Crouse Fuse Company

1. Point of View

The point of view of the Crouse Fuse Company (CFC) management was taken, specifically the production department, since they are the ones who felt the need to evaluate/monitor the company’s facility and processes, and come up with statistical reports, and make decisions based on the results of reports.

1. Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer the question:

What action/s should Crouse Fuse Company apply in order to be assured that quality control standards are being maintained over all shifts, and so as to minimize number of defective fuses?

1. Relevant Case Facts

• Produces very large amounts of inexpensive fuses for a number of different customers/
• CFC is been named as co-defendant, along with light manufacturer, in a recent lawsuit.
• ”products cannot be perfect”
• market only pays for very low price in fuse product.
• They want to establish statistical process control.
• The most critical factor in fuse quality is the metallic content and the diameter of the wire inside the fuse.
• CFC operates eight hours a day for 5 days a week.
• Wire-forming process tends to “drift” over relatively short time periods, as replaceable components start to wear
• The entire system significantly slows down during the time that recalibration is being done.
• Recalibration can be done by the supervisors anytime.

1. Data Analysis

CFC management requires a statistical process control (SPC) analysis applied on the given data on quality control test results from the monitored week, first shift and second shift. Since not all the fuses can be tested for a 100% inspection, CFC management resorted to sampling; having 50 fuses randomly selected every 30 minutes during the eight-hour work shifts for five days in one workweek, and recording the number of defective units for each sample.

        Using SPC for CFC would help detect if the companies’ processes are on control, which in turn could assure that quality control standards are being maintained over all shifts. In case not, the management could use problem-solving tools to determine causes of the problem/s, and come up with actions to improve processes.

        In SPC, there are two quality measures that can be used to evaluate products or services – an attribute of the product or a variable measure. In the case of CFC, the one being evaluated is the defectiveness of a fuse which could be answered by whether the fuse is acceptable or not. The one being measured in this case is an attribute. Therefore, it is appropriate to use a p-chart since the fuses can be categorized as either defective or not, and defectives can be reported as a proportion of the sample.