Question

For the next question, indicate the most appropriate six-sigma tool. Explain why you selected this tool and indicate what you would expect that tool to reveal. (5 points each)

1. A t-shirt manufacturer is interested in investigating sources of shirt defects. The manufacturer has identified the various types of defects and would like to prioritize improvement projects.

Answer 1

(a): As this case involves investigating the sources of shirt defects I will recommend using a ‘cause-and-effect analysis’ combined with ‘Pareto Chart’. It will help in identifying the various types of defects. The management, in this case, has already identified the various types of defects and so the cause and effect analysis will enable us to determine the major reasons behind the defects and what are causing them. This analysis will help to determine the nature of the defects and the steps that will have to be implemented to remove the defects or to rectify them. Once the defects have been identified and analyzed they can then Pareto Chart can be used to prioritize the improvement projects. Priority will be given to those sources of defects that have the highest frequency of defects or that leads to the maximum number of defects.

As the various types of defects have already been identified we can simply use the ‘Pareto Chart’ tool to prioritize improvement projects.