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CASE STUDY: Excavation Buckets Design and Manufacture

Peter Border is a qualified mechanical engineer who graduated from the QTech University two years ago. Peter works for Trueblood, a small mechanical design and manufacturing company. Owner and founder of the company is William Trueblood.

William qualified as a mechanical tradesman and saw the opportunity to build a business based on designing and manufacturing complex parts for large earthmoving equipment. The business was founded 35 years ago and today employs 55 people. Trueblood Enterprises currently has three professional engineers, Rohan Petronis (25 years of experience), Claude Weatherly (15 years of experience), and Peter. Claude is in charge of the manufacturing area while Rohan and Peter comprise the design and analysis division.

Two months ago, Trueblood Enterprises were contracted by Cranbrook Excavators to design and manufacture an excavation buckets for a range of large excavators and draglines that the company manufactures. Cranbrook Excavators is a large company with total worldwide sales of about $2 billion (Australian). Trueblood Enterprises was elated to gain the contract as they had been trying for several years to secure a contract with Cranbrook Excavators. It is hoped that this initial contract will lead to further large contracts between the two companies.

Design of the excavation buckets was undertaken by Rohan and Peter. The designed part was extremely difficult to analyse and eventually they adopted a design which they considered was adequate and safe, but with which they were not entirely happy. The design was done manually without modern 3D modelling and simulation tools. They would have liked to have had more time to carry out further analysis work, but the production area needed to get the parts into production in order to meet the timelines associated with the contract. The first batch of parts (10) has now been manufactured and delivered and Cranbrook Enterprises has expressed their pleasure at the way in which the contract has been fulfilled to date. The contract calls for the manufacture of a further 100 parts over the next 18 months.

The contract price for the parts is $22 000 each, and Trueblood Enterprises currently estimates that the total cost of design and manufacture will be $18 500 each.

Although busy with other work since the finalisation of the design for the excavation buckets, Peter has continued to ponder how the analysis of the part could be improved. Last night he had a sudden flash of inspiration and two hours’ calculation this morning has provided a much improved understanding of the stress distribution which is likely to occur in the bucket design. On reviewing the new analysis, Peter becomes concerned that the existing design may create the possibility of fatigue failure in the longer term. Further analysis leads him to the conclusion that the premature failure of the existing units is a distinct possibility, although failure is unlikely to occur until 15,000 hours, though this needs to be further validated. The original contract specification asked for a minimum fatigue life of 20,000 hours. Peter also does a quick estimate of the likely cost of using an improved design in manufacturing and estimates that the cost per part will rise to $20 500.

Peter discusses his findings with Rohan. Initially Rohan is reluctant to take any action whatsoever, as he considers it would reflect poorly on the design and analysis division, and particularly on his inherent leadership of that area based on his extended years of experience. When Peter presses the issue and threatens to go directly to William Trueblood, Rohan agrees to set up a meeting between William, Peter and himself.

At the meeting, Peter presents his findings and recommends that the new design be adopted for production, and that the parts already manufactured and supplied be recalled from Cranbrook Excavators. Predictably, William Trueblood gets very upset and irate. He asks if the parts that have already been supplied are in danger of imminent failure and Rohan says no. William Trueblood states that his decision is that the current parts will not be recalled and the production process will continue to manufacture the existing design and not the new design. He says that the existing part is "safe enough" and the company cannot afford to increase the cost of production. He also says that he is extremely disappointed with the performance of Rohan and Peter, and that the design and analysis division needs to "get its act together or the company will have to consider closing this division and outsourcing its design work". He also says that if Rohan or Peter so much as blink an eyelid out of place in the future they will be sacked from the company!

- Identify and discuss the management, contractual and ethical issues involved in this case. What courses of action would be appropriate for Peter to follow (starting immediately)?

- The answer should be no more than 3000 words. This is merely a guide and there is no penalty associated with this word count. The final section of the main body of the report should clearly identify the courses of action that Peter should follow. This section will be a major section of the report on which technical content will be judged. The conclusions reached and action recommended, however, will need to be supported by the arguments presented in the previous sections of the report. This final section should be between 200 and 250 words in length.

- Your report should have a formal format with title page, executive summary, contents page and references. The report should be word processed

Please read the case below and answer the following question:    In court, Vinson’s allegations were countered by Taylor’s version of the facts. Will there always be a “your word against mine” problem in sexual harassment cases? What could Vinson have done to strengthen her case?

Consenting to Sexual Harassment

THE CASE OF VINSON V. TAYLOR, HEARd BEFOREthe federal district court for the District of Columbia, Mechelle Vinson alleged that Sidney Taylor, her supervisor at Capital City Federal Savings and Loan, had sexually harassed her.73But the facts of the case were contested.In court Vinson testified that about a year after she began working at the bank, Taylor asked her to have sexual relations with him. She claimed that Taylor said she “owed” him because he had obtained the job for her. Although she turned down Taylor at first, she eventually became involved with him. She and Taylor engaged in sexual relations, she said, both during and after business hours, in the remaining three years she worked at the bank. The encounters included intercourse in a bank vault and in a storage area. Taylor was Vinson’s supervisor, the court reasoned that notice to him was not notice to the bank.Vinson appealed the case, and the Court of Appeals held that the district court had erred in three ways. First, the district court had overlooked the fact that there are two possible kinds of sexual harassment. Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Spottswood Robinson distinguished cases in which the victim’s continued employment or promotion is conditioned on giving in to sexual demands and those cases in which the victim must tolerate a “substantially discriminatory work environment.” The lower court had failed to consider whether Vinson’s case involved harassment of the second kind.Second, the higher court also overruled the district court’s finding that because Vinson voluntarily engaged in a sexual relationship with Taylor, she was not a victim of sexual in the bank basement. Vinson also testified that Taylor often actually “assaulted or raped” her. She contended that she was forced to submit to Taylor or jeopardize her employment.Taylor, for his part, denied the allegations. He testified that he had never had sex with Vinson. On the contrary, he alleged that Vinson had made advances toward him and that he had declined them. He contended that Vinson had brought the charges against him to “get even” because of a work-related dispute.In its ruling on the case, the court held that if Vinson and Taylor had engaged in a sexual relationship, that relationship was voluntary on the part of Vinson and was not employment related. The court also held that Capital City Federal Savings and Loan did not have “notice” of the alleged harassment and was therefore not liable. Assuming the truth of Vinson’s version of the case, do you think her employer, Capital City Federal Savings and Loan, should be held liable for sexual harassment it was not aware of? Should the employer have been aware of it? Does the fact that Taylor was a supervi-sor make a difference? In general, when should an employer be liable for harassment?4.What steps do you think Vinson should have taken when Taylor first pressed her for sex? Should she be blamed for having given in to him? Assuming that there was sexual harassment despite her acquies-cence, does her going along with Taylor make her partly responsible or mitigate Taylor’s wrongdoing?5.In court, Vinson’s allegations were countered by Taylor’s version of the facts. Will there always be a “your word against mine” problem in sexual harassment cases? What could Vinson have done to strengthen her case?harassment. Voluntariness on Vinson’s part had “no bearing,” the judge wrote, on “whether Taylor made Vinson’s toleration of sexual harassment a condition of her employment.” Third, the Court of Appeals held that any discriminatory activity by a supervisor is attributable to the employer, regardless of whether the employer had specific notice.In his dissent to the decision by the Court of Appeals, Judge Robert Bork rejected the majority’s claim that “vol-untariness” did not automatically rule out harassment. He argued that this position would have the result of depriving the accused person of any defense, because he could no longer establish that the supposed victim was really “a willing participant.” Judge Bork contended further that an employer should not be held vicariously liable for a super-visor’s acts that it didn’t know about.Eventually the case arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the majority verdict of the Court of Appeals, stating that:[T]he fact that sex-related conduct was “voluntary,” in the sense that the complainant was not forced to participate against her will, is not a defense to a sexual harassment suit brought under Title VII. The gravamen of any sexual harassment claim is that the alleged sexual advances were “unwelcome.”. . . The correct inquiry is whether respondent by her con-duct indicated that the alleged sexual advances were unwelcome, not whether her actual participation in sexual intercourse was voluntary.The Court, however, rejected the Court of Appeals’s posi-tion that employers are strictly liable for the acts of their supervisors, regardless of the particular circumstances.

Produce a report outlining how SIX SIGMA has influenced quality management and how the selected approach helps organisations address contemporary issues in quality management.

The main part of the report should be divided into five parts, in the following order.

1. The significance of the quality approach a.

A brief explanation of the quality approach being examined and how it builds on what went before.

b. What was the perceived limitation of previous approaches to quality management that the approach offered a solution to?

c. How important was it that this gap was addressed?

2. The strengths and advantages of the quality approach

a. Identify and explain the strengths of the approach and the advantages that it brings for organisations, employees and customers

. b. Explain whether these advantages are conditional on any particular resources or contexts.

c. Is the approach suitable for all types of organisation, or some more than others? If so, which organisations does it particularly suit?

3. Examples of organisations using the quality approach

a. Identify and discuss at least two examples of the approach in use. Reviews of individual organisations will ideally cover organisations whose experience is worth knowing about for some particular reason (for example, they demonstrated the importance of the approach or advanced the methods associated with the approach).

b. Discuss any lessons learnt about how organisations can make the best use of the approach.

4. Critical evaluation of the quality approach

a. Provide a critical evaluation of the approach.

b. Has the approach proved to be as significant as expected? If not, why not?

c. Are there people who criticise the approach? If so, what are their concerns and are these concerns justified?

d. Are there any disadvantages to using this approach?

5. Contribution to contemporary business issues

a. Discuss how the approach contributes to helping organisations address contemporary quality management concerns. For example:

i. How does the approach fit with the increasingly globalised world in which many businesses operate?

ii. Does the approach assist organisations to demonstrate their commitment to high ethical standards and business responsibility?

iii. Does the approach help organisations satisfy customer expectations at a time of growing consumer choice? Is the approach relevant to a digital economy as well as old-fashioned manufacturing?

Recommendations You should make at least two specific recommendations concerning what you think should be done to:

improve the contribution the approach can make to quality management

advise organisations on what to consider when contemplating adopting the approach. These recommendations should follow from the discussion in your analysis.

Conclusion ( word limit 4000)

Decisions involving capital expenditures often require managers to weigh the costs and benefits of different options related to the financing of a project. For instance, deciding when to call a bond before maturity due to changing interest rates can lower the overall cost of a project significantly through refinancing. So, it is important to be able to understand the real interest rate being paid out to your bondholders (yield) at any given time.

For this Assignment, review the information presented in Problem 7-18 on page 267 of your course text. You will utilize the information in this week's readings and media to make a recommendation with regard to when to call a bond.

Prepare a spreadsheet using Excel or a similar program in which you compute the items listed in parts a, b, and d. Be sure to compute the Yield-to-Maturity (YTM) and Yield-to-Call (YTC) for each of years 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Utilizing Word, prepare a written report to your finance director:

Include a detailed explanation of the conclusion you reached concerning whether or not to call the bond before maturity.

If your recommendation is to call the bond early, explain when to call the bond and your rationale.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a long-term loan instead of a bond.

YIELD TO MATURITY AND YIELD TO CALL Kaufman Enterprises has bonds outstanding with a $1,000 face value and 10 years left until maturity. They have an 11% annual coupon payment, and their current price is $1,175. The bonds may be called in 5 years at 109% of face value (Call price =$1,090).

a. What is the yield to maturity?

b. What is the yield to call if they are called in 5 years?

c. Which yield might investors expect to earn on these bonds? Why?

d. The bond’s indenture indicates that the call provision gives the firm the right to call the bonds at the end of each year beginning in Year 5. In Year 5, the bonds may be called at 109% of face value; but in each of the next 4 years, the call percentage will decline by 1%. Thus, in Year 6, they may be called at 108% of face value; in Year 7, they may be called at 107% of face value; and so forth. If the yield curve is horizontal and interest rates remain at their current level, when is the latest that investors might expect the firm to call the bonds?

Imagine the following goal of Lenin/Stalin at the beginning of the Soviet regime in Russia: to overtake (i.e. equal) and surpass the world’s industrialized economies in terms of GDP per capita. To achieve this goal, the main instrument of control is the fraction of national production that is devoted to building the nation’s productive capacity: new machines, factories, transportation equipment, and roads. That is, the main instrument to achieve this goal is what fraction of GDP to devote to investment. The rest of national production is used for consumption, i.e. to produce consumer items like clothing and food. The country begins with relatively little capital, being mostly rural and non-industrialized. Assume each of the following:

• GDP per capita starts in USSR at $300/year.

• The world’s industrialized economies start with GDP per capita of $5000/year.

• Population growth rates are 2% everywhere in the world.

• All capital depreciates at 8% per year.

a. At what average annual rate will income per capita in the USSR have to grow in order to overtake (i.e. to equal) the industrialized nations’ income per capita in exactly 30 years? Assume the industrialized nations’ income per capita is growing at 2% per year.

For the parts below., assume the basic growth framework of Harrod-Domar, and that 1 ruble’s worth of capital always produces 0.5 ruble’s worth of output (i.e. A=0.5). Also, assume inputs are used more efficiently in the industrialized countries, so that A=0.6 there.

b. What fraction of national output must the USSR devote to building new capital goods in order to attain the growth rate of part a.? What fraction would be left for consumer items? [Hint: another word for the fraction of output devoted to building new capital goods is the investment rate, i.e. the ratio It/Yt. And, remember that savings equals investment, so the investment rate equals the savings rate.]

c. At what rate are the industrialized countries saving if they are growing at 2% per year?

d. What would you calculate the ratio of consumption per capita in the USSR to consumption per capita in the industrialized countries when the USSR overtakes the industrialized countries (i.e. when GDP per capita is equal)? Assume the savings rates of parts b. & c. What would the ratio be when the USSR reaches double the industrialized nations’ GDP per capita?

Create a new Java project using NetBeans, giving it the name L-14. In java please

Read and follow the instructions below, placing the code statements needed just after each instruction. Leave the instructions as given in the code.

Declare and create (instantiate) an integer array called List1 that holds 10 places that have the values: 1,3,4,5,2,6,8,9,2,7.

Declare and create (instantiate) integer arrays List2 and List3 that can hold 10 values.

Write a method called toDisplay which will display the contents of the List1 (on one line with spaces between each value)

Write a method called toDisplayWithIndex which will display the contents of the List1 (on separate lines with index, a space, a colon, a space and the value. ( 1 : 3 )

Call the method toDisplay for List1 in the main

Call the method toDisplayWithIndex for List1in the main

Assign the value 15 to the first and 23 to the last elements of the array List1

Display the new contents of the array List1 using your method toDisplay

Write a method called makeRandom which will fill the array with random integers from 1 to 1000.

Invoke makeRandom in the main to adjust List2 with these random values.

Display List2 using toDisplayWithIndex

Write a method called makeWithInput which will fill the array with numbers inputted by the user.

Invoke makeWithInput in the main to load List3

Display the contents of the List3 array using your method toDisplay

Write a method called makeWithIndex which will fill the array List1 with the value of the index (List[0] = 0 List[1] =1 etc )

Invoke makeWithIndex in the main to adjust List1 with these index values.

Invoke toDisplayWithIndex for List1

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Write a method called calcSum that will use a for loop to find and return the sum of all elements in the array

Display the sum for all 3 arrays

Write the method calcAvg which will calculate the average of the array.

Display the average for all 3 arrays

Write a method called getSmallest that will use a loop to find and return the index of the smallest element in the array List2 and List3

Display the index of the smallest element and the value of the smallest element in List2 and List3

Write a method called shuffleArray which will shuffle the values in the array. Use your book as a reference!

Shuffle List1 then call the method toDisplayWithIndex

Write a method called bubbleSort . Use your book as a reference!

Sort List2 then call the method toDisplayWithIndex

Copy your final working output and the source code to a WORD doc.