Walter Honcho, VP-Manufacturing

Walter Honcho, VP-Manufacturing
Walter Honcho has been with Etcetera for ten years. He was hired in his present position from
a position as senior manufacturing engineer. Walter is a mechanical engineer by education,
and has an MBA that he earned part-time while working several years ago. He is in his late
40’s, and appears to be in good physical condition. A potentially significant fact is that Walter
Honcho was responsible for the design of much of Etcetera’s production processes; he may
take suggestions for improvement as implied criticisms of his design.
His office is down the hall from Irving Magnate’s, nearer the production area. Irving
Magnate introduces you to Walter Honcho in his office. It is clear from the introduction that
Magnate and Honcho have discussed the purpose of the visit. Magnate leaves, Honcho
returns to his desk, and you take a seat across from him. Honcho begins by asking “How can
I help you in your project?”
“Well, I am in the initial data collection stage of the project. My team will be conducting a
study on quality improvement over the next few weeks. We will be looking at your processes,
procedures, and overall quality assessment. Our objective is to work with you to identify
potential quality improvements in your products. My starting point is to interview some key
people, beginning with you. What is your assessment of quality?”
“I think our quality is pretty good. It wasn’t always, but we have made some good progress.
Our production machinery is in good shape. Most of it was developed here, and we
understand our processes well. As with most companies, we have had vendor problems and
training problems. Our plant foreman and quality manager have worked with our people and
our suppliers, and the results have been good. In fact, I think our quality is among the best in
our business.”
“Do you have any data on your quality history?”
“Yes, I had John Loomer, our quality manager, put together a summary on both defects
and complaints. We inspect our product before packaging, and keep track of defects. Of
course all defective items are replaced, so we are confident that what we ship is good. Still,
it is good to know where our defectives come from. Here is a table of defects found in final
inspection, based on the last six months of operation. I think these numbers show that our 6
processes are working and our inspection is pretty good. I can tell you that, from my contacts
with other companies in our business, our internal quality is very good. It has improved quite
a bit since I hired John; we had some problems in assembly and engraving that have almost
been completely eliminated.”
Honcho hands you a typewritten memo from Loomer. It contains two tables, one
summarizing internal defects and another summarizing external complaints.
“I notice that you also have some data on customer complaints. Have these been
improving as well?”
“Yes, but not as much. Of course customers don’t always look for the same things that we
do, and as our costs increased a little we found that customers got a little more ‘picky’. Still,
we have improved there, especially in our counts and shipping dates. Our process related
quality has been perceived as very good by our customers, but we have had to work on
shipping and delivery. I worked with Fred Doit, the plant foreman, on some production control
problems to help those problems.”
“I would appreciate having a copy of this, if I may.”
“You can keep that one.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the background I have gotten from you and Mr. Magnate, and
with your permission I would like to continue my interviews. You mentioned Mr. Doit and Mr.
Loomer; I would certainly like to talk to them. I would also like to speak with some experienced
line workers.”
“There are two people you should talk to. Edith Scriptus is a lead engraver. She
supervises our custom product section, and has a very good working knowledge of input
processes in both plastics and metal. Our most experienced press operator is Jim Bob
Twister. He has been with us for a long time, and has the best knowledge of our press and
die operations in the plant. I will call ahead and tell them to expect you, if that would help.”
“Yes, it would. I would also like one additional favour. If you have an empty or idle office
where I can leave my briefcase and work on notes without getting in anyone’s way, I would
appreciate using it.”
“There is an empty conference room just down the hall. If you don’t have any more
questions, I can take you there.”
“Thanks. I appreciate your time. I might need to clarify some points later, but you have
helped a great deal already.”