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Hank Kolb, Director, Quality Assurance
Kolb was a bit dumbfounded at this and didn't say much—he didn't know if this was a big deal or not. When he got to his office, he thought again what Morgenthal, general manager, had said when he had hired Kolb. He warned Kolb about the " lack of a quality attitude" in the plant, and said that
Kolb "should try and do something about this." Morgenthal further emphasized the quality problems in the plant: "We have to improve our quality; it's costing us a lot of money; I'm sure of it, but I can't prove it! Hank, you have my full support in this matter; you're in charge of these quality problems.
This downward quality-productivity-turnover spiral has to end!"
The incident had happened a week before; the goods were probably out in the customer's hands by now, and everyone had forgotten about it (or wanted to). There seemed to be more pressing problems than this for Kolb to spend his time on, but this continued to nag him. He felt that the quality department was being treated as a joke, and he also felt that this was a personal slap from manufacturing. He didn't want to start a war with the production people, but what could he …show more content…
From purchasing. The plastic nozzle heads for the Greasex can, designed by a vendor for this new product on a rush order, were often found with slight burrs on the inside rim, and this caused some trouble in fitting the top to the can. An increase in application pressure at the filling head by maintenance adjustment had solved the burr application problem or had at least forced the nozzle heads on, despite burrs. Purchasing agents said that they were going to talk to the sales representative of the nozzle head supplier about this the next time he came in. 4.
From product design and packaging. The can, designed especially for Greasex, had been contoured to allow better gripping by the user. This change, instigated by marketing research, set Greasex apart from the appearance of its competitors and was seen as significant by the designers. There had been no test of the effects of the contoured can on filling speed or filling hydrodynamics from a high-pressured filling head. Kolb had a hunch that the new design was acting as a venturi [carrier creating suction] when being filled, but the packaging designer thought that was unlikely.
5.
2
From personnel. The operator for the filling equipment had just been transferred from
Hank Kolb, Director, Quality Assurance
Kolb was a bit dumbfounded at this and didn't say much—he didn't know if this was a big deal or not. When he got to his office, he thought again what Morgenthal, general manager, had said when he had hired Kolb. He warned Kolb about the " lack of a quality attitude" in the plant, and said that
Kolb "should try and do something about this." Morgenthal further emphasized the quality problems in the plant: "We have to improve our quality; it's costing us a lot of money; I'm sure of it, but I can't prove it! Hank, you have my full support in this matter; you're in charge of these quality problems.
This downward quality-productivity-turnover spiral has to end!"
The incident had happened a week before; the goods were probably out in the customer's hands by now, and everyone had forgotten about it (or wanted to). There seemed to be more pressing problems than this for Kolb to spend his time on, but this continued to nag him. He felt that the quality department was being treated as a joke, and he also felt that this was a personal slap from manufacturing. He didn't want to start a war with the production people, but what could he …show more content…
From purchasing. The plastic nozzle heads for the Greasex can, designed by a vendor for this new product on a rush order, were often found with slight burrs on the inside rim, and this caused some trouble in fitting the top to the can. An increase in application pressure at the filling head by maintenance adjustment had solved the burr application problem or had at least forced the nozzle heads on, despite burrs. Purchasing agents said that they were going to talk to the sales representative of the nozzle head supplier about this the next time he came in. 4.
From product design and packaging. The can, designed especially for Greasex, had been contoured to allow better gripping by the user. This change, instigated by marketing research, set Greasex apart from the appearance of its competitors and was seen as significant by the designers. There had been no test of the effects of the contoured can on filling speed or filling hydrodynamics from a high-pressured filling head. Kolb had a hunch that the new design was acting as a venturi [carrier creating suction] when being filled, but the packaging designer thought that was unlikely.
5.
2
From personnel. The operator for the filling equipment had just been transferred from