Question 4 of 7: Quality Techniques, Root-Cause Analysis, and PM Software
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Notes on this paper
National Exams — May 2015 — 23-CS-4 Engineering Management. Closed book; no calculators. Any five of the seven questions constitute a complete paper; all questions are of equal value. Answers are written in point form but fully, as instructed. Complete answers to all seven questions follow.
(a) Kaizen — Japanese for "change for the better": continuous, incremental, low-cost improvement of processes by everyone from managers to operators, using the PDCA cycle, suggestion systems, 5S and standard work. Many small gains accumulate into large improvements in quality, cost and delivery.
(b) FMEA — a systematic, team-based, preventive analysis of a design or process: list each component or process step, its potential failure modes, their effects and causes; rate severity, occurrence and detection (typically 1–10) and multiply them into a Risk Priority Number; act first on the highest-risk items, then re-rate. It prevents failures before they reach the customer.
(c) QFD — a planning method that translates the "voice of the customer" into technical requirements through the House of Quality matrix: customer needs and their importance, related engineering characteristics, relationship strengths, competitive benchmarking and target values. It is cascaded from product design to parts, process and production planning, so design effort goes to what customers value.
(ii) Root-Cause Analysis
Purpose — to find the fundamental cause of a process problem (defect, delay, failure) rather than treating its symptoms, so that corrective action eliminates the problem permanently, prevents recurrence, reduces cost and supports continuous improvement.
Five Whys — repeatedly ask "why?" until the underlying system cause is reached.
Cause-and-effect (Ishikawa / fishbone) diagram — brainstorm possible causes grouped by category (people, methods, machines, materials, measurement, environment).
Pareto analysis — rank causes by frequency or cost to focus on the vital few.
Fault-tree analysis — work down from an undesired event through AND/OR logic to basic causes.
Supporting tools — process flowcharts, check sheets, scatter diagrams (to test cause–effect relationships), control charts (to separate special from common causes), and FMEA.
(iii) Project-Management Software
Microsoft Project — widely used for work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, CPM scheduling, resource allocation and levelling, and cost tracking.
Oracle Primavera P6 — enterprise scheduling for large engineering and construction projects, multi-project resource management and earned-value control.
Other programs — Deltek Open Plan; web-based and collaborative tools such as Smartsheet, Wrike, Basecamp, Asana, Trello and Jira (task and agile software projects); construction platforms such as Procore.
Typical functions — scheduling and critical path, resource and cost management, progress and earned-value reporting, document sharing and team communication.
