Quality Management (A Level) (Cambridge (CIE) A Level Business): Exam Questions

Ardley

Ardley manufactures cycle helmets in country M, selling through independent bicycle retailers. Helmets must pass a national safety standard before sale.

In 2024 a batch failed an independent safety test after release, and Ardley recalled 12 000 helmets.

Table 1: Ardley selected data

The Marketing Director, Priya Sandhu, wants to spend $1.2m on advertising to rebuild sales.

The Operations Director, Tom Vasquez, disagrees. He argues the money should go into quality systems first, since a second recall involving a safety product would finish the business.

Kettleworth Catering

Kettleworth Catering manufactures commercial ovens in country F. Every oven is inspected at the end of the production line by a team of six inspectors. Ovens failing inspection are either reworked or scrapped.

Table 1: Kettleworth Catering monthly production data

The Production Manager, Elif Demir, notes that most faults are traced to a wiring stage roughly halfway through assembly.

The Managing Director, Ross Kinnear, is reluctant to change a system that he says stops any faulty oven reaching a customer.

Denby Health

Denby Health manufactures veterinary medicines in country R. Quality is currently checked by a separate quality department; production employees have no responsibility for quality and receive almost no quality training.

Table 1: Denby Health selected data

Denby Health is considering introducing Total Quality Management. Doing so would require six training days per employee and is expected to take two years to embed fully.

The Finance Director, Amara Nwosu, questions whether the cost and disruption can be justified.

The Operations Director, Piet Janssen, points to the rejected batches and argues that nobody on the production floor currently regards quality as their concern.

Ravenscroft Flooring

Ravenscroft Flooring manufactures laminate flooring in country B. Its managers have compared its performance against the best-performing manufacturer in the industry.

Table 1: Ravenscroft Flooring compared with the industry's best performer

The industry's best performer carries out changeovers using a standardised written procedure, and trains every operator to perform it rather than relying on a small number of specialists.

The Operations Director, Mei Tan, believes the gap can be closed. The Finance Director, Hal Brennan, is sceptical that a competitor's methods will transfer to Ravenscroft Flooring's older machinery.

Redhaven

Redhaven manufactures corrugated boxes in country J for food producers and online retailers. Quality is currently checked by nine inspectors at the end of the production line.

Table 1: Redhaven selected data

Switching to quality assurance would mean training all 180 production employees, at a cost of around $260 000 in the first year, and would take about twelve months to embed. Quality would become each operator's responsibility and the inspection team would reduce from nine to two.

The Operations Director, Nadia Farouk, argues that the present system finds faults but never prevents them, and that Redhaven is paying over $1m a year for the privilege.

The HR Director, Colm Byrne, is doubtful. Employee turnover is 31%, so roughly a third of those trained this year will have left within twelve months. Staff receive one training day a year and have never been asked to take responsibility for quality.