Solution of Textbook Problems (for HW#2)

2.

Checksheet
Problem
Failed
Odor

Customer Type

Noisy

Warm

Totals

Residential

10

25

Commercial

16

Totals

13

12

41

Residential customers
10

Commercial customers

7
5

Noisy

Failed

Odor

3.

Warm

Odor

Warm

Noisy

Failed

break

lunch

break

The run charts seems to show a pattern of errors possibly linked to break times or the end of the
shift. Perhaps workers are becoming fatigued. If so, perhaps two 10 minute breaks in the morning
and again in the afternoon instead of one 20 minute break could reduce some errors. Also, errors
are occurring during the last few minutes before noon and the end of the shift, and those periods
should also be given managements attention.

Enrollment Forecasting

Course

Number and type

of other courses
offered at the
same time

Time of Offering

Days of the week

Time and days

of the week for
other sections of
the course

Closed
Section
of a College
Course

Course format
(discussion/lecture/online)

Reputation (difficulty)
of the course

Subject matter

Reputation of instructors
teaching other sections
of the same course

Reputation of
the instructor

Estimated # of
eligible students
that need the course Time of
the day
as a requirement

# of sections
scheduled

Reputation of
instructors
teaching other
courses at the
same time

Instructor

Estimated # of
students taking it as
a required course

Total capacity

Type of
classroom

Estimated # of
students taking
it as an elective

Location of
classroom

Number of
seats available
in other
sections

Number of seats
available in the
closed section

Classroom

Cause and Effect Diagram

10.

Case: Chick-N-Gravy Dinner Line

This case provides the opportunity for students to acquire some insight into analyzing quality
problems. You may prefer to give them some initial guidance, or you may want to let them
grapple with it on their own.
On their own, they may attempt to set up control charts. However, the essence of the case is to
examine the data and draw conclusions about where problems may be.
Data can be organized in a number of ways. One useful way is the following:
Defect
Underfilled

#1

#2

Morning

Afternoon

3
3

Missing Item

Spilled/Mixed

#1

#2

#1

#2

11

0 11

11

7 18

Unacc. taste

Improper seal

#1

#2

#1

#2

14

7 21

6 10

8 14

14

8 22

10 11

This gives a breakdown by morning/afternoon as well as Line #1/Line #2. Histograms (totals,
morning/afternoon, and Line #1/Line #2) could be constructed to highlight problem areas.
Overall, 70 defects were found, 22 of which were classified as unacceptable taste, making this the
most frequent problem. The next most frequent was missing item with 18 occurrences, and then
spill/mixed, with 14 occurrences.
Looking more closely at these three categories, we can see that 14 of the 22 unacceptable taste
were accounted for by Line #1 in the morning, and the remainder were Line #2, also in the
morning. Line #1 exhibited a similar morning problem: all 11 occurrences were in the morning.
Line #2 had all 7 of its occurrences in the afternoon. 10 of 14 occurrences of spill/mixed defects
occurred in the afternoon.
In the improper seal category, 10 out of 11 occurrences were for Line #2.
In terms of recommendations, Ann should focus on investigating what might be causing taste
problems in the morning on both lines, morning problems on Line #1 for missing items and
afternoon problems for Line #2 for missing items. Spill/mixed has afternoon problems on both
lines, and there are seal problems on Line #2 throughout the day.