Question

Question no. 6 (7)

XXX Company was given the contract to design and manufacture wrist watches for all the faculty members on Air University’s anniversary. The wrist watches that we got were of very poor quality. Draw an Ishikawa diagram to determine the causes of poor quality using the 4M approach.

Answer 1

4 M method :

Man/measurement :

- Untrained or unskilled staff did not programme the correct timing mechanism e.g. junior staff who did not know how

- Inexperienced or inadequate (fewer) staff did not test the final product thoroughly resulting in watches of poor quality.

Machine :

- Tools used were old or worn e.g. obsolete machinery as the firm did not upgrade recently

- Required latest tools were not used/available e.g. latest and cutting edge tools were not used and so precision of watches suffered as a result

Method :

- Design parameters were not clear e.g. original design itself was faulty resulting in a bad product

- Provided instructions were not followed or missed

Material :

- Low quality materials or materials that did not meet the required specifications were used e.g. metal compositions for watches

- Firm substituted cheaper or other materials (metals, type of leather, gold to brass setting etc.) resulting in lower quality final product