LONGXI MACHINERY WORKS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
LONGXI MACHINERY WORKS – QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (A) Executive Summary: It is the end of September 1996. LongXi is recognized as an industry leader in quality control and management of manufacturing diesel engines in the Fujian Province (China). ... LongXi currently has a market share of only 4. ... Refer to exhibit 1 for detailed information in terms of LongXi’s market positioning. LongXi realizes that the demand for multi cylinder engines is growing rapidly and in order to gain market share in this market segment it has to produce better quality engines. LongXi has recently identified that it is having quality problems in manufacturing the dual gear shaft (DGS), an important component of the multi cylinder engine, and is in the process of putting a quality group together to identify and recommend a solution for reducing the high defect rate of 44% (occurred on September 1996) for the DGS component. Case Analysis Total Quality Management (TQM) has been used by LongXi for several years. TQM has been responsible for the recognition of LongXi as one of the precursors of quality control in the Fujian Province. LongXi’s approach emphasizes the use of an evolving manual known as “the method” which is based on the structure of ISO 9000 and includes the guidelines and rules for establishing quality improvements and procedures for designing and using quality control groups. LongXi’s approach also includes a quality reward system where employees are rewarded according to the quality of the product manufactured in their respective departments.