Case Example

Essays on Case Assignment Supervisor] Cascade Seating Executive Summary Cascade Seating recently lost one of their most prime customers, General Motors, due to some appalling quality control practices. The company conducted a thorough inspection and realized that there were a number of faults within production practices and quality control methods. In addition, the machinery used for production was also not working at optimal levels. The company was facing downgrade by its major buyer which could affect its business in the future. This report has looked at some of the short comings in relation to the quality control procedures and recommendations have been provided in relation to short comings identified. It has been noted that there are four main areas which require attention, which include material quality, cutting, sewing and inspection. Fish Bone Quality Costs by Category    Prevention Assessment Internal Failure External Failure Total Material                Inspection 22000          22000 Defects          3920 3920 Material Returned          25000 25000 Subtotal             50920 Sewing                Sewers sewed material incorrectly 7400 36975    44375 Sewing machine calibrations off    17748    17748 Rework 8200          8200 Poor Seaming       17360    17360 Training 1188          1188 Subtotal             88871 Cutting                Cutter cut machine incorrectly 5500 41412    46912 Cutting machine calibrations off    23664    23664 Pattern was incorrect       14790    14790 Dull blades on the cutting machine    13311    13311 Poor Fit       34720    34720 Training 2900          2900 Subtotal             136297 Quality Control                Incoming Inspection 54000          54000 Pattern Making 12000          12000 Final Inspection 114000          114000 Managers Salary 31000          31000 Subtotal             211000 Total             487088 Quality Control Department The performance of the current quality control department is not up to the mark. Majority of the quality control department’s focus is on inspecting the final product. The inspection department and pattern making were not given high priorities. This allowed mistakes to go unchecked within the production of seat covers. The analysis of the department’s performance saw that approximately nine officials were given the duty of inspecting the final product whereas there were two and one officials working for inspection and pattern making department. Evaluation of Current Cost Accounting The current cost accounting system has a number of short comings. From technical aspect, the cost accounting system should provide a company with data that aids it in its decision making process and helps understand what elements affect cost of the company. This would require collection of date to be collected from different business units of an organization and then assimilation of data to generate useful information for decision making. From a behavioural point of view, it helps evaluate the characteristics of the business or its products or services that are most valued by a customer and provides employees incentives to reduce costs. The above discussed attributes are parts that are essential for a company’s cost accounting system and attributes that seem to be missing from the current cost accounting system (Harris, Datar and Foster 250-270). Recommendations There are three areas of concern that need to be addressed for the company to ensure the current issues are resolved. Firstly the company has to reduce the amount of material that is being lost to scrap. Secondly the focus of the inspection department must be shifted towards the production processes to ensure that loss due to rework is reduced. Thirdly the company has to update its machines and their quality control procedures to ensure such an event does not occur in the future. Work Cited Harris, John K., Srikant M. Datar and George Foster. Cost accounting: a managerial emphasis. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.