ASSIGNMENT 1 JANUARY 2013 SEMESTER

SUBJECT CODE SUBJECT TITLE LEVEL STUDENTS NAME MATRIC NO. PROGRAMME ACADEMIC FACILITATOR LEARNING CENTRE

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MQM6033 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND CONTROL MASTERS

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1) This assignment consists of THREE (3) questions. Answer ALL questions. 2) Plagiarism in all forms is forbidden. Students who submit plagiarised assignment will be penalised. 3) Your assignment will be examined based on the followings a complete working solution. ability of using methods available in the learning materials. 4) This assignment carries a 30% weightage toward final grade. 5) The submission date of this assignment is BEFORE OR ON TUTORIAL 2.

THERE ARE 3 PAGES OF QUESTIONS, EXCLUDING THIS PAGE.

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INSTRUCTION: Answer ALL questions based on the case study given.

ABC Company recently discovered that the costs due to shipment of defective item had risen to an alarming level. To correct the situation, they decided to implement a quality assurance program. Previously, all inspections was done by workers on their own work. Because of the lack of formal education in quality education for the present employees and managers, it was decided to form a team of recent college graduates for quality assurance programs (QAP). The team which was formed was given the responsibilities of reducing the percentage of defective items being produced to half of the present level in one month. Problems, however, began to crop up immediately. Conflicts arose between the inspectors of the QAP and the workers. Some of the older employees felt they were being insulted whenever a quality problem was traced to their work. This resentment often resulted in their work deteriorating further instead of improving. Other workers believed there were being wrongly accused of shoddy workmanship. Some even accused the inspectors of actually making defects of their work so that they could claim they had found a problem spot (defect) and hence, look good in the eyes of QAP manager. Monitoring reports after the first month showed that the quality level had actually worsened. Management felt that perhaps they had introduced the quality assurance program improperly. Discussion Questions: a) What errors do you feel the ABC Company made in the implementation of QAP? In my opinion , ABC Company did not introduce the QAP with the proper way. ABC company shall follow the below step in order to introduce the QAP. ABC supposed Establish management commitment. It is seen as vital that the whole management team participates in the programme, a half hearted effort will fail. All the management staff supposed be a member of this QAP committee. ABC company supposed used internal staff to form the committee. The old staff should given by a information about QAP. ABC company should form quality improvement teams. This is to emphasis a multidisciplinary team effort. An initiative from the quality department only will not be
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successful. The team work is very important to make sure the QAP conducted with successful. It is considered essential to build team working across arbitrary and often artificial organisational boundaries. QAP in ABC company failed because there is no team work between the old staff and new staff. They are blaming each other for the problem occurred. ABC company should establish quality measurements. These must be applied to every activity throughout the company. A proper way must be found to capture every aspects, design, manufacturing, delivery and so on. These measurements will be used to evaluate the cost of quality. This evaluation must highlight, using the measures established, where quality improvement will be profitable. Before introduce the QAP, ABC company supposed raise awareness about Quality in the company. This is normally undertaken through the training of managers and supervisors, through communications such as videos and books and by displays of posters etc. ABC Company staff dint aware about QAP and the importance of QAP. ABC Company suddenly introduce the QAP without asking any opinion from the other staff. This is the main reason why the QAP failed at ABC Company.ABC company should take action to correct the problems. This involves encouraging staff to identify and rectify defects or pass them on to higher supervisory levels where they can be addressed. After indentifying the defect, ABC company should prepare Zero defects planning. They must establish a committee or working group to develop ways to initiate and implement a zero defects programme. This can prevent defects occurred in company. Company ABC should train the supervisors and managers on this QAP. This step is focussed on achieving understanding by all managers and supervisors of the steps in the quality improvement programme in order that they can explain it in turn. Staff at Company ABC failed to understand about the QAP and they cannot explain it to others. After the management fully understand about the QAP, they should hold a zero defects day to establish the attitude and expectation within the company. Company ABC also should encourage the setting of goals for improvement. This Goals are of course of no value unless they are related to appropriate timescales for their achievement. After setting improvement goals, ABC company should do obstacle reporting. This is encouragement employees to advise management about the factors which prevent them achieving error free work. This might cover defective or inadequate equipment poor quality components etc. Company ABC also need to recognise the contributors . Those

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who contribute to the programme should be rewarded through a formal although nonmonetary reward scheme. Finally ABC Company must establish an Quality councils These are essentially forums composed of quality professionals and team leaders allowing them to communicate and determine action plans for further quality improvement. All the procedure and processes will take care by the Quality councils. ABC company should do it all over again. The achievement of quality is an ongoing process. The training regarding QAP should conduct regularly to make sure the information about QAP up to date. QAP in ABC Company failed because they never use a proper way to implement QAP. If they implement QAP using above mentioned steps, they will succeed. [50 marks] (b) What remedial actions would you take to improve the present situation? Since the QAP failed and the quality level getting worsen, I would suggest to implement below steps in ABC Company : Designing for Quality a) Planning for Quality Assurance: ABC Company should develop a vision and strategy for Quality Assurance activities. They should assign duties, and allocate resources for QAP implement. b) Developing Guidelines and Setting Standards: ABC Company should define expectations for quality. Quality Councils must develop guide lines and set standards for QAP implementation. c) Communicating Guidelines and Standards: ABC Company must ensure that those who must apply the standards are aware of them, understand them, and believe in them. Training must conducted to ensure all staff aware of QAP. Monitoring d) Monitoring Quality: ABC Company must develop indicators and collect data to measure performance and to identify current or impending problems.

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Problem Solving and Improving Processes e) ABC Company must identifying problems and selecting opportunities for improvement. Managers or supervisors must examine information through monitoring, talking to people, conducting special surveys in order to identify existing or emerging problems. Then they must select the most important problems or problematic processes to tackle. It is important to select carefully where to focus quality improvement efforts. Quality improvement is most attainable when those involved are enthusiastic about it and when it has a positive effect on patients and their community. Accordingly, managers, clients, and staff should select a problem which is important. The Quality Assurance Committee may identify a potential area based upon its impact on the organizations overall quality. These areas for improvement usually require the participation of several departments in the organization. A department manager may identify a problem because of his or her teams inability to meet its goals and objectives. A group of workers may identify a project to increase their ability to work more efficiently. To identify potential areas for improvement, it is essential to consider sources of information that can explain the current situation. Several sources can be used to identify specific areas for improvement.

f) ABC Company also need to defining the problem operationally. They must develop a clear statement of the problem in terms of its measurable effect on problem occured. An operational definition of a problem or quality deficiency expresses the difference, in specific and observable terms, between the current and desired state of affairs. A clear problem statement helps to focus problem-solving efforts throughout the remaining steps. If the problem is poorly defined, it will become apparent later in the process that each team member has been thinking of a different problem. The lack of a clear problem statement can lead to internal conflict and to a loss of focus and motivation. g) ABC Company should identifying who needs to work on the Problem. Management must determine which persons or groups should take part in the problem-solving process to help in analyzing the problem and in developing and implementing solutions. Many problems or processes can be resolved or improved by the individual health worker ABC Company or manager using quality improvement practices.

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However, one person usually does not have all the information necessary to solve the problem. Most problems need more than one person to understand fully what is happening. Quality improvement efforts work best when those who are involved in the process take part in the analysis and development of solutions. Determining who should work on the problem involves: identifying who needs to take part and in what capacities (team members, ad-hoc members, consultants ) convening the team, and defining the teams working procedures.

Quality assurance often requires teams composed of people from different departments and functions in the organization. Teams are needed due to the increasingly complex and multifaceted problems. h) ABC Company also need to analyze and Study the problem to identify the major causes. They should gather the data and analyze data to understand the nature of the problem and its principal or root causes. The objective of this step is to identify the problems major causes in order to choose an appropriate solution. This can be done very quickly if the problem is simple and the cause is obvious, or it can take longer when the problem is more complex and there are several possible causes. i) ABC Company also need to develop solutions and actions for Quality Improvement. They must generate a list of likely solutions, choose the one which best address the principal causes, and design a practical, feasible solution. The objective of this step is to develop a solution that solves the problem by eliminating its cause(s). Developing solutions is not always a straightforward task, and many solutions fail because they were not carefully thought through before implementation. This is not the time to rush to a solution given all the effort that has been invested in selecting and analyzing the problem. The best approach is to be open and to think creatively, first to develop a list of potential solutions, then to review each carefully before selecting one.

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j) ABC Company also need to implement and evaluate Quality Improvement Efforts. They must plan the implementation of the solution (who, what, where, when, how), execute the test, and determine whether to expand implementation, modify the solution to make it more feasible or effective, or drop the solution in favor of another. Quality improvement depends on effectively implementing the appropriate solution. Even a well-chosen solution will not resolve the problem if it is poorly planned, implemented, and monitored. This final step, commonly known as the PDCA (or the Shewart) cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act. It is designed to ensure that the solution is properly implemented. This final step comprises four major activities: 1) planning implementation of the solution (PLAN), 2) implementing the solution (DO), 3) 4) following up to determine if the solution has had the intended results (CHECK), making decisions about whether to expand implementation, to modify the solution, or to choose another solution to test (ACT). Almost every solution will require some changes in individuals work, behavior, or roles and responsibilities. People often feel threatened by change unless they are convinced of the need for it, can envision how circumstances will be improved, and understand the changes that will occur. It is essential to recognize resistance to change and to address it directly; otherwise, problem-solving efforts will be undermined. Some strategies to reduce resistance to change include: 1) inviting people to participate in planning the change, 2) providing a clear picture of the change, 3) sharing information about the changes: secrecy and surprises create anxiety, 4) demonstrating commitment to the change: being a positive role model, 5) offering positive reinforcement for changes and early successes..

[50 marks] END OF QUESTION

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