MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing

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PowerPoint Problems
Chapter 13

Bonus Case Study of
Welz Business Machines
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Problem Statement
Welz Business Machines sells and services
copiers, computers, and other office equipment.
The company receives many calls daily for
service, sales, accounting, and other depart-
ments. Calls are handled through customer
service representatives and are routed to other
individuals as appropriate. Customers complained
about long waits when calling for service, and a
market research study found that customers
became irritated if the call was not answered
within five rings, or they were placed on hold for
long periods.
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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The Data
Over a two week period, the staff at Welz
collected data on the frequencies of reasons
why some callers had to wait. The results
showed:

Reasons Total Number
Operators short-staffed 172
Receiving party not present 73
Customer dominates conversation 19
Lack of operator understanding 61
Other reasons 10
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Analysis


The case narrative indicates that there are
multiple causes for the problem, suggesting
that a Cause-Effect (fishbone) diagram
should be constructed.

The data show a pattern that could bear
analysis using a Pareto diagram, shown
below
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Analysis
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Analysis
WELZ BUSINESS MACHINES
TELEPHONE WAITING TIME CATEGORIES
AND PERCENTAGES
Percent Cumulative % Frequency
No operator 51.34% 51.34% 172
No call rcvr. 21.79% 73.13% 73
No understnd. 18.21% 91.34% 61
Customer 5.67% 97.01% 19
Other 2.99% 100.00% 10
Total 335
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Pareto Chart for Welz Business Machines
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
No operator No call rcvr. No
understnd.
Customer Other
Defect Categories
P
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r
c
e
n
t

W
i
t
h
i
n

D
e
f
e
c
t

C
a
t
e
g
o
r
y
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
C
u
m
u
l
a
t
i
v
e

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
Percent
Cumulative %
Analysis
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Conclusions



The Pareto diagram shows:
Two major categories operator
short-staffed and no call receiver
account for 73.1% of complaints

The C-E diagram shows factors relating
to each of the above causes.

Conclusion: Root cause is poor staffing
and method of communication with sales
people
MANAGING FOR QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE, 7e, 2008 Thomson Higher Education Publishing
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Recommendations
Bring in extra phone representatives for
peak times
Stagger lunch breaks for phone reps
Cross-train sales reps on all products
Schedule each sales rep to be on call at
certain times of the day
Give reps a pager or cellphone to allow
them to be contacted more easily