Apple Inc.

Introduction
In a day, over the globe approximately 20 faulty consumer products not units but actual products, which could possibly be harmful to consumers were isolated as of 2013. The pie charts below constructed using data from the US Consumers Product Safety Commission shows the distribution of faulty products identified and recalled over the globe in 2013. India contributed to a small percentage of the whole with only 61 faulty products and Germany with its excellent practices in Quality management had only 30 faulty products. Japan on the other hand has a larrger number than Indias. One can always argue that it is more important to check the ratio of number of faulty products to the total nnumber of products launched before reaching conclusions of Quality standards.This is just to get a general picture of what the current market scenario for product anomailies is like.

Number of Product Recalls by Country of Origin

70 61 30 3061 2,124 685
Germany Japan India United States China Other

Number of Recalls by Product Category

43 509 846 889
Home Products Child Products (not including toys)

1541

Toys Sports and Recreation Products

1267

Outdoor Products Specialty Products

An Investopedia definition of Product Recall the process of retrieving defective goods from consumers and providing those consumers with compensation. Recalls often occur as a result of safety concerns over a manufacturing defect in a product that may harm its user. Besterfield speaks of Product Recall as a measure taken by companies to show sensitivity to market often. Many companies do have faulty product lines but some companies do recall

their products just to ensure the best is delivered to their customers lest the product should fail. Such companies generally charge a premium for their product but ensure the end user never suffers failure or hazard due to product malfunction. As per the United States Consumers Product Safety Commission, The various products that are found faulty and cause harm to the consumer must be recalled. Certain guidelines have been laid down by this authority for the safety of consumers. The need for recall is determined by the Class of hazard the product poses. Class A: Hazard Exists when a risk of death or grievous injury or illness is likely or very likely, or serious injury or illness is very likely. Class A hazards warrant the highest level of attention. They call for a company to take immediate, comprehensive, and expansive corrective action measures to identify and notify consumers, retailers and distributors having the defective product and to remedy the defect through repair or replacement of the product, refunds, or other measures Class B: Hazard Exists when a risk of death or grievous injury or illness is not likely to occur, but is possible, or when serious injury or illness is likely, or moderate injury or illness is very likely. Class C: Hazard Exists when a risk of serious injury or illness is not likely, but is possible, or when moderate injury or illness is not necessarily likely, but is possible. Regardless of whether a product defect is classified as a Class A, B, or C priority hazard, the common element is that each of these defects creates a substantial product hazard that requires corrective action to reduce that risk of injury. The product comes under question after consumers begin to lodge complaints regarding harm caused by the product or failure that occurred due to which the product stopped functioning. Such products are then put under the microscope and the analysis is done as to what degree of hazard they pose. Putting together a Corrective Action Plan A. Preparing For a Product Recall B. Communicate the specific purpose of the Recall and thus cautioning the consumer through different media C. Process of the Recall: 1. to locate all defective products as quickly as possible; 2. to remove defective products from the distribution chain and from the possession of consumers; and 3. to communicate accurate and understandable information in a timely manner to the public about the product defect, the hazard, and the corrective action continuously through the recall process. Companies should design all informational material to motivate retailers and media to get the word out and consumers to act on the recall. D. Ensure the consumer is safe and satisfied at the end of the process. The brand loyalty remains untarnished by this process and this helps maintain market standing.

The Problem

On 27/7/2011, all 2009-11 Apple iMac owners received a mail stating the below. Being a part of the recall, I got this email too. Below is a snapshot of the mail received.

Fig. Screenshot of the Apple Email with instructions for the recall.

Apple sources its rotating hard disks from SeagateTechnolgy PLC. A batch of hard disks obtained from this company showed heating problems which led to failure of the product. This would mean the consumer would lose all his on disk data. Complaints began piling up. Apple replaces any hardware that causes problems during the warranty period. The company offers two warranty schemes. Each product purchased has one year international warranty and at the end of this free warranty period, the consumer can go in for a Protection Plan which is for 3 years priced variably based on the product to be protected. An iMac Protection Plan costs Rs. 11000.

The details of the problem: The hard disk would show Apple Hardware Test = FAIL due to thermal sensor failure. After startup, the HDD fan would start to ramp up from the 1100RPM base and into the 5600RPM range as reported by SMCFanControl. This didnt happen instantly, but over the course of 30-40 minutes typically. Within just a couple minutes though, the fan speed would be up over 2500RPM and its a steady rise from there before the peak.

Apple didnt make any barrier with the 2010 (or 2009) models with that respect, the barrier to plug & play drive options in this case is a lack of industry drive standards on the extra drive pins

The Solution
Apple does not have service sentres of their own in India.They have outsoured this activity to Maple Digital Technology International Pvt. Ltd. Apple had a question to answer- whether to let more hard drives fail and treat each case as a separate one or address the matter by shipping hard disk units to every service centre in proximity to the consumers and announce a product recall. In July 2007, Apple created the webpage http://www.apple.com/in/support/imac-harddrive/ where customers who received the email or news from Apple Geniuses at Apple stores would go and register their product for a hard disk replacement. Apple would thenn confirm their request and they could go to their nearest service centre with this confirmation letter and avail the replacement. Data back up was a problem left to the consumer to handle. They would have to leave their iMac for 2 to 3 days with th e service centre after which they would get a fresh wiped computer. Apple quietly extended its iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program through April 12, 2013. This also lead to a support industry which offered to conduct the recall and also back up the data for a monetary fee. Like at this link http://www.designwyse.com.au/dwcontent/service/APPLE%20HD%20IMAC%20PROGRAM.pdf

In Apples situation, the chances were greater that the problem would extend to their entire iMac customer base from 2009-11. An External Cost was to be borne come what may. The aim now was to save the brand name. The customers of Apple are used to superior quality. Apple is a company that follows Jurans trilogy of Quality Planning, Quality Control and Quality Improvement. The design of Apples products aligns with every detail spoken by Juran on Quality Planning. They would indulge in better Quality control but the parts are sourced from vendor across the globe. Quality Control often depends on Statistical Quality Control which involves human intervention and is not entirely fool proof or corruption proof. This causes inconsistency in Quality of parts. In todays technology market where each company designs products with a thought of planned obsolescence, the difficulty is to ensure the grade of quality the whole product should have. The Quality Improvement phase is ensured by Apple using Customer satisfaction programs and by constantly evaluating and releasing newer versions of their products.

Conclusion
What are the lessons for us to learn and improve? Are there some patterns that need to be drastically altered? Should there be a change in the entire process

References
Total Quality Management by DaleBesterfeld and Family.

http://www.apple.com/in/support/imac-harddrive/ http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/10/hard-drive-replacement-program-now-covers-imacssold-from-2009-2011/

http://blog.macsales.com/10206-further-explained-apples-imac-2011-model-hard-driverestrictions http://www.tuaw.com/2012/10/20/hard-drive-recall-emails-going-out-to-owners-of-1tbimacs/ http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2012/10/imac_seagate_drive_recall_email.jpg http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/product_recall.asp http://www.statisticbrain.com/product-recall-statistics/ http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/123357/2011rpt.pdf http://www.designwyse.com.au/dwcontent/service/APPLE%20HD%20IMAC%20PROGRAM.pdf http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/imac_21.5inch_per_may2011.pdf http://rmug.org/z-transport/previous/12_12_NL.pdf http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/106141/8002.pdf