasing department about the defects on the caps they purchased. He should communicate that in order to prevent downtime, these caps should be without burrs. Once this is done, he should be able to test or prove that the bottle design does not have an effect on the proper filling of the cans, before he pushes through with producing more of Greasex. Finally, Mr. Kolb should focus on the implementing a quality system such as ISO 9000 where they develop policies and processes for purchasing, design, and testing.