Manufacturing Project Lovell Levelers, Inc. is a major provider of specialized part for the automotive industry. LLI’s biggest customer, Specific Motors was not a delighted customer this month. In fact, last Monday, the executive vice president of Specific Motors headquarters, Phyllis Kendall was diverted from a return trip from Singapore to drop in unexpectedly at the LLI plant. There was nothing routine about this visit. She made it explicitly clear that Specific Motors was disappointed with the level of quality relative to the leveler plates. In particular, she was disappointed with the current average of rejects at the rate of 1,350 defects per million opportunities (DPMO), and at LLI’s cost of poor quality of just over $256,000 per quarter. She said the industry standard is <50 DPMO and if we do not get the level of quality to the industry standard (as a minimum) within the next six months, LLI should not expect to keep the business next year. The student will be a Black Belt working for LLI. The specifics about their company: CEO Bill Lovell GM Mary Nichols Sponsor John Hopps Finance Cindy Jenkins Process owner Leroy Miller Master BB Dennis Kens Manufacturing Mitch Freese Design Engineer Al Nelson Quality Debbie Judson