Everyone who has faced a production problem with a need to solve the problem 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).
Situation
In the May Brain Teaser, Felix and his Six Sigma Project team began working on a project to address customer complaints. Parts had been returned because they could not be assembled correctly. After mapping the process, Felix discovered problems with the data that were collected when the length of pieces at the sawing step were measured. In particular, the operators were using a gage that measured lengths to the nearest 32nd of an inch, but specifications were written to I0.015 inch. With a different gage, Felix collected data and discovered that the sawing process produced piece lengths that were predictable, but not capable of meeting the customer's specifications.