Quality management in a fractional horsepower electrical motor industry: a case study

• Published in: International journal of system assurance engineering and management Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 2764 - 2789
• Main Authors: Mohanty, Rashmi R., Babu, A. Subash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-10-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acceptance tests; Case Studies; Downstream effects; Engineering; Engineering Economics; Horsepower; Logistics; Marketing; Motors; Organization; Quality Control; Quality management; Reliability; Safety and Risk; Specifications; Manufacturing-end consequences; Non-conformities; Demerits; User-end consequences
• ISSN: 0975-6809; 0976-4348
• DOI: 10.1007/s13198-022-01625-1

Organizations dealing with Consumer Durable Product (CDP), the concern for effective quality management has been increased tremendously. Fractional horsepower (FHP) motors are fitted as a part of these appliances. A product like FHP motor represents CDP very well. Fractional horsepower motors are very commonly used in industry and domestic applications. The quality of FHP motor depends upon the quality of its components. A case study was carried out in a large company manufacturing FHP motors. This study revealed that the performance of each process related to the critical parts considered appears to be satisfactory as far as that individual dimension is compared against the specifications of the respective parts. However, the results of the routine test reveal that the acceptance of the motor as a whole does not reflect this 100% satisfactory condition. The preliminary study clearly revealed that controlling quality by ensuring conformance to specification limits of individual parts and dimensions only, need not result in good quality performance of the end product level. Therefore, it was considered prudent to look at this problem further, for which further analysis was carried out using simulation. Each non-conformity (here called as demerit) on the FHP motor parts under consideration has been analyzed and mapped with intermediate events, final events and end consequences. In order to map the consequences of each demerit, detailed analysis was carried out on the downstream. Two types of downstream effects called as Manufacturer-end consequences and User-end consequences were identified for each of the eleven demerits considered in this study. Furthermore, a subsequent study by authors considers this mapping of demerits with consequences to develop and apply a system to manage quality.