Babson Case Number: BAB094 | Length: 11 Pages

Abstract

KomTek (C) describes the deliberations of a problem solving team at a prosthetic hip manufacturer. The company has introduced a slight modification in one it its existing products and thus experiencing difficulty in the manufacturing process. This is resulting in higher scrap and quality problems and hence lower than expected price-cost ratios for that product. The problem solving team is digging through its cost-accounting system and the data from the plant-floor, looking for causes for problems. In addition to the numbers, the team is also closely looking into each step of the production process that might be contributing to the problems.

A complete analysis of this segment of the case will include both the quantitative (cost accounting and quality data) and the qualitative (policies and procedures) aspects of the production process.

This case is used in an integrated Operations Management / Managerial Accounting / Organizational Behavior undergraduate class and a stand-alone Operations Management class at the graduate level. It is ideally taught in the Quality or TQM module / segment of the course. Students should have some basic statistics knowledge prior to doing this case.