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 that are 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 want answered for continual improvement. Recommended solutions follow in the next issue and on the Web at Quality Online (www.qualitymag.com).
Production Line 1 appears to be running smoothly, but Production Line 2 has had trouble with the final assembly of the internal frames for these tents. Travis decided to start by checking to see how the lengths of frame sections made on each production line compared to specifications. The desired Cpk is 1.33.