Question

CASE STUDY 16.1 Accent Oak Furniture Company Accent Oak Furniture Company has been in business for more than 30 years, serving custom ers in Chicago and the surrounding area. The business consists of three different divisions: a custom furniture division that manufactures such crafted items as dining room suites, a kitchen cabinet division, and a banister division that manufactures and installs quality oak railings. Each division reports to a vice president who in turn reports to Frank Johnson, the president and founder of the company. Total sales for all three divisions are projected to reach $8 million for the current fiscal year. Frank has been quite pleased with the performance of the custom furniture division and the kitchen cabinet division, which together account for more than 85% of the sales revenue. He does, however, have some concerns about the banister division based on last year's profit performance and the first week of August's sales report for the installation crews as indicated in the Installation Department Monthly Report (see Figure 16.18)

Answer 1

Ques 1.

Doing the pareto analysis of the complaints using the complaints or comments listed in the report-

Comments Waited 1/2 hr for customer Fit problem with spindles 1.200 Recalled for loose spindle Customer changed design refit Spindle shims needed Handrail rough finish Not to drawings Fit problem spindles Recalled for loose bannister Customer changed design TOTAL S25,000 30,000

make an excel sheet as below

List down all the problems

5 Pareto Analysis of problems Comments or problems Waited 1/2 hour for customer Fit problem with spindles No problem Loose spindles Customer design changed Spindle shims needed No problem Handrail rough finish Loose spindles Not to drawings Handrail cracked Fit problem with spindles Recalled for loose bannister Fit problem with spindles Fit problem with spindles Customer design changed Count Fit problem with spindles Loose spindles Customer design changed Waited 1/2 hour for customer Spindle shims needed Handrail rough finish Not to drawings Handrail cracked Recalled for loose bannister Total problems 2.5 14 1.5 17 Fi Loose Customer Waited Spindle Handrail Not to Handrail Recalled problem spindles design 1/2 hour shims rough drawings cracked for loose bann ister changed for needed Tnish spindles customer

Put the count of each problem in front of them and arrange them in the descending order

Take the data and prepare the chart in excel

You see total of 14 reported problems, 4 being from fit problem with spindles and 2 from loose spindles. Hence 6/14 or roughly 43% of all problems relate to the spindles.

Ques 2. Analysing the spindle width data- Using the 50 readings taken on spindle widths and hole data

Analysing spindle width-

put all 50 data entries in excel

Mark those with in the range 0.64-0.66 as tolerable limits are .65+/- .01 i.e 0.64-0.66. Hence we can see only four data points fit the range, rest 46 are all errored parts

Analysing hole diameters - hole diameters cannot be put to any credible results, as tolerance limits for them is not given in the study. But there is certainly a problem in the manufacturing of spindle in regards to the spindle width

Spindle Width Error Non error Error parts Non error Spindle Widht 1 Error parts Non error

Ques 3.

Memo to Hand-rail department-

2/14 complaints are regarding the handrails. which is roughly 14%. It is a good number to be worried, and the work should be looked into. Problem listed is rough finished and cracking.

Perform proper quality tests

Use six-sigma to reduce defects

Memo to Spindle Department-

The major errors are from this deparment. 43% of customer complaints are regarding spindles. This needs to be checked urgently

Perform Value stream mapping to check all the processes

Remove the non value adding components from the processes

Use six-sigma quality management to reduce defects

Effectively apply Total Quality Management principles to minimize manufacturing errors and imbibe perfect quality into the manufacturing habits

Memo to Tom Smythe-

Major manufacturing problems have been identified

Respective teams have been notified of their errors

Corrective measures and steps to improve the overall quality have also been mentioned alongside

The quality will definitely improve in coming weeks, and this can be said without any doubt