Scenario Extrude-rite Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial machinery and components for the plastics industry, has recently had several instances of quality problems with their products. These have occurred both before and after product shipment. In a meeting that the President of Extrude-rite has called on the topic with her direct reports, she tells them that she isn’t sure whether they as an organization really have a clear, agreed-upon definition of what quality is at Extrude-rite. She tells them that she believes they must have this agreed-upon definition before they can move any further forward toward quality improvement. She asserts that they must develop this definition because customers are getting upset and rework costs are way too high. She also thinks that if they can come up with the right definition, it could be a competitive advantage for Extrude-rite. She assigns them to come back next week with some ideas and they will hammer out a common definition of quality for Extrude-rite. Your Role You will play the role of a consultant. You will put forth suggested solutions for the problem that Extrude-rite is requesting a clear definition of quality for their organization. Key Players Shelly Comstock (President): Team, we have recently experienced a rash of quality issues and I, for one, believe we need to finally get our quality management reinvigorated. But first, I think it is very important that we all agree on a definition of quality. Titus Silver (Production manager): Shelly, I appreciate your concerns and agree that we need to improve in all areas of our quality management. We in manufacturing certainly could benefit from any improvement because there is nothing more disruptive to our operation than having to do things twice! I think that if we could upgrade our equipment in some critical areas, we could hold many closer tolerances and eliminate the machine malfunctions that have contributed to some of our scrap and rework costs. Concerning the definition that you want, it obviously needs to include conformance to engineering specifications. We could certainly come a lot closer to those specs on a more consistent basis with some new equipment. And one other point I would like to add is that some of these engineering designs are really difficult to machine! James, is there anything you can do to get your engineers out on the shop floor more often to see what we in production have to go through? It would also help if we could get human resources to support us in taking disciplinary action when our operators and mechanics make some of these dumb mistakes! Anyway, I will give some thought to a definition that works for Extrude-rite. Jones Sylvia (Sale and marketing Manager): Thank you, Shelly, for bringing this issue of quality to the forefront. My sales and marketing people receive the brunt of the customers’ dissatisfaction when one of our products or services does not meet with their expectations. Why, the other day, one of my salespeople had to endure a long tirade from one of our main customers about how a component we shipped to her just 3 months ago broke after just 100 hours of use! You know how word of those kinds of events gets around in this industry! It makes me worry about our future in this increasingly competitive environment! And I don’t know if it really fits in this discussion, but they are getting upset about our long lead times and delivery reliability too! Anyway, I will give this some more thought and let you know what I think we should have for a definition of quality. I really think we need to focus on what our customers want! Fred Funston (Planning Manager): Well, I know everybody blames me for the problems with delivery reliability. The fact that our customer demand is so erratic and we can’t get much information from sales and marketing on what is coming down the pike doesn’t help. But back to the quality issue, it would make our planning group’s job a lot easier if we could cut down on this scrap and rework, not to mention the machine breakdowns! The fact that our processes are not as reliable as they should be contributes to all these problems, including quality! Titus, what are you doing about getting some reliable processes out there on the shop floor? The current situation is driving my planners and me crazy! James Cranston (Engineering and Quality Manager): Hey, team, I hear you and the pain you are experiencing. Shelly, I want to add my thanks for bringing this to a head. Ever since I accepted the additional job of quality improvement manager a few months ago, I have been asking for more resources in the way of inspectors. This would help us get a handle on our supplier’s quality issues too. I know there is more to the quality problem we have than just a lack of inspectors, but until we can start getting to some root causes, we need to stop the bleeding! I know budgets are tight, but if we don’t get this quality issue under control, our customers are going to go elsewhere! Activity After Reviewing the Scenario, Your Role and both of the the Key Players sections, formulate your recommendations in 4 to 5 paragraph