OPMT 2298 – Business Process Improvement

Mini Case – Pencil Manufacturing Quality Improvement

The Production Manager of a pencil manufacturing company, Graphite Innovations Ltd., is concerned about the quality of their products and wants to identify
key areas for improvement. He decided to implement a quality feedback system on the production floor. A summary of quality issues recorded over an eight-
week period is shown below:

Week Pencil Type Broken Leads Uneven Printing Errors Packaging Flaws
Sharpening
Week 1 HB IIIII IIIII IIII IIII III IIII IIII
Week 1 2B IIIIII IIII IIIII III IIII IIII III
Week 2 HB IIII IIII IIII III II IIII IIII
Week 2 2B IIII III III III II
Week 3 HB IIIII IIIII IIII IIII III IIIII IIII
Week 3 2B IIIII IIII IIII III II IIII III
Week 4 HB IIII IIII III IIII II
Week 4 2B IIII II II II I
Week 5 HB IIIIII IIII IIII IIII III III
Week 5 2B IIII III III II II
Week 6 HB IIII II III II IIII
Week 6 2B IIII II I III
Week 7 HB IIII III IIII III III
Week 7 2B III III II II
Week 8 HB IIIII IIII IIII IIII IIII II
Week 8 2B IIII IIII IIII III III I

Based on the gathered data,

1. What two problems should the Production Manager address first if he wants to decrease the number of complaints for HB pencils?
2. What two problems should the Production Manager address first if he wants to decrease the number of complaints for 2B pencils?
3. Provide a Problem Statement for the current situation in Graphite Innovations Ltd.

Your Answer to Questions 1 & 2 must include two different tools used in your analysis (One must be Pareto chart and the other can be either a run chart or a
consolidated check sheet)