Amore Frozen Foods (a): Macaroni and Cheese Fill Targets

7 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008

See all articles by Phillip E. Pfeifer

Phillip E. Pfeifer

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business

Robert L. Carraway

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Amore must set the fill-target for its eight-ounce macaroni and cheese pie. Unless five sample pies taken every 20 minutes average more than eight ounces, the entire 20-minute batch must be rejected. The case provides enough information to make an economic decision on the fill target. The case may be used to introduce the distribution of a sample average.

Excerpt

UVA-QA-0317

Rev. Oct. 3, 2012

AMORE FROZEN FOODS (A): Macaroni and Cheese Fill Targets

Tom Jenkins, manager of quality services at Amore's frozen foods plant in Cortland, New York, thought the summer of 1984 might be the time to return the fill target for Amore's eight-ounce frozen macaroni and cheese pie to 8.22 ounces. Amore had been filling each aluminum tin to an uncharacteristically high target of 8.44 ounces ever since problems with underweight macaroni and cheese appeared in New York City in 1978. The higher target had protected Amore from fines levied against several producers for underweight product, but at the expense of an extra 0.22 ounces of macaroni and cheese in each pie.

Cortland Production Facility

The production facility in Cortland, New York was originally a cold storage warehouse for locally grown apples and peaches. When these forms of agriculture dwindled, a former Cortland State University student associated with the Duncan Packing Company of Louisville, Kentucky, suggested that the company purchase and convert the warehouse for use as a frozen foods production and storage facility. The Duncan Packing Company had been founded in 1940 and prospered as a supplier of canned goods to the U.S. military. With the end of World War II, the company expanded into frozen foods and chose the Cortland apple and peach storage facility as part of that expansion.

. . .

Keywords: data analysis production control sampling statistics

Suggested Citation

Pfeifer, Phillip E. and Carraway, Robert L., Amore Frozen Foods (a): Macaroni and Cheese Fill Targets. Darden Case No. UVA-QA-0317, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1283382 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1283382

Phillip E. Pfeifer (Contact Author)

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business ( email )

P.O. Box 6550
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6550
United States
434-924-4803 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty/Pfeifer.htm

Robert L. Carraway

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business ( email )

P.O. Box 6550
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6550
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty/carraway.htm

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