Case Study: Skills of Central Pennsylvania reduces supplier defects with Minitab

Skills of Central Pennsylvania Using Minitab to Curb Supplier Defects

Skills of Central Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that provides vocational and rehabilitative services for people with disabilities, supports manufacturing employers through its Industrial Centers workforce. While assembling vials for a local manufacturer, the team discovered that some supplier bottles had defective threading that prevented blister caps from fitting properly, creating rejects and billing issues. To better track the problem, they turned to Minitab Statistical Software.

Using Minitab Assistant, Skills collected defect data by box and created a P chart to evaluate the stability of the supplier’s process. Minitab’s analysis showed the proportion of defective vial bottles was not stable and identified 26 out-of-control subgroups, including one box with more than 20% defective bottles. With these results, Skills was able to clearly report the issue to the manufacturer and supplier, help amend billing for rejects, and support ongoing supplier quality improvement.

Skills of Central Pennsylvania

Mary Kay Fultz

Vocational and Industrial Services Manager