Hank Kolb

Hank Kolb was hired as a director to ensure quality improvements in a company whose people do not value “quality” and whose production line, in terms of quality, continues to output inconsistent products. Recently, Hank received information that the foreman, who is in-charge of “Greasex” production; manually vented over pressured and rejected cans. After venting out air, the once rejected cans were mix together and shipped with the rest of the good cans. Hired as an implementer of quality, Hank has to make a decision regarding the dip in quality.

Immediate Response to Quality concern

Hank Kolb has to halt the operation of the “Greasex” line and instruct the plant maintenance man, the foreman, the operator and, may include, the manufacturing manager in determining the real cause or causes why some of the produced cans have pressure beyond the AQL level. Is the disparity in pressure cause by wrong machine settings or design flaws of the cans?

The maintenance man should fine tune the machine’s settings and observe if the overpressure problem is terminated. If problem is terminated, then production of “Greasex” could continue.

Test on filling up new cans with contour shaped and test on filling up cans with straight body should be conducted. The two results should be compared, so that the notion whether the cans’ shape is causing the “Venturi” effect and the high pressure, could once-for-all be justified as true or false. If the design of the can is indeed causing the inconsistency, then possibility of switching back to the old can’s shape should be informed to both the production department and the marketing department. The plant maintenance man could also be given a chance to improvise a solution that would perhaps mitigate or even terminate the “Venturi” effect of the contoured shape cans.

Stopping the operation of the manufacturing department particularly the “Greasex” line would entail objections from the sales and...