Anyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve it by using production data can relate to the notion of a brain teaser. The brain teasers presented here are based on real-world situations encountered by workers in manufacturing environments. The brain teasers have three parts: (1) the situation, (2) available data or other supporting information and (3) questions that various workers need answered for continual improvement.
Juan manages the department that handles all returns, replacements and repairs. He is under pressure to reduce the costs in his department. These costs include labor, new units from production and some materials for repairs. To study the costs in detail, Juan has decided to focus on the time to find and repair returned units, the percentage of returned units that cannot be repaired and the number of new units used for returns. His challenge is to minimize the costs associated with his department while providing the best customer service.