Assignment 1 _Case 3 _Managing Supplier Quality _Integrated Devices

The local buyer announced he was having difficulty resolving the problem and asked for support from the corporate commodity team. The buyer said, “You corporate guys se- lected this supplier that we all have to use. The least you can do is to help us out of the jam your supplier choice is causing” The buyer’s comment surprised Bill, although Bill would soon come to understand that plant personnel resented not being able to select their own suppliers. After investigating the problem during a tension-filled meeting with Plant No. 3 per- sonnel, Bill determined he would have to visit the supplier directly. He would work with Trexler’s process engineers to address the manufacturing variability caused by the noncon- forming component. Bill went back and reviewed his team’s actions when selecting a single supplier to provide an entire family of plastic-injected moldings. Trexler had quoted the lowest price of all competing suppliers and had provided sam- ples that passed Integrated Devices’ engineering tests. Upon his arrival at the supplier, Bill learned that Trexler did not have a dedicated process engineer. One engineer, Steve Smith, was responsible for plant layout, process, quality, and industrial engineering. This individual, who was hired only two months previously, was still becoming familiar with Trexler’s procedures. When Bill asked to review the supplier’s quality control procedures, Steve had to ask several people before he could locate Trexler’s procedures manual. Bill decided that his first step should be to understand the process responsible for producing the defective component. At an afternoon meeting, Bill asked Steve for actual output data from Trexler’s process. Steve explained they did not collect data for process capability studies or for statistical control charting of continuous production. However, he did say that sometimes “things don’t seem to be operating well” with the equipment