The Frill Neck Boutique Brewery has restored an antique bottling plant for their 375 ml bottles of Frill Neck Lager. The bottling plant has proved to be of interest to visitors to the brewery and sales have had a 1.5% rise since its installation. A recent quality audit of their production has revealed that a number of samples are varied in their content. The bottle is labelled as having a net content of 375 ml. The overall process is highly automated but semi-skilled workers are needs to monitor the equipment and make adjustments over a typical day beginning at 9.00 am and ending at 5.00 p.m. Between 11.45 a.m. and 1.15 p.m. workers take time in having lunch - while one group has a 45 minute break, the other group monitors and maintains all equipment.
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Millilitre
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Time
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Unit 1
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Unit 2
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Unit 3
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Unit 4
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09.00 a.m.
|
374.0
|
375.0
|
375.1
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375.2
|
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10.00 a.m.
|
374.5
|
373.8
|
372.5
|
373.6
|
|
11.00 a.m.
|
373.6
|
372.4
|
373.1
|
372.9
|
|
12.00 p.m.
|
373.5
|
373.1
|
374.2
|
374.5
|
|
01.00 p.m.
|
373.3
|
372.5
|
372.6
|
373.2
|
|
02.00 p.m.
|
376.1
|
376.6
|
375.9
|
375.5
|
|
03.00 p.m.
|
376.1
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376.2
|
376.0
|
376.5
|
|
04.00 p.m.
|
377.0
|
376.9
|
376.9
|
377.8
|
|
05.00 p.m.
|
376.6
|
377.1
|
376.8
|
376.4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The supervisor of this unit is requested to carry out some form of quality tests and he decides on a random sampling technique. He retrieves these samples every hour and examines the contents of each. Each sample consists of 4 units (bottles).
The data, collected over a period of 8 hours is provided above. Examine the data and answer the following questions:
(a) Clarify whether the automated process is under control.
(b) Explain what could be the reasons for possible disparages in fluid levels, if any.
(c) What additional steps should the supervisor take to examine the issues involved in more detail If he believes there may be a problem in the bottling line?
(d) Should the bottling plant be replaced?
(Use rhe "x-bar" facility in the Quality Control module of POM for Windows for part a. For part b and part c, examine the relevant graph and the information provided in the question before you make any recommendations, but ensure that state any assumptions you have made. Limit your answer for part c to 250 words)