The Application of Statistical Quality Control Technique in Food and Beverage Industry; A Case Study of Habila Food and Beverages Nigeria Ltd- Kano
CHAPTER ONE
Aim and Objectives of the Study
The principal aim of this project work is to apply SPC as a QC tool to Habila food and beverages Nig. Ltd in order to monitor the volume dispersion in the filling process, thereby reducing the stress of final inspection of products produced. The specific objectives are;
- To establish the upper and lower control limits of machines processing lines using SPC technique as QCtool
- To construct the X – bar and R chart QC charts of the process and then use it to detect or identify the cause of variation (if any) in the production process before they result in defective products
- To profound possible solution to causes of variation identified in (2)above
- To determine and analyze the process capability of the filling process so as to ascertain which of them fills the bottles/containers according to
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATUREREVIEW
Review of Related Literature
In this chapter, the theoretical frame works will be discussed. Area such as quality control and its tools, SPC and some other aspects of quality management system (QMS) will be considered. Moreover, they are presented in order to form a filter through which the empirical work and results will be formed and analyzed.
Although literature in this field „Statistical Process Control‟ here in Nigeria has not been extensively documented according to Akinola (2009), but in as much as meeting up with quality demand is a concerned to every organization, reviewing other peoples‟ progress in this regard will not be a waste. However, doing so will be an eyes opener.
Marilyn and Robert (2007), says the foundation for Statistical Process Control technique as quality control tool was laid by Dr. Walter Shewart who worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1920s when conducting research on methods to improve quality and lower costs. Accordingly, he developed the concept of control with regard to variation, and came up with Statistical Process Control Charts which provide a simple way to determine if the process is in control or not.
Accordingly, Dr. W. Edwards Deming built upon Shewart‟s work and took the concepts to Japan following World War II (WWII). There, Japanese industry adopted the concepts whole-heartedly. The resulting high quality of Japanese products is world- renowned. Dr. Deming is famous throughout Japan as a “God of quality”. Today, SPC is used in manufacturing or a production facility around the world in order to improve the quality service delivery to the customers (Douglass, 2009).
Here in our country Nigeria, this method (SPC) has been used in some industries such as banking, Food manufacturing, and educational sector in order to improve their quality delivery. For instance, Akinola G.O. (2009), examines the characteristics of a good quality service and methods used in controlling quality of service in the Nigerian Banking industry using the technique of quality control. She found out that most banks do not use the QC technique to improve their services to the populace. Based on her finding, she recommended that banks should improve their service delivering system using statistical process control mechanism.
Obadara and Alaka (2013), investigated the impact of accreditation on quality assurance in Nigerian Universities using Statistical Quality Assurance (SQA) technique of quality control. Their findings revealed that there is significant relationship between accreditation and resource input into Nigerian universities, quality of output, quality of process, and no significant relationship between accreditation and quality of academic content. Furthermore, they noted that quality of education could be measured in terms of quality of input, quality of output, quality of content and quality of process. Therefore, these parameters were used by the study to assess quality assurance.
Payam and Reza (2009) use the application of SPC technique to examine the QC in cable industry, a case study of Copper Consumption Reduction in Nexans IKO Sweden. The study find out that the quality of cable products been produced can still be better enhanced. Furthermore, the study recommended that management must make a commitment to understand and reduce all process variation as much as possible in order to improve the quality of the product. Hence, Management must allow the local work force the time to understand process variation and make corrections, when necessary, in order to restore stability-not to just make adjustments to compensate for the lack of stability. These reviews indicate that quality is a concern to everyone, be it an organization (private or public), individual, corporate body. Hence, it worth to look upon quality in order to remain in a competitive market.
The Definition and Dimensions of Quality
Quality can be defined and be viewed in many different ways depending on individual perspectives. Most people have a conceptual understanding of quality as relating to one or more desirable characteristics that a product or service should possess. Quality has become one of the most important consumer decision factors in the selection among competing products and services. The context of quality is vast, regardless of whether the consumer is an individual, or an industrial organization. Consequently, understanding and improving quality are key factors leading to business success, growth, and enhanced competitiveness (Douglas, 2009). The following are the dimensions of quality and some basic terminology commonly used where quality is concerned:
- Performance:(Will the product do the intended job?) Potential customers usually evaluate a product to determine if it will perform certain specific functions and determine how well it performs
- Reliability:(How often does the product fail?) Complex products, such as many appliances, automobiles, or airplanes, will usually require some repair over their service life. For example, you should expect that an automobile will require occasional repair, but if the car requires frequent repair, we say that it is unreliable. There are many industries in which thecustomer‟s view of quality is greatly impacted by the reliability dimension of
- Durability: (How long does the product last?) This is the effective service life of the product. Customers obviously want products that perform satisfactorily over a long period of time. The automobile and major appliance industries are examples of businesses where this dimension of quality is very important to most
- Serviceability: (How easy is it to repair the product?) There are many industries in which the customer‟s view of quality is directly influenced by how quickly and economically are pair or routine maintenance activity can be
- Aesthetics: (What does the product look like?) This is the visual appeal of the product, often taking into account factors such as style, color, shape, packaging alternatives, tactile characteristics, and other sensory
- Features: (What does the product do?) Usually, customers associate high quality with products that have added features; that is, those that have features beyond the basic performance of the
- Perceived Quality:(What is the reputation of the company or its product?) In many cases, customers rely on the past reputation of the company concerning quality of its products. This reputation is directly influenced by failures of the product that are highly visible to the public or that require product recalls, and by how the customer is treated when a quality-related problem with the product is reported. Perceived quality, customer loyalty, and repeated business are closely.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodological approach including empirical and materials used in this research work. The chapter further established all the necessary parameters such as the Mean, Range, construction of charts and Process Capabilities index values (CPk) needed in this work in order to achieve the stated objectives.
Items Used
The following items were used in the course of this research work;
- Raw data from primary source (the company)
- Microsoft suite(excel)
- Calculator
- Already established factors table for three sigma control limits byASTM
Data Collection
Due to the nature of this project work being an applied research work, the accuracy of the data would go a long way to help reduce the error that might have occurred in the course of data collection and hence, the accuracy of data will give confidentiality of the results. It is of this view that the method of data collection for this research work be primary source i.e. directly from the company. Although, data collected for this work has been attached as appendix, however, all the necessary data for this research work have been extracted from the appendices for usage in this chapter.
CHAPTER FOUR
DISCUSSIONOF RESULTS
Table 3.1 and 3.2 shows the quality control data collated from quality control department of the company. The former gives the volume of Can fillers calibrated at specification limit of 18.51cl minimum with a maximum target of 19.0cl for Can filler, while the latter was calibrated at specification limit of 32.5cl minimum with a maximum target of 33.0cl for bottle fillers. Observations were made on the machines from numbering 1 to 5 and 6 to 9 for Can fillers and Bottle fillers respectively. The detail of the tables has been attached in form of appendix for further referencing.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The concept of Quality management has been taught to be a hub or core value of every organization wishes to remain in the competitive market either at the process level, the services or the products, because when customers get maximum satisfaction with good product or services, the organization tends to stand above others. Experience has clearly demonstrated that quality is one of the most important factors for business success and growth. Hence, it is important that the issue of quality is taken seriously by every individual and organization alike. According to research, Statistical quality control provides the statistical techniques necessary to assure and improve the quality of products. Based on this view, this project work is carried out on Habila Foods and Beverages Nigeria Limited using statistical technique to check-mate their production (filling) process in order to draw necessary conclusion. The research work is based on materials taught in a Master-level course titled Quality Control, Reliability and Ergonomics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria -Nigeria. To achieve the set up objectives of this work, quality control data was collated from the Quality Control department of the organization; and thereafter, statistical approach was used to analyze the data, starting from establishment of control limits to construction of charts for visual purposes.
Conclusion
Based on the findings in this Project work, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- The control limits for Can and Bottle filling processes was able to be established from the collated data using statisticaltechnique
- The X-bar (means) and R-charts (ranges) we reconstructed using the control limits established
- The process capability of the processes and its index were also
In conclusion, the X-bar charts for both Can and Bottle fillers shows that there is no points lie outside the established limits, which further implies that the processes are within the specifications, capable of producing brim filled products i.e. minimum and maximum targets. In other hands, R-charts for bottle also show no point outside the established limits, which is a confirmative to X-bar charts. However, R-charts for Can fillers shows otherwise, hence, out of control sample be subjected to monitoring process. The process capability index established indicates that the processes are capable of filling the products to specifications.
Recommendations
The researcher strongly recommends based on the finding and analysis carried out in this research work that:
- Quality control research work should be extended to other section of the organization aside the filling process e.g. the production process, delivery process
- Since the causes of variation as established by this project work shown by R-charts can be attributed to assignable cause, it is therefore recommended that the operators and personnel should be well trained, educated and sensitized so as to sustain the quality of their
- Out of control samples as shown by R-charts which are due to assignable causes should be subjected to process monitoring and be fixappropriately
- . Management, staff and individual of the organization should be sensitize, enlighten on how important is the concept of quality to their organization performance in the competitive market by taking quality control courses on scheduling
REFERENCES
- Akinola G. O (2009). Quality Control of Services in the Nigerian Banking Industry. African Research Review, an International Multi-disciplinary Journal, Ethiopia. Vol.3. ISSN 1994-9057, pp 181-203
- Chandra M.J. (2001). Statistical Quality Control. CRC Press LLC Corporate, Boca Ratton, Florida. Retrieved from http//www.crcpress.com on 25/04/2014
- Douglas C.M (2009). Introduction to Statistical Quality Control. Six edition. ISSN: 978-0- 470-16992-6
- Garvare, R. (2002). Process Management and Sustainable Development in a Quality.
- Perspective. Retrieved from http//www.stat-quality_pdf on 12–06-2014 International Standard of Organization for Quality Management (ISO), (2005). Quality Assurance Vs Quality Control. Retrieved from http//www.iso_qm.org/pdf on 23/05/2014
- Marilyn K.H and Robert F.H. (2007). Introduction to Statistical Process Control.
- Techniques. Retrieved from http//www.spcoreview_mgt.pdf on 21-06-2014
- Moore F.P (2008). Statistical Process Control on Production Processes. Retrieved from http//www.morpf_spc/com-pdf on 30/06/2014
