This case study provides an overview of how the business alignment process works. It describes a program intended to reduce the costs of rejecting usable syringes.
THE NEED
A large manufacturing company discovered a cost of approximately $1.6 million due to the disposal of usable syringes. Analysis was conducted, and the quality team found an unusually high number of false rejects. Observation of the inspectors found that inspectors were incorrectly identifying the syringes, and thereby, throwing out usable syringes. As they observed more closely and spoke with the inspectors, they found that inspectors were not certain of the difference between a usable and unusable syringe. Inspectors, as a group, were not confident enough in their ability to identify the syringes correctly, so they were being cautious and throwing out good syringes. To solve the problem, inspectors indicated that they preferred to go through another training course, as well as obtain a job aid that would help them more accurately distinguish between usable and unusable syringes. The workshop would last only one day and be launched initially with 20 inspectors.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
In planning the workshop and the development of the job aid, the quality team developed a set of objectives based on the identified needs.
