A Report On Jeeves Plc
In recent years, there is worldwide competition among the companies to secure a marketplace due to the increasing demand amongst the customers. In order to survive in the global marketplace the companies have to give an improved quality of products and services. This Report provides a detailed study of the understanding of total quality management. It also provides an effective decision making techniques to improve the quality of the organisation. The methodologies employed for the integrated quality management as allied to the aspects of the total quality culture. In this project, i have discussed the problems made by JEEVES PLC COMPANY and its causes. With the help of total quality management, I have also suggested some valuable points that can help the company to recover from the problematic situation.
In recent years, there is worldwide competition among the companies to secure a marketplace due to the increasing demand amongst the customers. In order to survive in the global marketplace the companies have to give an improved quality of products and services. In some market place there is an increasing supply of competitively priced products and services from low labour cost countries such as those in Far East, China, Vietnam, Philippine and India. Therefore the continuous improvements in total business activities with the focus on the customer throughout the entire organisation and an emphasis on flexibility and quality are one of the main means by which the companies face up to these competitive threats. The quality and its management and the associated continuous improvements are looked upon by many organisations as the means by which they can survive in increasingly aggressive markets and a competitive edge over the rivals. As a result of the efforts made by organisations to respond to these marketplace demands the quality of products, services and processes has increased considerably during the last decades.
QUALITY:
The term ‘quality’ can be defined in different ways. In general Quality can be defined as “Degree to which a set of inherent characteristic fulfils requirements on a product which in-turn meets the consumer needs”. It can also be defined as the characteristic which meets the requirement of a consumer on a process, a product or a service.
Philip Crosby’s defined quality as “conformance to requirements”. (Dale, 1999,2003)
Therefore the definition of quality can be defined in its own according to the each related person and related fields.
“In technical usage, the word Quality is widely accepted to have two meanings.
A characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs; and
A product or service free of deficiencies”. (Nanda, 2005)
QUALITY MANAGEMENT:
Quality management is defined as follows
Quality management comprises all activities that are required to plan for quality in an organisation, and all activities that are required to satisfy quality objectives. Quality management comprises of four elements, they are
Quality planning
Quality control
Quality assurance
Quality improvement
Quality planning:
Quality planning refers to activities that are performed to:
Establish quality objectives
Identifying quality requirements
Plan for quality management systems
Plan for process execution
Quality control:
Quality control comprises activities executed to fulfil the requirements for quality. This includes:
Activities to monitor a process to ensure its output is of required quality; and
Activities to correct discrepancies when they occur.
Quality assurance:
Quality assurance comprises all the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system that can be demonstrated to provide confidence that a product or service will fulfil requirements for quality.
Quality improvement:
Quality improvement can be defined as:
Enhancement in the effectiveness and efficiency of the processes; and
Enhancement in the extent to which a product satisfies applicable requirements (including quality requirements).
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT:
It is an approach that puts quality at the heart of everything that is done by an operation and including all activities within an operation. This in total can be summarised by the TQM lays particular stress on the following:
Meeting the needs and expectation of customers;
Covering all parts of the organisation;
Including every person in the organisation ;
Examining all costs which are related to quality, especially failure costs;
Getting things ‘right first time’ i.e. designing in quality rather than inspecting it in;
Developing the systems and procedures which support quality and improvement;
Developing a continuous process of improvement .
Main implementation issues in TQM initiatives:
A number of factors appear to be influential in ensuring the success of TQM. These are;
The existence of a fully worked-out quality strategy;
Top-managements support;
A steering group to guide the initiative;
An adequate recognitions and rewards the rewards scheme;
Group-based improvements;
An emphasis on appropriate training. (Nigel Slack, 2004)
AN INTRODUCTION TO CASE STUDY ON JEEVES PLC:
JEEVES PLC Company manufactures and sells an electronic consumer durable product. This is a domestic robot which is similar to human appearance and its mainly designed to carry out the domestic work. The robot is made up of light alloy material and is equipped with the sensory apparatus like radar which helps in moving the robot without colliding into the things and to carry out the work properly. The robot is controlled to carry out the work with the keyboard underneath the panel of the body. As a special feature it has got equipped with a memory system which is used in programming the machine to walk, move its hands and to perform other movements and as a special feature it is designed with “voice programming” and has got some simple speaking abilities such that it responds to some of the verbal commands given by the user.
PRODUCTION PROCESS
The sequence of the production of the robots is as follows:
1).Initially at the production process an order is placed by the department of sales .The robot is manufactured with the ultra light Kevlar and alloy steel sheet which is ordered from the local steel stock holders and the component suppliers supplies the electronic components like electric motors and the batteries, audio recognition devices system and radar vision system and are delivered and analysed.
2).In the following next step the delivered raw material stock is supplied to the inspection department for inspecting the quality certification standards where the quality standards are not to exceed more than 0.3% and 5% of the sample stock was taken by the inspection department randomly.
3).The steel sheet is cut into the required shapes using the high end computer controlled mechanical machinery such as guillotine and any scrap is discarded, followed by making the special joints on precision machined.
4).Once the cutting process is completed the cut sheets are passed to pressing stage to press them into the appropriate shapes such as fronts, backs, arms ,legs, and heads and drilled to facilitate assembly, followed by cleaning ,burnishing and spraying the appropriate colours to increase the appearance of the robot.
5).The painting process is carried out in order to make the surface of the robot free from rust and to give a good appearance such that it attracts the customers. The entire painting process is an automated process, the process proceed through a series chemical treatments then followed by blowing the dried using a hand held hose. The overall painting process involves two coatings of paint which is done by spraying and after once the first coat is completed the casings are polished with the help of machine. Then the last step ends with the hand finishing and polishing .Then the cases are taken from the work in progress (W.I.P) store and kept on a semi-automated assembly line.
6).The next step in the process is precision jointing which helps the robot to rotate its parts like shoulders, knees, and elbow and wrist joints in 6 planes and in consequence. The electronic components like battery, ceramic electric motor, printed circuit boards and storage cards are fixed to the back of the robot machine and also radar vision, gyroscopic balance system and audio reorganisation systems are fixed to the back of the head of the machine. Fibre optic cabling is also done when the arms and legs are assembled with joints and the fronts and backs are joined by using high adhesives.
7).Fronts and backs of the various cases are joined together using high technology epoxy adhesives. Then these applicators receive the casing halves along the assembly line where the adhesives along the surfaces using are spread using a gun. The major joints are done by robot applicators but certain small and in accessible areas have to be made by hand. Cases joined after components got fixed within them. Then the next step in process is to move the entire cases to the final assembly followed by the inspection and the test area to check the tests for held water and air tightness and smoothness of fit.
8).Each sub-assembly is inspected before final assembly. The head, body, arms and legs are connected up using multi-dimensional jointing and flexible hoses. After all the final inspection tests are carried out then the machine is subjected to some practical tests once after the software is installed into the system for visual inspection which follows in a sequence which takes for five consecutive weeks. (link, 2009)
IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM AND ITS CAUSES:
Problem-1
Problem1
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Cost of failure prevention is low (4%)
Appraisal and inspection cost is 44%
WHERE IS IT?
Distribution of quality cost
Distribution of quality cost
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
Estimation of quality cost
Estimation of quality cost
HOW EXTENSIVE?
large
large
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
The organisation is not concentrating on the failure prevention which plays a vital role in the productivity and hence it is unnecessary to make an increments in appraisal and inspection cost. And also there seems that appraisal is given to the unskilled employees were employed in the organisation and they are paid with an appraisal which is unnecessary
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
If the organisation is not going to concentrate on failure prevention then there will be a huge amount of raw materials and money will be wasted.
When a semi-skilled labour is employed in the organisation there will be wastage of time and money
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
The organisation must concentrate more on the failure prevention
the prior training should be given to the employee’s are semi-skilled in order to accomplish the quality requirements
Problem2
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Absenteeism
–
WHERE IS IT?
organisation
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
during August and December
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
large
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
The staffs are not proper in adopting the work culture and there seems a lack of commitment towards the work
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
if this happens the entire production will get slow down and production will get delayed and this will lead to a financial loss to the organisation
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
they should be educated about the importance of the group work and they are made to involve in the work
Problem3
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Loss in capital employed
–
WHERE IS IT?
factory
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
Year 2020
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
large
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
it is observed that the capital investment per unit starting from the year 2016 to 2020 has been consequently decreasing
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
This results in increase in productivity cost and capital investment
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
it is observed that the capital investment per unit starting from the year 2016 to 2020 has been consequently decreasing
Problem4
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Some of the painting process is unnecessary
–
WHERE IS IT?
factory
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
Automated painting process
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
small
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
In the painting process the parts of the robot are under gone a several steps of chemical treatments to prevent the surface free from rust which are normally dried using a hand held hose, where some of the operatives suggest it is unnecessary.
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
This results in waste in time, money and labours assigned to the work
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
avoiding this stage may save the money, the time and the labour assigned to that particular job and they can be used for any other purpose so that the productivity may increase somewhat.
Problem 5
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
New precision joining unit
–
WHERE IS IT?
precision jointing
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
weeks ending 9th and 23rd November
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
large
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
In the organisation they have setup a new precision joining unit for joining the shoulders, arms, elbow, knees and wrist joints of the product which requires own patented joining system which is expensive and requires highly skilled labour technicians and high end latest tools to work. Even though using such high end tools the fine tolerance in jointing mechanisms runs away. And it is observed that the rejections are 10% worse than the norm on the weeks ending 9th and 23rd November.
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
This results a waste of money and time .It gives a poor quality of products
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Better suggestion regarding this case is to avoid using patented jointing systems
Problem 6
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Poor fittings
–
WHERE IS IT?
Fitting section
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
Fixing an assembly
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
large
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
The assembly is done, mainly by semi-skilled workers using power tools which results in poor fittings more rejections and again they are scraped back to rework on the same products
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
Poor fitting results in more rejections and the which leads to wastage of time, money and labour
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
proper training should be given to the workers for fitting the joints and inspection has to be done properly so that they are not suppose to work on it again.
Problem 7
DEVIATION
RELEVANT FACTS
IRRELEVANT FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
Repairing the joints
–
WHERE IS IT?
precision jointing
–
WHEN DID IT OCCUR?
weeks ending 9th and 23rd November
–
HOW EXTENSIVE?
moderate
–
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTINCTION/ CHANGES / RELATIONSHIPS
Even though the management places heavy emphasis on standard productivity the applicators achieve this pace but final assembly is frequently reduced because more time than was expected is spent on repairing the joints.
EFFECTS OF THE PROBLEM
There is a great deal of grumbling amongst the final assembly workers whose task is made more difficult by misaligned and poorly fitted joints.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
In order to achieve the good quality product the necessary precautions can be taken like training the applicators on the job well with good technical knowledge skills and giving proper feedback on their performance.
CONCLUSION:
From the case study we can conclude that the organisation is to be managed well in order to increase the productivity rather than the profits and more over we have to concentrate on the miscellaneous expenditures, reducing product and service costs.
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