Step 1: Problem Definition 

• Answer the questions below. Put the answers in your document as a second appendix.  

What problem have you been asked to address? This is not a statistics question, therefore the answer is not about performing a certain calculation.  

What is the objective or outcome this work should produce? Again, this is not a statistics question, and will not be answered with a statistical approach. (Refer to the answer to question 1 and 2 when writing your thesis statement.)

What statistical approach will you use to address this problem? AND Why does this approach provide you insight into addressing the problem? What does it let you know about the problem that can inform a decision? 

To whom you have been asked to address this memorandum? 

What is each of the addressees is likely to need from reading the memorandum? (This is a critical thinking exercise, ask yourself what the addressees' responsibilities are and use that to think about what they need to know from you. If you are not familiar with these corporate roles lookup explanations of each.  There are links to an explanation for each in the problem description below. ) 

Step 2: Develop Key Elements

Download the Pre-Writing 2 Format Example

1. Using this example document as well as the Business Memorandum Guidelines provided in the second assignment reading, develop the following memorandum elements. (Note: this is a different Memorandum Guide and format than you used on the first assignment.) 
2. Document Layout and Header.  Format your document and develop a header and titles for the required sections. Complete the header content by reading the problem described below. 
3. Determine the Statistical Approach and Complete Statistical Analysis.  To have the information necessary to complete the memorandum you will need to complete the statistical analysis and determine what your answer to the question posed will be. You will include the typewritten calculations when you complete the final memorandum (2.4) as the second appendix. 
4. Summary/Introduction. Develop the summary for your document. As with the last memorandum, the summary should provide enough information for a busy reader to be able to understand the key elements of the memorandum without reading the entire document. For this type of document, the summary must include a brief statement of the problem, context needed to understand it, what you have been asked to do/provide, how you will approach addressing the problem, and why that approach is a valid approach, and the recommendation you are planning making. 
5. Graphics. Graphics should be used in this assignment to support or make more clear ideas you are presenting in the document. Determine what type of graphic you will use in your document and describe why it is the best approach for enhancing your message. Review Quick Reference for Figures section the Figures and Charts (Links to an external site.) handout from UNC writing center to assist you in thinking through this. Develop the graphic you will use in the final document.  Include identifiers on your graphic that are necessary to make the graphic clear for an outside reader. Provide a title using the formatting discussed in the Figures and Charts  (Links to an external site.)handout.

For the deliverable for this assignment, submit one document: the memorandum elements at the beginning, followed on a separate page, by an appendix with the problem definition questions.

Problem Description

In this section, you will find a description of the problem, requested recommendation and audience for the final memorandum for this assignment.  

Problem description:

You are a line manager in Superior Car Part’s Ellisville manufacturing facility.  The company produces automotive parts, and you have responsibility for the line producing steel shafts for the gearbox manufactured in the Ellisville Plant. The acceptable dimension of the shaft is 2.5±0.05 inches in diameter with the most desirable product having a diameter of exactly 2.5 inches. The current equipment is approaching the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.  Two vendors are trying to sell your company, Superior Car Parts Incorporated, their machines for the shaft-machining task. You have been asked to assess the machines from each vendor, and to make a recommendation for a machine vendor supported by a justification for your decision. 

You asked both vendors to supply data on the machining accuracy of their machines for the given task.  Both vendors machined 100 shafts, collected data, plotted histograms, fitted the histograms with normal distributions and supplied you with their findings.

Let X= diameter in inches of the gearbox shaft

Abano Machines Inc.: X has a normal distribution with a mean of 2.49 and a standard deviation of 0.030

Li Equipment Corp.: X has a normal distribution with a mean of 2.53 and a standard deviation of 0.015 

Audience: You are creating this document for the company’s Chief Operating Officer (Links to an external site.), Lena George, and copying the Chief Financial Officer, (Links to an external site.) Amita Kohli. Documents involved in major financial decisions like this may also be distributed by the addressees to other executives and the corporate board members.