Re: two factories, different profile, how to compare?


peter.anderson.1969@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
fellow experts,

lets say I have 2 factories. One in China, the other in Taiwan. Both
are identical, containing the same machines, same brand, manufacture
the same item. All factors are same except their age are different.
This is because the factory in china started operation in 2005 while
that in Taiwan started way in 1995.

As you know machines do breakdown, lets assume that there are 10
machines in each factories.

China - 10 machines, all are 1 years old
Taiwan - 10 machines, all are 10 years old

So now I want to compare the 2006 performance of both factories in
terms of their breakdown trends. plotting their cumulative failure
function, i found out that the curve belonging to Taiwan is much
steeper than China. Meaning the rate of failure is much higher in
Taiwan.

My engineers in Taiwan protest saying that the machines in taiwan are
much older, therefore my way of comparing is not fair.

What in you opinion should I compare, such that everyone is satisfied
that it is a fair comparison?

Many thanks!

Regards,
Peter

Well, it seems to me that the Taiwan engineers may have a point. I
would expect a 10 year old car to be morel likely to break down than a
new one.

Do you have any historical data on Taiwan? Breakdown rates at years 1
& 2 in Taiwan might be instructive.

I would also look for other variables other than just machines.Other
considerations: Do you have equivalently trained operators and
maintance staff, what are the maintance budgets, are the maintanence
schedules comparable, and so on ?

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

.

Relevant Pages