Case Process Improvement

An Initiative for In-house Quality Improvement in AT&S Manufacturing

Company

Introduction

You and three of your ex-classmates run a small, but rapidly growing, analytics consulting firm that

provides advice to high-technology companies. What had started off as a amateur idea late one night

when you were busy working on an MBA project six years ago has resulted in a highly successful

consulting and analytics firm today. Indeed, who would have dreamed that all of the fights and the

arguments your group had when doing projects could possibly result in such a closely-knit team just a

few years later. You still challenge each other, still debate the pros and cons of each issue, and are often

frustrated with each other, but the end-product is always much better as a consequence.

Tomorrow is special. You are visiting a company called AT&S Manufacturing (AT&SM), located in

Southern India, near Mysore, which is founded by another former batch mate of yours. You were a bit

surprised to get a phone call from the old friend requesting that one of you go over for a plant visit. That

is how it typically works in the business. Just one of the four visits the client along with some junior

members of the staff. In this case though, because all of you know the founder, and all four of you had

wanted to go.

You discussed the potential assignment during your car ride to AT&SM and conclude that you probably

would be required to make recommendations about AT&SM's manufacturing operation. Almost all

domestic manufacturing firms have been under pressure to improve their processes, and you speculate

that you would probably be investigating how to improve manufacturing operation both in the short

term and the long term. In doing so, you anticipate having to first determine whether AT&SM's process

is capable of producing products that meet the customer requirements and, if not, to recommend ways

of doing so.

The Current Situation

AT&S Manufacturing (AT&SM) is a...