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    Case study · Manufacturing · Problem Solving & Statistical Investigation

    Claim Dispute: Letting the Data Show the Cause

    A Tier-1 customer raised a claim against its Tier-2 supplier. We checked the measurement system, planned an experiment and let the statistics show the cause.

    Anonymised project. The client, its customer and the product are not named, and the case carries no figures.

    Client
    A Tier-2 supplier
    Its customer
    A Tier-1 supplier
    Our part
    The measurement check, the planned experiment and the statistics

    Situation

    A Tier-1 customer raised a claim against its Tier-2 supplier.

    The customer held that the cause sat in the supplier's process or material. The supplier did not agree.

    How it started

    We worked for the supplier, on the claim its customer had raised.

    What we looked at

    We checked the measurement system first.

    • A check of the measurement system.
    • A planned experiment that changed several factors together, not one at a time.
    • A statistical conclusion, with clear limits on what the data could prove.

    Work packages

    We checked the measurement system, planned the experiment and analysed the results.

    Measurement check

    Owner
    Qualiteh
    Scope
    Checking the measurement system.
    Closed when
    Before the experiment started.

    Planned experiment

    Owner
    The supplier's team, on its own production, to our plan
    Scope
    Several factors changed together in planned runs.
    Closed when
    When the results were ready for statistical analysis.

    Statistical conclusion

    Owner
    Qualiteh
    Scope
    The analysis of the results, with clear limits on what they proved.
    Closed when
    When the conclusion stated what the data proved and where it stopped.

    How the work ran

    Every week
    A review of the findings with the supplier's quality team.

    Outcome

    The data showed that the main cause was not in the supplier's process. The claim moved to the real cause, and the Tier-1 then made a change on its own side.

    Exit criteria

    • The claim decided on the evidence.

    The Tier-1 decides on the claim, on the evidence it is given.

    What stayed with the client

    • The experiment plan.
    • The results.
    • The statistical report, for the next dispute.

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