CASE ANALYSIS: THE CASE OF THE QUALITY CRUSADER

This case describes the behavior of a shop floor manager in a General Electric manufacturing facility wherein the manager directs employees to take shortcuts on quality in order to meet shipping quota and time deadlines to satisfy marketing. At the time of these behaviors, General Electric as a company was publicly committed to the pursuit of quality. The shop floor manager, however, was quite prepared to rationalize her actions as not being detrimental to product quality in order to meet shipping quotas and time deadlinesobjectives that obviously were of greater importance to her than was the corporation's product quality objectives. The shop floor manager cannot be singled out as the culprit, because the Division general manager was a mealymouthed type who spouted the product quality line while suggesting that quality could not be pursued at any price. The general attitudes expressed by the general manager and the shop floor manager indicates that within the General Electric division addressed in this case the concept of quality management was not understood, much less pursued.

The type of production being performed at this division of General Electric should have been pursuing quality through the Taguchi approach. Taguchi methods are intended to reduce variations stemming from both the characteristics of both production processes and product design. Taguchi methods are said to focus on the customer, or end user o

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uired level. Dr. Genichi Taguchi studied classical statistics in England. Taguchi determined, however, that classical statistics were too theoretical for use in manufacturing. Taguchi, thus, developed a more practical approach for use in the design engineering phase to counteract problems that were expensive and difficult to eliminate. Taguchi methods employ factor analysis techniques to both identify relevant factors, and to ascertain appropriate tolerances. Each of these activities is essential in the reduction of variations between product performance and the target characteristics of a product. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is based on the work of Taguchi. Customers are not interested in the extent to which a product meets production specifications. Thus, the "zero defects" approach to quality employed by most American manufacturers fails to address directly the concerns of the customer. By contrast with meeting production specifications, the customer is interested in product quality as quality is reflected in "a product's . . . performance when rapped, overloaded, dropped, and splashed." The Taguchi approach to product quality begins with the interests of the customer. Taguchi methods are intended to reduce v

Category: Business - C