Lab Exercise Instructions Read the case study "Producing Quality Parts: Small Parts Manufacturing” found in Chapter 17, page 486 of your textbook, and answer the four (4) Case Analysis questions. 1. How has SPM brought modern technology to the traditional processes of machining custom parts? 2. What is the source of production inputs for SPM? 3. How does SPM assure quality? Do you agree that they chose the right type of quality assurance? Why or why not? 4. What types of regulations are particularly important to SPM and its employees, given the nature of the business?

Case Study Producing Quality Parts: Small Parts Manufacturing Small Parts Manufacturing Company Inc. (SPM) is a custom-fabricated metal parts manufacturing company founded in 1946 by Merton Rockney in Portland, Oregon. This specialty machine shop continues to be operated by his son, Merton Rockney, Jr., and by 2007 it had 48 employees and sales of approximately $6.5 million. Steady growth over the decades has been the result of numerous factors, in particular, an emphasis on quality. SPM is a contract manufacturer, a job shop that makes metal, machined parts for companies that either use them as components for larger assemblies or resell them. They have a state-of-theart facility to create the parts, and a group of certified subcontractors that provide additional processing to meet individual orders, such as plating, painting, and bending. Customers provide SPM with their specifications and request price quotesâ€"a service available through SPMâ€^TMs Web site. Team members work with prospective customers to provide innovative solutions that meet the quality and delivery requirements. As a job shop, SPM has a variety of equipment for the machining of parts and a staff of skilled tool makers, machinists, and computer technicians. They start with extruded bar stock in round, hexagonal, or square shapes from which the parts are made. Materials include low-carbon, alloy, or stainless steel, brass, aluminum, plastics, and exotic metals. The company uses traditional machinery such as screw machines, bench grinders, drill presses, and turret lathes. SPM also employs computer-controlled (CNC) machines and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), which they house in a climate-controlled room. Quality assurance is critical to SPMâ€^TMs success. Machining parts to very tight (exact) tolerances is a requirement for their customers. One example of the companyâ€^TMs quality-assurance process is its use of Statistical Process Control (SPC), with seven networked data-collection stations providing in-process measurements throughout the facility. SPM also uses a machineâ€"a Gage-Master optical comparator with digital readoutâ€"to check features that would otherwise be difficult to measure. SPM is ISO 9001:2000-registered and promotes this on its Web site. SPM has been delivering on its promise to provide high-quality parts to its customers for over 60 years.

Case Study Analysis

1. How has SPM brought modern technology to the traditional processes of machining custom parts?

2. What is the source of production inputs for SPM?

3. How does SPM assure quality? Do you agree that they chose the right type of quality assurance? Why or why not?

4. What types of regulations are particularly important to SPM and its employees, given the nature of the business?

Case Source Small Parts Manufacturing Web site, http://www.machiningcompany.com, and http://www.Hoovers.com/small-parts-manufacturing, accessed November 15, 2009.