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04 Task Performance 1

Frito-Lay has a rigorous quality control process with 11 inspections of its potato chips from field to store shelf. They also use vision systems to check for defects and follow strict standards. Angela oversees quality assurance at a Florida plant, monitoring equipment and ensuring salt content and other metrics stay within control limits, like 1.98-2.22% for Lay's salt. She wants to evaluate if a new salt delivery system meets these specifications based on initial sample data.

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Darlene Jane Dagan
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138 views

04 Task Performance 1

Frito-Lay has a rigorous quality control process with 11 inspections of its potato chips from field to store shelf. They also use vision systems to check for defects and follow strict standards. Angela oversees quality assurance at a Florida plant, monitoring equipment and ensuring salt content and other metrics stay within control limits, like 1.98-2.22% for Lay's salt. She wants to evaluate if a new salt delivery system meets these specifications based on initial sample data.

Uploaded by

Darlene Jane Dagan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BM1710

TASK PERFORMANCE

FRITO-LAY’S QUALITY-CONTROLLED POTATO CHIPS

Frito-Lay, the multi-billion-dollar snack food giant, produces billions of pounds of product every year at its
dozens of U.S. and Canadian plants. From the farming of potatoes—in Florida, North Carolina, and
Michigan—to factory and to retail stores, the ingredients and final product of Lay’s chips, for example, are
inspected at least 11 times: in the field, before unloading at the plant, after washing and peeling, at the
sizing station, at the fryer, after seasoning, when bagged (for weight), at carton filling, in the warehouse,
and as they are placed on the store shelf by Frito-Lay personnel. Similar inspections take place for its other
famous products, including Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles, and Tostitos.

In addition to these employee inspections, the firm uses proprietary vision systems to look for defective
potato chips. Chips are pulled off the high-speed line and checked twice if the vision system senses them
to be too brown. The company follows the very strict standards of the American Institute of Baking (AIB),
standards that are much tougher than those of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Two unannounced
AIB site visits per year keep Frito-Lay’s plants on their toes. Scores, consistently in the “excellent” range,
are posted, and every employee knows exactly how the plant is doing.

There are two (2) key metrics in Frito-Lay’s continuous improvement quality program: (1) total customer
complaints (measured on a complaint per million bag basis) and (2) hourly or daily statistical process control
scores (for oil, moisture, seasoning, and salt content, for chip thickness, for fryer temperature, and for
weight). In the Florida plant, Angela McCormack, who holds engineering and MBA degrees, oversees a 15-
member quality assurance staff. They watch all aspects of quality, including training employees on the
factory floor, monitoring automated processing equipment, and developing and updating statistical process
control (SPC) charts. The upper and lower control limits for one checkpoint, salt content in Lay’s chips, are
2.22% and 1.98%, respectively. To see exactly how these limits are created using SPC, watch the video
that accompanies this case.

Questions (5 items x 10 points: 5 points for solution, 5 points for explanation):

1. Angela is now going to evaluate a new salt process delivery system and wants to know if the upper
and lower control limits at three (3) standard deviations for the new system will meet the upper and
lower control specifications noted earlier.

The data (in percent) from the initial trial samples are:

Sample 1 1.98 2.11 2.15 2.06


Sample 2 1.99 2.0 2.08 1.99
Sample 3 2.20 2.10 2.20 2.05
Sample 4 2.18 2.01 2.23 1.98
Sample 5 2.01 2.08 2.14 2.16

Provide the report to Angela.


2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Frito-Lay drivers stocking their customers’ shelves?
3. Why is quality a critical function at Frito-Lay?

04 Task Performance 1 *Property of STI


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BM1710

Rubric for grading the solutions:

CRITERIA POINTS
Complete the solution with correct answer 5
Last two (2) major steps of the solution are incorrect 4
Half of the solution is correct 3
First two (2) major steps of the solution are correct 2
First major step of the solution is correct 1

Rubric for grading explanations/justifications:

CRITERIA PERFORMANCE INDICATORS POINTS


Provided pieces of evidence, supporting details, and
Content 2
factual scenarios
Used correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, and
Grammar 1
capitalization
Organization of Expressed the points in clear and logical arrangement
2
Ideas of ideas in the paragraph
TOTAL 5

REFERENCE
Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2017). Operations management: Sustainability and supply chain
management (12th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education Inc.

04 Task Performance 1 *Property of STI


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