Vantage Analytics: Inspect More, or Fix the Line?

Operations
easy35 min0 submissions
Amazon
Scenario

Vantage Analytics manufactures B2B SaaS products in India, running 182,591 units a year.

Internal quality checks reject 2.6% of output, at a scrap and rework cost of about ₹293 a unit. A further 2.8% of shipped units come back under warranty, each costing roughly ₹7966 once field service, replacement and admin are counted.

Two proposals are on the table. Engineering wants ₹64 Cr of one-off capital to re-tool the station where most defects originate. Quality wants ₹36 Cr a year of additional inspection headcount to catch more before shipment.

The plant manager is measured on unit cost.

Supporting data

volume

units per year
182591

proposals

process retool one off cr
64
additional inspection per year cr
36

external failure

cost per claim
7966
warranty claim rate pct
2.8
warranty units per year
5113

internal failure

defect rate pct
2.6
defective units per year
4747
scrap rework cost per unit
293
Your task

Advise the plant manager. Your answer should provide:

  1. Analysis — the total cost of poor quality today, split by where it is detected, and the return on each proposal.
  2. Risks — what each option does not solve.
  3. Recommendation — which to fund, with a payback period.

State any assumptions you make.

Ready to move forward? Up next: Vantage Analytics: How Much Stock Is the Right Amount?Next question
How you'll be graded

80 points, 60% to pass.

  • recommendation20
  • market analysis15
  • risk assessment20
  • financial analysis25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure

Cost of poor quality = internal failure + external failure. Compare prevention against detection on payback, and note that inspection does not reduce the defect rate.