ROLE OF INSPECTION IN PRODUCT QUALITY MANAGEMENT DRIVE IN NORTHERN NOODLES LTD, KADUNA
CHAPTER I: Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Doug Wallace, a Materials Management subject expert with Life Cycle Engineering [L.C.E] Consultancy Company Charleston, South Carolina; in a paper presentation titled “Maintenance and Reliability Inventory Management” gave an apt and practical illustration that underscores the need for inspection. He said, have you heard of the guys that burned up a brand new piece of rotating equipment because it was installed with no oil in it? That little oversight cost $80,000 for a replacement. When properly lubricated, it would have cost less than $100”. Again, he said, “How about the guys that cut a section out of their raw materials feeder line and then find out the replacement piece was just a little bit too short to fit into the gap? That little mistake cost thousands of dollars in unplanned repairs and potentially hundreds of thousands in lost production”.
This brings to mind the two renowned cases in Nigeria of Indomie Instant Noodles Poisoning Crisis of 2004 and Pfizer Poisoning Crisis, Kano 1996. What these organizations suffered in terms of cost, production revenue loss and image can only be imagined. Again, operating in an unstable environment riffed with stiff competition; product quality management has become in more ways than one the life-blood of the organization. Be that as it may, and as strategic as product quality is to success of the organization, it will be near impossible if not impossible to achieve the goals of enhancing, maintain and sustaining product quality without the eagle eye of inspection.
Inspection itself is a word with many synonyms, so, whether a writer chooses the word examination, observation, investigation or assessment, it will still be inspection, and sometimes the word testing is adopted depending on what is being inspected. The general idea and concept is to ascertain or determine quality or conformity of materials, products and components to pre-set standards and specification. So, materials outsourced or insourced either as raw materials, components, spare parts or MROs as well as the organizations output are subjected to thorough examination to ensure that they conformed to specifications and standards before they are certify for production or consumption. This brings to bear the subtle but distinct fact that inspection and quality are two inseparable Siamese twin terms, where one can hardly be discussed without alluding to the other. In fact, inspection is a tool often utilized by organizations for the realization of product quality management objectives. Thus, in other to understand the basis for inspection and its role in product quality management drive of an organization, a concise but lucid perspective of specification and standardization, the concept of quality management, quality control and quality assurance will need to be understood as they are interwoven and make it difficult to be discussed one without the other.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the inspection exercise can mean the successor failure of the organization. This is because the slightest oversight of outsourced or and insourced materials and products from specification and standards will often result to the production of defective output with multiple and spiraling effects in multiple fronts with unimaginable consequences for both the organization and consumers. Consequently, no where in the manufacturing industry are those consequences more truer, acute and immediate as in the food and drugs industry.
The choice of Northern Noodles Limited Kaduna, in an attempt to examine the role of inspection in the quest for effective product quality management in the food industry was prompted by a few negative indicators which combined to impair on the quality of their products. The issue that arose for this study is asked, whose responsibility is it in the organization to ascertain and certify the compliance of product inputs to pre-determined standards and specifications? Again what measures are put in place by the organization to ensure that defective materials not do enter the production process? It is also asked, what measures are put in place to detect defects even in the production process?
