PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF IMPLIMENTING STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL FOR IMPROVING QUALITY: THE CASE OF MOHA SOFT DRINKS INDUSTRY

Abstract

In order to survive in a competitive market, improving quality and productivity of product or process is a must for any company. The principal aim of this study is about identifying the practices and challenges of a company in applying statistical process control (SPC) tools in the production processing line and on final product in order to improve the quality of the product and suggesting appropriate solution for the challenges. The approach used in this study is direct observation, thorough examination of production process lines, and information has been collected from managements, quality department and from company’s workers working in the area of production process through interview and questionnaire. Pareto chart/analysis and control chart was constructed in order to prioritize the major defects occurred and to suggest a suitable control limits for some variables. From the analysis of the data, it has been found that the company has many practices like usage of control charts, Usage of computerized technology for data recording, usage of calibrated measuring devices, Planning for quality improvement, Presence of in house technical staff experts and setting definition for quality are in use in the organization etc. and challenges specifically like there is lack of higher management support, lack of team working, lack training etc. If a statistical process control practices are employed effectively, it could improve the quality of the product and overall organizational performance by knowing the customer requirement and meeting them. Even if the company has many constraints to implement all suggestion for improvement within short period of time, but it is important to give training for employs and management commitment is important and the company recognized that the suggestion will provide significant productivity improvement in the long run.