Overview of Company with High-Quality Products

Lenovo is a successful technology business that manufactures phones and personal computers. The corporation has customers in 160 countries and is the world’s second largest vendor of personal computers (Ahrens & Zhou, 2013). Lenovo’s success in the technology sector can be ascribed to the company’s high-quality products as well as the good services that accompany them.

Durability, innovativeness, reliability, maintainability, and ease of use are some of the qualities that ensure the excellence of Lenovo laptops. For instance, Lenovo laptops are very durable, especially the ThinkPad laptops, which undergoes twelve stringent military tests to determine the durability of the laptops (Pandev, 2015). The laptops are also very innovative with modern technology. For example, the Lenovo X1 Carbon received the International CES accolade for being one of the most innovative Ultrabook in 2014. Besides being durable and innovative, Lenovo laptops are also easy to maintain. The company has ensured easy access to most components such as the RAM, keyboard, and internal disk. Therefore, amateur computer users can easily repair, replace, or upgrade components of the Lenovo laptops. Lastly, most Lenovo laptops are easy to use due to the improved touchpad, good keyboard layout, and the longevity of the battery. The combination of all these attributes contributes to the high-quality nature of Lenovo’s products.

Company with Low-Quality Products

One organization that has provided poor quality products in the recent past is Chipotle. Headquartered in the United States, Chipotle is a multinational chain of restaurant that specializes in the production of Mexican cuisine (Kotler & Armstrong, 2016). The company prides itself in providing food with integrity but recent cases of health and food safety have proven otherwise.

Characteristics

The major issue that has contributed to Chipotle’s poor quality of service and product is the 2015 case of health and food crisis. The company provided poor-quality food, infected by norovirus. Eighty customers, from Boston College, fell ill after eating at the restaurant (Fox, 2015). In addition to this, Chipotle had previously been subject to a health and safety issue regarding the presence of E.coli virus in their food products.

Improvement Using Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a set of approaches that seek to improve the quality of output by determining the source of the problem and eliminating or mitigating its effects before production is complete (Furterer, 2010). Evidence from literature suggests that Chipotle can utilize the Six Sigma approach to improving the quality of their cuisines. Firstly, Chipotle should identify & define the problem. Additionally, they should measure, analyze, improve, and control the problem. By identifying the problem, the company could find a way to solve it and improve the quality of the cuisines they provide to their customers. Measuring the problem would allow the company to determine the extent to which it affects the operations of the organization. After measuring, the company should analyze the problem to determine the source and its impacts. Then they should implement a fix to the problem before they put in place control parameters. This would ensure customer satisfaction. The second doctrine to consider is ensuring continuous efforts that would enable them to have a predictable process for determining the quality of products they receive from their suppliers. This would minimize cases of diseased food products as well as provide a quality control strategy for the company. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of the company processes would ensure quality production of food, thus improving organization image.

References

Ahrens, N., & Zhou, Y. (2013). China’s Competitiveness Myth, Reality, and Lessons for the United States and Japan: Case Study Lenovo. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Fox, M. (2015, December 8). Norovirus Caused Chipotle Outbreak in Boston, Officials Say. NBC News. Retrieved May 3, 2017, from http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/chipotle-outbreak-grows-80-boston-college-students-n476316

Furterer, S. L. (2010). Lean Six Sigma in Service: Applications and Case Studies. London: CRC Press.

Kotler, P. T., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of Marketing (16th ed.). New York: Pearson.

Pandev, R. (2015, October 16). How much abuse can the ThinkPad X and T series take? According to Lenovo – a lot. Laptop Media. Retrieved July 1, 2017, from http://laptopmedia.com/highlights/how-much-abuse-can-the-thinkpad-x-and-t-series-take-according-to-lenovo-a-lot/