Case Article—Process Control and Design of Experiments/ANOVA

Abstract

Process control and design of experiments are two important concepts that business students must learn, as a proper usage of these techniques can have a significant impact on a firm's bottom line. Moreover, these ideas can be successfully used in a variety of application contexts: Process control applications range from the manufacturing of automobiles to the management of call centers, whereas design of experiments is used for process, product, and policy design. This set of two cases discusses operational improvement initiatives using these methods at a fictitious semiconductor manufacturing company that is being pressured by one of its major customers to improve quality. The first of the two cases covers process control charts, process capability, and a trade-off analysis between product quality improvement and new equipment leasing costs. The second case covers design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Both cases require hands-on analysis and can be used in both undergraduate and graduate business programs. Case Teaching Note: Interested Instructors please see the Instructor Materials page for access to the restricted materials. To maintain the integrity and usefulness of cases published in ITE, unapproved distribution of the case teaching notes and other restricted materials to any other party is prohibited.