Corning Z Glass Project

M&E: Improving the Manufacturing Standards

Z-Glass project, innovated by Corning, was the future product which had the durability, hardness, low weight and competitive cost. Having no competitor in this product range Corning enjoyed increasing demand. Unfortunately, the production growth couldn’t meet the increase in fact it fell down.

The issue here was the steep downward yield trend of the Harrisburg Plant. The management was concerned over it since they were the sole manufacturers of the Z Glass technology which seemed successful. This was the best scenario to make the maximum profits of this product. Moreover, this plant had performed well in the past but for a while now things seem to get out of control. Unfortunately, the yield was not able to meet the market requirements. Management handed the task of investigation and rectification to M&E department.

-------------------------------------------------

Since the production depends on many variables such as equipment, process, environment, staff, etc. I think that the decline at the plant was because purely of two reasons: inexperienced staff and the processes1.

Staff was new to the processes which required very precise handling and troubleshooting of the production line. Timely evaluation of the product was required otherwise it would turnout as a waste. They weren’t trained neither had proper knowledge for these processes which required high technical abilities for troubleshooting. They had to learn with time from their supervisors, majority of them were also inexperienced. No proper documentation regarding the processes and machinery was available which could help them to improve their competency and learn the process.

The processes involved precision handling and timely decisions which the new staff couldn’t make hence resulting in bad product. Decisions relating to how much heating, pressure, timing, etc. were dependent on the person in charge. It was more prone to human error as it included...