Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1.1
Product Defect: A Case Study
Just the other day I bought a semi-automatic washing machine. It had a 2-year war-
ranty on it, and the deal looked fine. So I bought it. My wife started using it, and
everything looked fine till one day. That day my wife phoned me saying the wash-
ing machine is not working. I was in the midst of an office meeting. I was deeply
involved in my task at hand and I got disturbed. Now my wife is very blunt when
it comes to talking on the phone and when she says something to me, it is a com-
mand and not a request. I must do something immediately or else I face the risk of
being called an incompetent person. Even if I am busy with something important,
I must obey. Cursing my wife and the washing machine company, I told my wife
to find the customer service phone number of the washing machine company from
the product brochure that came with the washing machine and get it fixed. I also
told my wife not to disturb me, as she can handle these things herself. When I came
back home that day, I learned that the mechanic had found something stuck in the
drainage system of the washing machine and the mechanic cleaned and fixed it.
A few days later, my wife phoned me, saying that the washing machine again has
some problem. I told my wife not to bother me, as she has the customer service
phone number of the washing machine company and she can phone them directly.
So my wife phoned the washing machine company and got the machine fixed. This
happened many times over the next few months. Finally I decided to confront the
service engineer myself and tried to get an explanation as to why it was happening.
I found out that that particular brand of washing machine had a design problem
and this problem was happening with most of the washing machines of that brand.
I talked to customer service and explained my problem. Even after a lot of heated
exchanges I was not able to find a solution from the company. Then I thought I
should look inside the washing machine and find out the problem myself. So here I
was disassembling the washing machine and trying to find out the root cause of the
problem. I found out that there was a valve (to stop or start draining of water from
the washing machine) connected to the drainage system of the machine and the
valve used to activate when a lever attached to the machine was pushed. Dirt com-
ing out of the clothes was getting deposited at the valve and clogging it. So the valve
was not closing properly and water was getting drained even when the valve was
in the closed position. Water should not come out when clothes are being washed.
When washing is complete, you can open the valve to let the dirty water out of the
washing machine by pressing the valve lever. I cleaned the valve and then tested it
by filling water in the washing machine. I inspected the valve and the lever to find
out the problem. I found out that even when the valve was clean the lever was not
properly closing the valve and so the valve was getting only half closed. This was the
root cause of the problem. I also found out that there was no option to adjust the
lever so that it should be able to close the valve completely when operated. So far I
was able to trace the root cause of the problem. Now I had to fix it. After thinking
much, I decided to bend a part of the lever so that the length of the lever would get
