Running Head: Kibby & Strand Root Cause Analysis
Kibby and Strand Root Cause Analysis
Tory Davila
MBA576
20 February 2018
Kibby & Strand Root Cause Analysis
Abstract
Kibby & Strand has recently seen an increase in customer complaints regarding poor product
quality. Manufacturing defects such as off-sized socks and less than desired stitching on t-shirts,
has triggered complaints among paying customers, that seem to not be getting the quality or type
of product they expected from their purchase. In this plan I will describe how Kibby & Strand
could conduct an efficient root cause analysis in order to identify the source of said defects and
lack of quality standards to mitigate and prevent customer dissatisfaction.
Root Cause Analysis Plan
Products purchased by customers must be of the upmost quality and in-line with
customer expectations, and in order to do this, the team must have a good collective
understanding of which and how these products are made. Along with this all employees must be
quality managers in their own sense, in order to create a communal effort that focuses on quality,
regardless of who’s process, or which step the product may be in. In order to conduct an
effective root cause analysis, we must pay close attention to what the customer is trying to tell us
and evaluate every step of the process in order to succeed where we are falling short. As a
company we need to focus on areas where complaints are originating from the most, in order to
eliminate these single points of failure leading to sub-par products. Many factors and process
step could potentially be the cause of these discrepancies; therefore, it is crucial to identify if
defects are due to equipment, poor material quality, or simply lack of attention by operators
manufacturing these t-shirts.
I believe a series of close observations on production operations would be a good way to
start looking into this problem, while also surveying and analyzing raw material quality on new
Kibby & Strand Root Cause Analysis
and arriving batches for diminished quality or authenticity. While all this is taking place, we
should also focus on machinery and equipment settings and performance to verify that these
manufacturing machines are operating correctly and are rendering product of desired quality,
since in my experience, at times it is not always something intentional that is causing the
problem and these types of equipment problems can be very hard to detect if one stops
scrutinizing final product for quality standards ("Getting to the root cause of a quality problem",
2015).
Last, but not least, a thorough discussion and survey with operators using these machines
every day, can provide valuable insight from experts that use these machines daily. In my
experience, the voice and input of seasoned operators renders solutions a lot faster than other
methods, since they are the ones whom know these processes the best, first hand. Collectively, I
believe these observations should reveal the true root cause of ill-fitting socks and poor t-shirt
stitching, but after this it will be up to us to maintain quality and prevent standards from falling
back into a place that brings a multitude of complaints and dissatisfied customers.
Kibby & Strand Root Cause Analysis
DATE: February 20th , 2019.
TO: Frederick Douglas; Operations Management, Kibby and Strand
FROM: Tory Davila; Production Management, Kibby and Strand
Subject: Plan of Action to Mitigate sub-standard Final Product Quality and Customer
Complaints
After reviewed the provided article, I am prepared to address our recent quality
challenges, by implementing the strategy and surveillance noted below, in order to achieve
desired customer feedback and regain a reputation of providing high quality products.

Each employee must act as a quality supervisor. Each employee must begin to
responsibility for products made and identify defects immediately. Simple because a
product is not yours, or is not at your step of the process, does not mean that defects
found should be ignored, this synergy will collectively ensure every employee is a quality
gatekeeper.

Increased training and understanding from employees about what the customers’ needs
truly are. By encouraging employees to learn and understand the product we are
providing, and what the customer wants, we will enable individual employees with the
knowledge to stop a process or identify defects on the spot, while engraining a sense of
increased pride into what they do day-to-day.

Identify and address areas of weakness immediately upon identification through incentive
programs. By incentivizing employees to find quality pitfalls, we trigger the desire of
every employee to find one of these discrepancies, which in turn will provide
management with the opportunity to correct it immediately and eliminate another point of
failure within production. This one is one of my favorites, since this will make employees
themselves eager to find a defect in leu of the incentive, which in turns makes them more
vigilant and aware of quality.
Kibby & Strand Root Cause Analysis
These tactics combined will ensure maximum vigilance among employees while also elevating employee
knowledge on products and product delivery expectations. Through teamwork and a well-trained staff, we
can eliminate this program, while also making employees feel more connected to the company mission
and future goals.
References
Getting to the root cause of a quality problem. (2015, August 29). Retrieved February 20, 2019,
from https://qualityinspection.org/root-of-quality-problems/