Operational Management: Statistical Quality Control and Performance Improvement

SPC method is used in a manufacturing sector and therefore is much harder to implement in the insurance industry. This is because in manufacturing sector you can have precise data where at DAV you have a lot of ambiguous data. It is hard to measure this data unless it’s clearly outlined what needs to be measured and how. In our case it was not clear cut, for example, some managers started to select data that they thought it was relevant to them but in fact is still needs to be used in the process. It is hard to measure what values are acceptable and when a problem actually exists. These challenges with ambiguous data created a significant chance for a misuse of SPC. Without proper planning and clear implementation process with guidelines will hinder roll out success. DAV is looking for forms that are being filled out by the customers and entered in the system by its employees. The forms can have different errors from the address to the phone number for example. Currently what qualifies as an error has not been outlined and therefore confusion arises between different departments. This also gives room for managers a chance to not count all of the mistakes that their employees make. Therefore they can manipulate collected data to their advantage. This leads me to believe that rolling out of SPC has not been done properly and the data that will be

That is to say how to properly measure the accuracy of the process and transfer this measurement into an effective tool that leads to change which is the process continuous improvement. This is why the management decided to use SPC (Statistical Process Control). DA implemented SPC at this point because it aimed at improving the process itself. It used SPC to measure the process rather than the people who were involved in it. From a pure statistical point of view, the level of variance was low yet the process performance did not meet the specification limits. Accordingly, it was a process issue not an individual outlier issue. This is why DA used SPC at this point. In order to apply and obtain SPC results, a close look is needed (for example) at the first 12 weeks of data (Exhibit 4) that represent the diagnostic period for Policy Extension group in order to construct the 3-sigma control limits for the process and highlight in which (if any) of the subsequent weeks the process was out of control. In order to achieve this, certain steps need to be carried out:

This case involves the company, Integrated Devices, which operates several plants in its business. The focus of this case is the problems that have evolved at Plant Number 3. This plant has a number of suppliers who supply material. It has been reported that a customer for Plant Number 3 is experiencing quality issues with a key plastic injected molding component. This problematic component is being supplied by Trexler Plastics. The molding component has to be assembled with other components in order to arrive at the final product. However, the problem is that sometimes the molding component supplied by Trexler Plastics, is shorter in length and sometimes longer in length.

The number of defectives item affects the profits. The higher the number defectives the less profit that is made and vice versa.

* Introduces the construction and use of statistical process control (SPC) charts and an understanding of the relationship between SPC and conformance quality.

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a method of controlling the quality of a manufacturing process and is most often affiliated with control charts. However, SPC in reality is a group of tools and includes additional statistical and evaluation/measurement methods. Smith, Megahed, Jones‐Farmer and Clark defined seven basic tools of SPC including; histograms, check sheets, Pareto charts, cause-and-effect diagrams, defect concentration diagrams, scatter diagrams and of course the aforementioned control charts (2014). These tools represent the scope and overall purpose/pursuit of SPC which is; “any statistical method designed to detect changes in a process over time” (Woodall & Montgomery, 1999, p. 377). Since control charts is often the most discussed of these seven tools; it is important to note there are many different types of control charts. The main control charts include; process charts which are R-charts and s-charts, non-conforming item charts also known as p-charts and np-charts and finally average numbers of non-conformity charts or c-charts and u-charts (Woodall & Montgomery, 1999).

implemented to increase worker health and productivity, and to save money for the firm through

In relation to an individual’s role in organisation, it is important that an employee adopts team work as part of their social norm. Team work plays

Sample does not has an acknowledge chance of being selected as in convenience or voluntary response surveys. Most researchers may be bounded by time, and money. Such limitations do not allows the researcher to randomly sample the entire population so they choose non-probability sampling in which all the members in the population do not receive equal chances of being selected.

Sampling means take one typical part of from the whole population, which is an essential method for corporations to get the result of their new products or policies. When corporations test the sample, they do not actually need the specific data and number. In addition, the total number of comprising the population is usually large, so the corporations usually do not test the whole population for reducing meaningless time and labor cost. Sampling is a good way to trade effectiveness to efficiency. Thus, the results of sampling are always directly connected with and also affected the applying or changing of products and polices of corporations.

This term paper examines a case study with Hot Shot Plastics company in which statistical process control (SPC) with variable measurements using X bar and R control charts is used to determine whether the process variability is in control. Sample data are utilized to demonstrate how to use X bar and R control charts to check if all the sample points are within the control limits. Patterns on the control charts are analyzed to understand the possible reasons that the process is out of control.

The statistical process control system involving both acceptance sampling and automated process control was to be implemented. SPC involved testing for productions within a pre-specified range. If the production went beyond the range, the production process had to be shut down maintenance was to be called to perform maintenance and recalibration. As a part of the process, the operators were to take six random measurements of a process characteristic during the course of their shift and then plot the mean measured value.

The term sampling is to be used with care, since sampling usually refers to the principles that

Economic definitions of productivity usually centre on its wealth creating potential. Language such as "satisfying market needs" and "maximizing input/output relationships" are typical.

- “The level production strategy keeps the production level at a fixed rate (usually to meet average demand) and uses inventories to absorb variations in demand”.