Quality control in small and medium brick industry: an application of control chart in divisional secretariat of Addalaichenai

Abstract

. Purpose: This research attempts to find out quality of bricks (length of bricks) produced in Divisional Secretariat of Addalaichenai. It further tries to identify causes for quality defect to put forward some suggestions for quality corrections. Methodology: Population includes bricks of all the brick manufacturers in Divisional Secretariat of Addalaichenai. Sample is a blend of brick manufacturers and the brick. Sample of brick manufacturers is taken from 2 big players using stratified sampling as a technique. Sample of bricks is taken from Simple Random Sampling. Data are collected using primary data collection method as an approach of participatory observation. Data are analyzed using SPSS. Conclusions and Findings: Mean and the standard deviation of the length of bricks made in Oluvil area are 198. 78 and 0.85534 respectively. Those of in Palamunai area are 200.40 and 1.05422 respectively. Quality of the bricks made in Oluvil has higher caliber than those of Palamunai area. Causes for this variation are found in 5Ms. Research limitation: This research is conducted within the Divisional Secretariat of Addalaichenai which is geographically limited. Managerial implication: Brick manufacturers can concentrate on quality ever by maintaining persistent quality in their brick products. Originality: Application of the control chart information is practiced in Divisional Secretariat of Addalaichenai, Ampara, Eastern Province of Sri Lanka in Small and Medium Brick Industry for the first time.