Continuous Quality Improvement
Wollongong
INSTRUCTIONS
Situation
You are consulting to FAST Motor Company. The work involves helping the
executive team to improve the quality in the organisation following several high profile quality incidents. The executive team asked for some clarification when you
met a week ago. In your own words, write a business report that provides a concise
answer for each question. Answers should be no longer than 300 words for each
question.
Part A: – (worth 50 marks)
1. When implementing a TQM program, barriers are experienced. Explain five
(5) barriers faced by management (10 marks).
2. Explain the leadership and results triads of the Baldridge excellence
framework (10 marks).
3. Explain common cause and special cause variation. What are the operational
problems created by excessive variation? Provide two (2) examples of each
relating to cars (10 marks).
4. List and explain the four major categories of quality costs. Why are they
important considerations and give examples of each.10 marks).
5. Describe the six basic steps that are followed to build the ‘house of quality’
(10 marks).
Part B – (worth 50 marks)
The operations team at FAST Motor Company also presented their major issues on
your last visit. They feel that the executive management team ignored the company’s
science related to emission technology which has contributed to several of the
quality issues experienced. In your own words, write a section of the business report
that provides a concise answer for each question that both the executive and
operations team will read. Answers should be no longer than 300 words for each
question.
Explain the four aspects of Deming’s improvement cycle (10 marks)
7. You have been asked to present the concepts of six-sigma to a new
management team. Explain how the methodology can improve the quality in
an organisation. What is involved through the different stages of the process?
(10 marks) Continuous Quality Improvement
Wollongong
8. FAST Motor Company installs approximately 10 engines per hour. The
process manager measures the maximum Nitrous Oxide (NOx) emissions
of each engine to be installed. As part of the process, a subgroup of n=6
measurements are randomly taken when the engine is tested. This occurs
during a 6-minute test on every engine. There was an issue with testing
during sample 5 that is under investigation. The results are given in Table
Q1.
a) Calculate the upper and lower control limits of a �” and R Chart for the data
(10 marks). Note: Constants for Upper and Lower Control limits for �” and R
Charts are given in the appendix.
b) Plot the �” and Range charts and hence determine if the process is in control
(10marks).
c) Explain why it is not necessary to know the underlying distribution of the
process (5 marks).
d) The car engine was designed to emit less than 5.6 g/min of NOx. The agreed
customer defect level is less than 3.4 defects per million engines. Legislation
is changed to an emission target of 5.0 g/min. Is your company capable of
producing conforming cars with the existing engine? What could the
company do to help? Explain your answer (5 marks).
