The Case File Library
Publicly documented quality failures, dissected for lessons — case file by case file. Recalls, groundings, outbreaks: what actually failed, and which discipline would have caught it.
Hoverboards: when supply chain speed outran quality ownership
The 2015 hoverboard recall shows what happens when supply chain speed outruns quality ownership: 500,000 units with no approved suppliers, no PFMEA, and no accountability for battery safety.
ARC Automotive: when defining a defect becomes a 52-million-unit question
The ARC Automotive airbag recall shows how one word — "isolated" or "systemic" — can determine whether you quarantine a batch or recall a decade of production.
Qantas QF32: How an out-of-spec pipe wall grounded the A380 fleet
A 0.5mm pipe wall deviation nearly opened an A380 wing fuel tank to a spinning turbine disc. Here's how an out-of-spec sub-tier component grounded the fleet.
Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play: when the standard is written by the regulated
Over 30 infant deaths and 4.7M units recalled—a case study in what happens when manufacturers write the safety standards meant to regulate them.
Abbott Sturgis: how a sanitation CAPA failure became a national formula shortage
Sturgis reveals what happens when CAPA paperwork replaces actual correction—contamination goes national, exposing a fragile supply chain with nowhere else to go.
KFC UK 2018: how a logistics switch became a single-point-of-failure case
When KFC UK swapped a multi-depot network for a single DHL depot, ~600 restaurants shut down within days of cutover. A textbook PFMEA failure.
Chipotle: how a fresh-sourcing model created a multi-pathogen crisis
Chipotle's 2015–16 outbreaks exposed how a fresh-sourcing model built for differentiation removed critical safety buffers — a systemic gap, not bad luck.
Boeing 787: how a containment box became the concession that prevention failed
When a regulator signs off on a steel box as the remedy for a battery that catches fire in flight, you are not witnessing engineering elegance. You are witnessing the moment every stakeholder agreed…
Hyundai-Kia Theta II: how machining debris and delayed recalls cost millions
In aerospace, a machining-process defect that follows a part into service is an escape. A safety-event escape grounds a fleet within hours. The automotive equivalent is slower—one engine at a time,…
Vioxx: how ignored risk signals became a $4.85B quality failure
A blockbuster drug, a foreseeable risk, and an organization that kept running: Vioxx as a $4.85B lesson in what happens when quality signals are ignored.
PCA salmonella: how 'test until it passes' became a 28-year federal sentence
In quality, the first test result is the real one. Every test after that is a negotiation with reality — and the more you negotiate, the more you are telling yourself something you do not want to…
Intel Pentium FDIV: how the response, not the defect, cost $475 million
Intel's correct frequency estimate for the Pentium FDIV bug became a $475 million liability — not because the math was wrong, but because trust doesn't reduce to a single number.