An Evaluation of an Alternative Approach to Quality Control or Assurance and the Effects It Could Have on the Functions of the Business and How It Achieves Its Objectives

An evaluation of an alternative approach to quality control or assurance and the effects it could have on the functions of the business and how it achieves its objectives.

Alternative method for Quality Control that FPS can use

Quality control is a system for ensuring the maintenance of proper standards in manufactured goods, especially by periodic random inspections of the product. A strategy that can be used to ensure this and to suit FPS is to test each individual compartment separately this also add value because your in the process of assembling different products to form fire extinguishers. Don't get me wrong however you would still have to check the final product but there is a higher percentage that it would work than leaving it to inspect at the end. As I said in my other assignment FPS don't actually manufacture there products the buy them from other manufacturers and then put them together to form for e.g. a fire extinguisher. Instead of FPS tested their products once they have been made, they should test each individual pieces separately this will not only just save them time but with the environmental issue of waste it would be reduces and costs would be less. This is because if you had a fire extinguisher with all the components together and then tested it and found a default it is more expensive because with having all the pieces together and not knowing exactly which one isn't working it will be more expensive as you may have components in perfect working order but have to scrap it because it has been tested. Without spending numerous sums of money and then having found a default and perhaps it's more than one component it would be idealistic to check them before adding them all together. If you were making a fire extinguisher it would feel as though by testing each component it takes longer than actually producing the hole fire extinguisher but infact this way will guarantee your product not only will work it also will be at a better standard than it would have been. The compartments that make a fire extinguisher are:

Cylinder - Holds extinguishing agent and expelling gases

Handle - Used to carry and hold extinguisher

Trigger - When pressed, releases extinguishing agent through hose and nozzle

Nozzle or Horn - Agent expelled through these items

Pressure Gauge - Shows pressure of the extinguishing agent being stored in the cylinder. The indicator should be in the green area. But Co2 extinguishers do not have a pressure gauge.

And the process FPS take to make it are fitting them together, filling, labelling, bonding, packing ad distributing. If for e.g. instead of waiting for the product to made to find the handle breaks because the cylinder was made to heavy or the handle wasn't strong enough they should test it individually. If you just got the cylinder and the handle together and picked it up and it fell off/broke then you would know what your problem was and could deal with it their and then rather than wasting extra components as you got to keep testing it to see what the problem was, this way it would get dealt with efficiently and quickly.

Evaluate the impact of your suggested method on the functions of the business.

The functions of business are:

* Finance

* Sales

* Human resources

* Marketing

* Research and development

My strategy can have an affect on each one of these functions and below I will explain how this is.

Finance

Within this department it deals with the money side, with what ever you do you always need money. In deals with money coming in and out of the business and with my strategy it plays a major roll. Finance department will set limits for the company to spend on the production of the fire extinguishers. The budget that they set can't go over that price. So to ensure that they do not go over budget and by making mistakes such as leaving it to be tested once it has been produced that can be the reason why they can go over budget . With setting a limit of money they can spend it will make you wearier of throwing away money but with my strategy it will decrease the percentage for waste. Finance department will try and keep the money going out of the business to a minimal so that they can spread the money sufficiently on other things like wages, new machinery etc so this plays an important part of my new strategy as you have to make sure the money given to you by finance is not wasted.

Human resource

This department deals with recruitment and ensure that all employees are trained thoroughly and keep them motivated. IF FPS uses my suggested method within this department they will have the roll of employing the staff that are actually going to be producing the product. Personnel will make sure that all engineers and who ever else works on the project has the correct training to endure high quality goods. If there was no Human resources team then the project would be in shambles and the employees would be basically guessing on how they make it rather than having the full knowledge. With making sure the employees are happy also makes them work better and happier within the workforce.

Sales

The impact that my strategy was to have on the sales team plays a small role. If they knew that the products being made were extremely reliable they would feel happier and confident with selling that product as they know that there isn't anything wrong with the item as each and every component has been checked and inspected then put together. If you just placed the fire extinguisher together and say for instance there was a minor thing wrong but the engineers fixed it, the sales team would be hesitant because they couldn't assure all the extinguishers could work because maybe next time round it could be that the pressure gauge doesn't work etc. But with testing them individually the likeliness of it not to work in the first place will be less. So the sales team wouldn't have a problem with talking to the customers about how long the product would last for or any other conversation that would lead to the products manufacturing. Also if the sales team is unsure about the item then it will bounce of the customer, and then that could cause less sales which means they spent a lot of money on products that