Diagnose Case

Overview:
Mr. Prakash is the C.E.O of and proprietor of a business that deals in manufacturing of machined parts. He is
getting worried about the increase in customer complaints over the last few years. He has a very good sales
team and his order booking is increasing quarter to quarter, however he is getting worried about the increase
in customer complaints over the past few years. He has implemented some of the best production practices
and quality control policies of his company are above the industry average. The company employs 200
workers reporting to 20 supervisors and 5 managers. He has now approached you to identify the core issue
that is affecting the company.
Following data has been made available to you.
Order booking (Thousands) Customer Complaints (Hundreds)
Quarter New Repeat Total Quarter Quality Service TOD Packaging Total
Q1 440 150 590 Q1 1 2 5 3 11
Q2 460 140 600 Q2 5 3 7 4 19
Q3 500 120 620 Q3 9 0 8 2 19
Q4 530 100 630 Q4 12 1 10 3 26
TOD: Time of delivery
The above tables give the order booking in terms of number of orders booked in that quarter and also the
breakup of customer complaints.
Procurement Department Production Department
Month Quality
TOD
expected
(Days)
TOD
Received
(Days) Month
Prod
Required
(Thousands)
Actual
(Thousands)
Rejections
(Thousands) Net
jan 5 7 7 jan 200 180 12 168
feb 4 8 7 feb 250 230 11 219
mar 4 7 8 mar 230 220 12 208
apr 5 8 8 apr 240 200 10 190
may 5 7 6 may 230 210 11 199
jun 4 6 8 jun 230 220 8 212
jul 4 9 9 jul 220 220 11 209
aug 4 7 7 aug 230 220 9 211
sep 5 8 7 sep 240 220 7 213
oct 4 6 7 oct 240 230 11 219
nov 5 9 9 nov 230 220 9 211
dec 5 7 7 dec 230 220 7 213
Quality Scale 1-3 Reject, 4-5 Accept




Packaging Department
Month
Packaging
done
(Thousands)
Time
required
(Days)
Act
(Days)
jan 170 3 5
feb 219 5 7
mar 208 5 7
apr 190 4 7
may 202 5 8
jun 210 5 10
jul 209 4 8
aug 210 4 7
sep 208 4 9
oct 219 5 9
nov 210 4 7
dec 210 3 8

In addition to the above data you also have the following interviews with various people in the company.
Interview with Production Center Head:
Mr. Haresh: whatever the problem, it is not with my department, if you have seen the data our rejection rate is less than
5%. Which is better than most of our competitors, we dont even need an inspection department because our workers
are highly trained and are responsible enough to conduct quality checks of their own work, this has reduced the time it
takes to manufacture the components and also eliminated unnecessary manpower and smoothened the whole
production process. I have a very strict view when it comes to quality, any worker not meeting the quality requirements
consistently is fired or provided proper training.

Interview with one of the supervisor:
Mr. Pankesh: Yes, we have sufficient manpower to meet our production needs. If we fall short of any manpower the HR
department assigns replacement workers or hires new workers as the need maybe to ensure there is no stalling of
production. The workers are self-sufficient. The more experienced people need very little instruction and meet their
production targets well before time with highest quality. When it comes to quality the directive to workers is very clear.
In the last few months alone we have rotated several workers because of nonperformance and brought in replacements.
We provide on the job training for all our new joinees during which they gain the required skills to perform their
functions in an efficient manner.




Interview with the HR head:
Mr. Nadkarni: we have a very active recruitment policy, we have tie ups with several employment agencies and
contractors who provide us with workers on very short notice. Our supervisors are recruited from the best colleges in
the country and are given extensive training in both technical and managerial skills over a span of two months to make
them ready for the work on shop floor.
Our managers are promoted on a skill based reviews and all the managers who are in charge of the production centers
have extensive experience on the shop floor.
Also we do manpower planning as per requirement in different department and manpower is relocated and reassigned
as per requirement to ensure adequate manpower availability in all the departments.
Interview with worker:
Mr. Patil: The best part about working here is that the management empowers us to control quality and we do that part
of our job with pride. The training provided to us by the company allows us to do our jobs in a very effective manner.
New joinees are given 3 weeks of extensive on the job training and they work alongside experienced workers like me
and we help them learn the techniques required. The quality expectations are high and we as workers strive to achieve
our targets. In the past few months nearly half of us have been either fired, rotated to different jobs or retired and
newer hands have taken their place. We as seniors are happy to impart our skills and knowledge to the new workers
who have joined.

Given the above information and interview of people at various levels in the company it is now your job to identify the
core problem that has led to the worries Mr. Prakash.