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FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences STATISTICS, School Office V123 Telephone: (02) 4921-5515 Page 1 STAT3100/6100 - TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT 1 - Semester 1, 2017 Due: Before start of lecture (Monday 1:05pm) of Week 7. Assessment: 20% of final grade Please consider the questions immediately and assess how to manage your workload. Please read the final page of this assignment, and course outline, for information on assignment preparation & submission, expectations, causes of lost marks, word counts, late penalties. o Additional time beyond that required to complete this assessment has been built into the due date to allow each person to schedule around their other own needs, within the set timeframe In order to effectively complete this assignment it is expected that students have completed Modules One, Two and Three. Some questions can be attempted before completing all of the suggested modules. Submit assignment online – via the link provided in Blackboard. Question 1 – Case Study: Customer Focus [8 marks: 2, 3, 3] Read the Case Study on pages 22-23 of the textbook by Rao et al (a copy of these pages is available in file ‘Rao 22-23’ on Blackboard) and answer the following: a) This scenario is one example of how the customer is not always correct; they may not recognise good quality. Explain how the scenario exemplifies this. (max. 200 words) NOTE: Whilst a good wine may be one that has matured, we will assume this is not the case for the meats. Although it is not explicit in the case study, we will assume that there is a need for concern at the selling of these meats nearer or past their expiry dates; this is inferred by the new Cooked Meat director’s concern. b) By advocating that an organisation be customer-focussed, does TQM insist that the customer is always right? • If you believe this to be true, then how does this compare with the current scenario? • If you do not believe this is exactly true then briefly explain how ‘being customerfocussed’, in the TQM context, differs from ‘the customer is always right’. N.B. You will only respond to ONE of the above two bullet points. (max. 150 words) c) The Cooked Meats director appeared to be taking appropriate actions by introducing the new system for distribution; however, there was a significant drop in sales. What should the director have done differently prior to implementing the new system? (max. 250 words) STAT3100/6100 - TQM ASSIGNMENT 1 Page 2 Question 2 – Application of The Funnel Experiment [2 marks: 1, 1] The following represents an example of tampering with a stable process as was demonstrated in the Funnel experiment: Rather than continuing to have one department train new employees, a new approach is implemented whereby the person who was most recently trained then trains the next new employee of the organisation. a) Provide a brief clear explanation of why the above can be considered an example of following Rule 4 in the Funnel Experiment as taught in the course (max. 100 words). b) Identify the detrimental effects of such a change (max. 150 words). Question 3 – The Deming Chain reaction [4 marks: 2 marks each section] The above is the ‘Deming Chain Reaction’. a) Explain what Deming meant by this philosophy, which he claimed lead to long-term competitive strength. (max. 200 words). b) The newspaper article, entitled “Imports douse the flames at St George Appliances”, appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (2/3/99) – see file ‘St George Appliances’ available from Blackboard. Discuss whether the managers of this company were utilising the Deming philosophy. Explain how the TQM philosophy could have been employed to try and prevent St George going into receivership. Remain factual rather than assuming too much (max. 150 words). Question 4 – Displaying data [3 marks] Consider the right-most of the 3 graphs on page 1 of Westpac Shareholder’s July 2013 Newsletter at http://www.westpac.com.au/docs/pdf/aw/ic/July2013_Shareholder_Newsletter.pdf; the graph appears below the words ‘Common Equity Tier I Ratio Basel II’. Critically appraise the presentation of information (max. 300 words). You may answer in point form. Do NOT comment on the whole newsletter or any other of the graphs. Improve quality Costs decrease because of less rework, fewer mistakes, fewer delays, and better use of time and materials Productivity improves Capture the market with better quality and lower price Stay in business Provide jobs and more jobs STAT3100/6100 - TQM ASSIGNMENT 1 Page 3 Question 5 - Defining, documenting and analysing processes [9 marks:- 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 2, 2.5] a) i. Pictured below is a generic top-down flow diagram Why would a top-down flow diagram be created? How is it of benefit? (max. 150 words). ii. Construct a top-down flow diagram that illustrates the process involved for a student selecting 3 courses to study next semester. b) i. Describe, and identify the purpose and benefits of, cause-and-effect diagrams (max. 150 words). ii. Draw a cause-and-effect diagram identifying the causes of a student not being able to undertake the 3 desired courses. Be thorough and possibly creative in identifying your causes, showing the benefit of using a cause-and-effect diagram. c) Construct the flowchart for the above process with complexity included, that is, include processes required when some steps do not produce their intended results or result from unexpected difficulties. Use the cause-and-effect diagram to locate those steps. Question 5 – Poka-yoke [2 marks] Poka-yoke is an approach for fail-safing processes using automatic devices or methods to avoid simple human error. Many applications are deceptively simple yet creative. Examples include: • Many machines have limit switches connected to warning lights that tell the operator when parts are positioned improperly on a machine and prevents the machine from operating; • Bank’s coin-sorting machines separate the various-sized coins without human intervention; • USB devices, SD cards and electrical leads are only able to be inserted in the correct direction due to their shapes and grooves. Provide one further example (excluding those provided in the course textbook by Rao et al). Ensure it is not too similar to any of the above examples. Your response needs to clearly explain your example but keep your response succinct (max. 80 words in total). An example may be clear to you, however, the marker may not be familiar with your example so be sure to adequately describe the application. • • • • • Main step / process 2 • Sub-step/process A • Sub-step/process B • Sub-step/process C Main step / process 1 STAT3100/6100 - TQM ASSIGNMENT 1 Page 4 Important notes about assignment preparation and submission: • DUE DATES AND LATE PENALTIES: • Due dates have been purposely set in order to provide more time than needed to complete an assignment task. The additional time (built into the due date) is to allow some flexibility for the varying lives and workloads of students so you can better manage your competing tasks. • Solutions and feedback on assignments need to be provided in a timely manner. With the additional time already provided in the assignment we cannot have additionally overdue submissions preventing the release of such information to students. • This requires that all submissions are received in a timely manner. To this end, an assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension of time will be penalised by ten percent of the possible maximum mark for the item being deducted for each day or part day that the item is submitted after the due date and time. Weekends count the same as weekdays in determining the penalty; weekend submissions may be made via email to the course coordinator. Late submissions may take longer than the usual time to be returned. Assignments not submitted within six days after the due date will be awarded zero marks. • Assignments are due prior to the beginning of the timetabled lecture. They are thus due before 5 minutes after the timetabled hour of commencement of the lecture. Submissions after this time are deemed late submissions and will be penalised accordingly. In cases of submissions near to, but after, the submission time, students will be afforded the opportunity to provide a statutory declaration for extenuating circumstances beyond their control which occasioned the late submission. • Assignments should be word-processed, although neatly hand-drawn diagrams are permitted in some instances. • Always provide comments with graphs and computing output, without comments no marks will be awarded. • Refer to graphs/figures with page/figure references - don’t expect them to be found. Graphs and figures that are part of the solution are best to appear with the relevant textual responses (referenced as, for example, ‘see Figure 1, on following page’). Only use appendices for ‘behind the scenes’ work or ‘additional information’. • Before submission, proof-read your work to check for typing, spelling and/or grammatical errors and ensure that the report is clearly presented in a logical format. • Responses to questions that have maximum word counts must be accompanied by your true word count (in parentheses) at the beginning of your response else marks will be deducted. Be mindful of the maximum word counts! Marks may also be deducted where unnecessarily long responses are given that do not relate directly to the question at hand. • Do not simply provide yes/no responses - elucidate. Answers should be thorough but remember, high quality not necessarily high quantity. The maximum lengths for some answers are given as a guide. Maximum word counts should assist you in knowing within what number of words you should easily be able to respond. If you are finding the word limit unreasonable then you may not quite understand the question. None of the assignment questions requires several pages of written response. • A ‘page’ refers to 1.25 line spacing, font size 12. • Where computing is required, the JMP commands will be provided, however, students may use any computer software they prefer to complete assignment questions. • Starting assignments too near the due date and/or not being able to access data sets are not acceptable reasons for extensions. It is advisable to access data sets early and read through the assignment early in order to better grasp how to manage the task. Discuss any issues of accessing data sets early. • Please ensure you keep backup copies of all your assignments during their development ! Computer crashes are not valid reasons for extensions, primarily as it is difficult to prove and some may be otherwise tempted to misuse such an excuse. • Marks may be deducted for poorly presented work. • Assignment submissions that are indicative of one piece of work attempting to be passed off as the work of separate individuals will, at best, have the marks for one assignment shared; zero marks may be awarded and the Student Academic Conduct Officer will be notified. Rewording another student’s solution is also obvious! Beware of copying and plagiarism! Provide references where appropriate.
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