Egg Drop Exercise Analysis

Cole Rosenberger

Egg Drop Exercise Analysis

1. What tools did your team use that directly relate to TQM and how did they improve your processes and customer outcomes?

Total quality management and its implementation turned out to be far more difficult than I anticipated. Conceptually, TQM was very logical but the group struggled to make good use of the tools which would have led to a more successful and efficient use of our time. While we did not very effectively map out our plan, we did manage to incidentally make use of TQM tools. Throughout the process, we made use of kaizen blitz, quality circles, check sheets, and guidelines in order to help optimize the process. These were used to varying degrees of success although we had a better grip on the processes by the end of our trials.

When the group first came together to strategize, we dived right into design and did not do a good job of outlining our goal or direction. We each sort of splintered and started to think of what would be the most effective and easily replicable process to protect the egg. This was in effect, a kaizen blitz, in which we rapidly brainstormed and created multiple test models. Unfortunately, the brainstorm involved a lot of testing and less planning, which was pretty costly considering how many eggs were broken. On the other hand, this helped us narrow down what was effective and what was not early on, although improvement on the design and process was not prioritized from that point on.

 Quality circles, the regular meeting and regrouping to solve issues, were created by the breaks we had in between dropping the eggs. During this time, we discussed the issues we were facing in terms of the eggs breaking. Since the first few rounds involved a lot of testing of a few different designs, the result was a lot of broken eggs and frantic redesigning of products. This time did help us to innovate and eventually come to a conclusive design that was relatively effective. Through the next few breaks, we began to hone in on the issues with the design and why we were having so much trouble replicating a design which was consistently effective when done by Sam. As time progressed, we used this time to focus on what worked and how to improve the wrapping process. Realizing the importance of the first layer of padding and the way the egg was dropped, we were able to create some consistency and dependability in our design.

Tracking who was wrapping the eggs, the order, and the success of the wrapping, involved creating a check sheet of sorts. This helped to track who was wrapping the eggs and helped us to see who was doing a poor job. Tracking this helped up the pressure and likely created an incentive to more carefully wrap the egg, given that your name would be listed next to the failed egg. Also, this helped us to keep track of failures and successes and have accurate metrics at the end of each 5-minute period.

Lastly, the tool which really helped solidify the processes and result in 19/20 successes in our last round, was the implementation of developed and clear guidelines. Since the 10-sheet design was decided upon, we had established that the eggs needed to be wrapped with each paper towel on the opposing side of the last paper towel and then placing the rubber band on it to hold it in place. These directions could be followed by everyone with ease but the end results would vary, despite following these directions. As it turns out, these directions were too vague and these processes alone were not sufficient to ensure the eggs safety. More specifically, the egg needed to be wrapped loosely with the paper towels, to ensure sufficient cushion. Additionally, the first layer was key to protecting the egg as it was in direct contact with the egg and this cushioning is what ultimately protected it. Band placement around the equator of the egg ensured the cushioning stayed in place and protected the eggs fragile points. When the directions were clear, the process became more successful and efficient.

1. What other topics in operations and supply chain management came to bear that are not directly part of the TQM content?

Our team made use of several strategies and points of reference from the course in order to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Making use of an assembly line, focusing on our bottlenecks, looking at our resources through the lens of resource dependency theory, and cross-training all came into play when working on this project.

First, in order to speed up the process, we began an assembly line process to wrap eggs, drop them, and do the respective calculations as well as keep track of successes and failures. By segregating the responsibilities and ensuring a just-in-time process, we kept the processes running smoothly with a minimal backlog. Unfortunately, this process involved many eggs breaking and involved us rushing through in order to get the eggs packed and unpacked in a quick manner. While this improved our overall throughput, implementing an assembly line process did not improve the overall quality of the processes.

Given that the time constraint caused a lot of stress and the rushed wrapping caused us to break many eggs, even with our proven method, there was room for improvement. We decided to focus our resources on the bottleneck, which was the process of wrapping the eggs. We needed multiple people on the job to ensure that we could make up for our losses with a large quantity of eggs being delivered. Having four or five people wrapping at a time would ultimately play into the efficiency we attained by the end of our trials.