Reference no: EM132185510

Our company president has just reviewed the design for a new pull toy locomotive for 1 to 3 year olds. The design and marketing staff are very enthusiastic about the market for the product in both the USA and foreign destinations and the potential on foreign market design. The sales manager is looking forward to a very good reception at the annual toy show. As discussed in earlier sessions, this company is facing layoffs if orders do not improve and the toy division especially needs immediate improvement. The company's manufacturing people have worked out the manufacturing issues and produced a successful pilot run. However, the quality testing staff suggested that under certain conditions, a hook to attach cars to the locomotive and the crank for the bell can be broken off. This is an issue because children can choke on small parts such as these. In the quality test, 1 to 3 year olds were unable to break off these parts; there were no failures. But when the test simulated the force of an adult tossing the locomotive into a toy box or a 5 year-old throwing it on the floor, there were failures. The estimate is that one of the two parts can be broken off four times out of 100,000 throws. Neither the design nor the material people know how to make the toy safer and still perform as designed. The failure rate is low and certainly normal for this type of toy, but not at the Six Sigma level that our corporation strives achieve. And, of course, someone someday may sue. A child choking on a broken part is a serious matter. Also, we were recently reminded in a discussion with legal counsel that U S case law suggests that new products may not be produced it there is "actual or foreseeable knowledge of a problem" with the product. The design of successful, ethically produced, new products either for USA consumption or foreign markets is a complex task. What should we do?