Management Information Systems

Fall 2014
Section 705
Stephen Vyskocil

Stephen.Vyskocil@gmail.com
Can You Hear Me Now?
I.
Statement of Problem (Description)
Hearing aid manufacturer Starkey Inc. is a leading manufacturer in the
industry. Hearing value through operational efficiency. They are concerned that
the number of defective products has a negative impact on their overall
profitability. To determine what is causing the defects, they are focusing on
employee error, machine error and batch size. To determine the correlation
between these sets of data the assortment of pivot tables is being used.
The following tables display data sorted into what is believed to be meaningful
categories. This data will be used to support or discredit various assumptions.
II.
Assumptions
We are assuming that some employees may be more productive than others.
Were also assuming that later batch sizes may lead to more product defects.
And finally, we are assuming that certain pieces of equipment, or in other words
certain machines, may be mechanically limited and produce more defective
products (or may be in need of repair.)
III.

Screen Information

1. Employee
Sum of NUM
DEFECTIVE
Row Labels
1111
2222
3333
4444
5555
Grand Total

Total
141
210
160
156
136
803

2. Machine
Sum of NUM
DEFECTIVE
Row Labels
5
6
7
8
Grand Total

Total
143
220
276
164
803

3. Batch Size
Sum of NUM
DEFECTIVE
Row Labels
500
1000
5000
10000
Grand Total

Total
178
179
207
239
803

4. Product
Sum of NUM
DEFECTIVE
Row Labels
10
20
30
Grand Total

Total
259
234
310
803

Row
Labels
1111
2222
3333
4444
5555
Grand
Total

Row Labels
5
6
7
8
Grand Total

IV.

Values
Sum of
Sum of NUM
BATCH SIZE
DEFECTIVE
26500
26000
32500
12500
21500
119000
Values
Sum of BATCH

Sum
of NUM
SIZE
DEFECTIVE
16000
23500
48000
31500
119000

76
65
57
36
47
281

49
72
92
68
281

Analysis (Rationale for number of acceptable/unacceptable

rejects)
Smallest batch size produced the most defects per 100,
54 defects on a 500 batch
The largest batch size produced the fewest defects per
100, and that was 103 defects on a 10,000 batch size

Employee 4444 had the fewest defects at 36, working

well on machines 5 and 6
Employee 1111 had the most defects at 76, while most
productive on machine 7
Machine 5 had the fewest defects at 49
Machine 7 had the most defects at 92, yet remained the
most efficient piece of equipment
Employee 3333 was the most productive and had the
fewest defects per 100 of batch size
Employee 4444 had the fewest defects total but was also
the least productive based on batch size
Employee 1111 had the most defects total but was also
the 2nd most productive based on batch size

V.
Conclusions & Recommendations
In conclusion we found that employees can be both productive and efficient,
in that they may produce a high number of products with the fewest defects. It is
not apparent that certain machines cause a problem, nor does the data support
hiring new employees. The cost of hiring new employees is always greater than
maintaining existing ones.
Our recommendation is cross-training employees, allowing more flexibility
and security for the company, something that you can have ready to go if your
stats/data show a decline, a.k.a. pull the lever. It insures the business has a
staff that is situated to cover each other for specialized functions. It also creates
more buy-in from the employees if they feel they are part of a high functioning
team. Assessing workflows and standardizing processes should result in a more
consistent product. Both employee education and their input is important to
production. The more skilled employees can train the less skilled employees in
an effort to reduce overall product defects, improve product output and increase
profit margins.