Response to case study scenario 1

My job as a junior engineer at a testing group will not ignore the problem of three USB’s failing their power consumption test after reviewing the test reports once the items have been delivered.

After receiving feedback from the manager saying to ignore the problem because it was only 3 devices out of 200 which failed, my actions would be to discuss this with the client and advise the client what has happened in general with an apology for the mistake, with the intention to lead us for an agreement to give a replacement. If the customer decides not to have a replacement then I should give an alternative solution by giving a full refund. The benefits of this is to help keep high standards of customer service; by avoiding customer complaints, and to keep the business growing through trust and honesty on our final product. Under the Human Rights 1998 Legislation, "a person who claims that a public authority has acted (or purposes to act) in a way which is made unlawful by section 6 (1) may bring proceedings against the authority in the appropriate court or tribunal" , because 3 of the devices failed its power consumption test, this will cause a fire hazard which will result in a serious injury or death to the customer. As it is my duty under the IEEE code of ethics, to responsibly make decisions which will not affect a customer’s safety, I will take the above action to make me a strong character in my profession.

From my past experience at working in a food restaurant, I have received some customer complaints with the quality of our food as being under cooked. To solve this issue, an apology was given to the customer and an opportunity of having another meal was offered free of charge, as there could have been a potential risk of food poisoning which would have affected our health and safety policy, this resulted in the customer understanding the mistake and accept our apology. If I had not taken this action, the customer had a right under the human rights legislation as noted above, to report the restaurant for this event which would lead to serious consequences, such as affecting the potential financial risk, through the customer suing the restaurant for this misconduct and the restaurant having to pay out huge amounts on compensation. I would use this scenario for a case like the USB manufacturing company. Disadvantages of giving an opportunity to recall the batch and provide a replacement would be the re-manufacturing time and cost of the devices, comparing this to the right the customer holds, it would be best to manufacture a new batch rather than becoming sued, resulting in higher costs and the risk of becoming redundant.

A case study example researched; "Laptop-maker Toshiba has recalled 10,000 Sony-made lithium-ion battery packs worldwide. The company reportedly undertook this move mainly due to concerns that they could possibly overheat, further causing a fire hazard. It has also been reported that Toshiba plans to release a utility so that customers check their laptops for the recalled batteries. If they happen to have one of the affected batteries, Toshiba will send them a pre-paid envelope with which they can return it". This is a similiar case to my decision for the USB manufacturing company.
Reference: http://www.techshout.com/hardware/2007/20/faulty-sony-made-li-ion-laptop-batteries-recalled-by-toshiba-due-to-fire-hazard-risk/////

If the problem is ignored, I would blame myself for the consequences such as causing a fatal death to a human being and losing the company’s reputation. All employees will be affected in the company by maybe losing their job and their status for working in an unreliable company.

To avoid these failures we have to follow the regulations and the rules for testability and devices health and safety standards which will help us to follow the procedures in order to meet the organisation requirements. Manufacturing a faulty product will have a higher probability of effecting the business relation with clients for example the company will more than likely lose their clients and having a prospect of losing the organisations reputation in the market.