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ZESZYTY NAUKOWE POLITECHNIKI ŚLĄSKIEJ 2018

Seria: ORGANIZACJA I ZARZĄDZANIE z. 119

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTION ENTERPRISE. 1

CASE STUDY 2

Monika KONIECZNA 3

Politechnika Poznańska, Wydział Inżynierii Zarządzania; [email protected] 4

Abstract. The main objective of this paper is to determine the meaning of quality in present 5

enterprise as well as its influence for the continuous development. There is shown comparison 6

of chosen quality management conceptions as well as description of one of them, Six Sigma 7

which is an innovative approach to quality. Presented case study was developed in a printing 8

company specialized in production of books in hard covers. This study presents the 9

proposition of improvement to increase the effectiveness of the production process. 10

Keywords: quality management, process improvement. 11

1. Introduction 12

In recent years, it may be noticed a huge pressure on enterprises to maintain and develop 13

high quality level in organization, and at the same time to decrease ineffectiveness and reduce 14

the number of errors. In order to gain and keep customers, organizations have to compete with 15

each other. Sometimes it may be difficult, because present enterprises show very good 16

adaptation to upcoming changes. It is essential to understand that the most important in 17

quality management is to satisfy customers’ needs, because the customers are the factor which 18

drive the market economy nowadays. There are many different conceptions, methods and 19

tools that may be used to maintain the good quality level and help in continuous development 20

in the company. One example of well-known conception is Six Sigma which is an innovative 21

method introduced in Motorola by Bob Galvin and Bill Smith in the middle of the eighties. 22

The article focuses on presenting the term of quality and emphasize its role in continuous 23

development in production enterprise. It also shows differences between conceptions of 24

quality management and describe one of them in details. Knowing all main conceptions, 25

methods and tools the company can freely decide which is adequate to its brand and activities 26

and which to use in specific situations. Presented case study shows the bottleneck which 27

appears during production process in one of the printing company. There is shown the whole 28

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analysis of the problem as well as proposition of improvement which may be introduce in 1

order to increase the effectiveness of the whole process. 2

2. Quality improvement 3

There are many different definitions of quality which can be found in literature 4

(Słowiński, 1996). Generally, quality is defined as the sum of characteristics of a product or 5

service which gives the opportunity to meet the customer’s needs (Rogoziński, 2000). This 6

definition can be completed by the definition of quality management, as a continuous 7

improvement of everything which is performed in the organization in aspects of quality using 8

well-known methods and with the participation of all employees. According to ISO norm 9

9000, quality is “degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirement” (PN-EN 10

ISO 9000:2006 – polish version). 11

The evolution of the term quality may be presented as follows: 12

 Quality is efficiency in use – J.M. Juran, 1970, 13

 Quality meets customers’ needs – T. Ishikawa, 1980, 14

 Quality is something when missing means loss for everybody – G. Taguchi, 1980, 15

 Quality means zero defects – P.B. Crosby, 1985 (Rączka, 1993). 16

Nowadays, it may be seen that quality is one of the basic factors which decides about 17

company’s competitiveness. Quickly changes environment requires from enterprises easily 18

reacting for them. The company is forced to search for new conceptions and methods of 19

development. Contemporary environment is characterized by process globalization, 20

shortening the life-cycle of products and technology. Scientific and technological 21

development, increased level of education, easy migration of all resources, high distribution 22

of technology and information, are the chances for organization to achieve better position in 23

the market and being more competitive (Łukasiński, 2013). 24

High-quality products and services give the company competitive advantage in domestic 25

and international market. Good quality increases productivity, while reducing costs, but what 26

is the most important, it creates satisfied customers who are more willing to buy the products 27

again and will also recommend the company to other buyers. When mass production has 28

started, there was a need to introduce quality control to the process and create separate quality 29

departments. During 1950’ W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran were invited to Japan to 30

help the companies in quality management. They strongly believed in importance of quality 31

and using statistical tools in order to improve quality. Nowadays, everyone may learn from 32

the Japanese that it is impossible not to pay attention to quality and that taking care of quality 33

issues is the responsibility of every employee in organization (Evans, 1992). 34

Quality improvement in production enterprise… 153

Quality improvement should be connected with a widely understood customer 1

satisfaction. However, sometimes it is really difficult to define the term of quality which may 2

be understood in several ways, because it is an individual and subjective evaluation of every 3

client (Bielawa, 2011). If the quality is assumed as a totality of meeting expectations relative 4

to acquired product or service it may happen that the same purchase will have different 5

evaluation from a different customer. Despite these variances it is worth to take care of 6

quality aspects. The issue is particularly important for everything which goes directly to the 7

customer. Therefore, it is observed at this time that in management practice many companies 8

tend to implement variety of instruments related to quality improvement (Lenik, 2011). 9

Starting from popularization of technical control in production enterprises, from XX 10

century intensive development of organization form, methods and range of quality 11

management has started. Especially, the last decades brought new conceptions in this field. 12

It is difficult to date particular phases of quality management, because they develop 13

differently in other countries or branch of economy. 14

Quality management can be divided into stages: 15

 technical control – it takes place in production enterprise, the objective of the control 16

is final product and its technical aspects, 17

 quality control – this stage claims that quality cannot be extorted from technical 18

controls, but it has to be created in enterprise, the responsibility for quality should be 19

taken from management and employees, 20

 quality development – this stage contains more functions of management, controls and 21

corrections, planning and control stimulating (Woźniak, 2008). 22

Main conception and standards of quality management are presented in the table below. 23

Data which may be compared are timeliness, range and dominant feature. 24

Table 1. 25 Comparison of chosen quality management conceptions 26

Conception/Standard Timeliness Range Dominant feature

Quality management

system ISO 9000

Used since the 80’ XX

century until today

Used in every

organization. There is no

geographic, political and

cultural boundaries

Formal and bureaucratic,

but allowing freedom in

the interpretation and

application

Standard compliance-

requirements of

industry standards

Used since the 70’ XX

century until today

Range limited to industry Formal and bureaucratic,

not flexible

TQM Known since the 80’ XX

century until today

Known and introduced to

organizations all over the

world

Appeal for common

commitment and

improvement

Kaizen Known since the 80’ XX

century until today

Used in organizations in

which Japanese culture

of work is accepted

Similar to TQM

Six Sigma Known since the 80’ XX

century, but widely

disseminated only from

last 10 years

For now limited, used

mostly in big

organizations

Based on planning of

venture which goal is to

measure the

effectiveness of activity

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cont. table 1 1 SPC (Statistical

Process Control)

Beginnings from the 30’

XX century (Shewhart),

but widely known during

70’ and 80’

Used in organizations

with mass production,

now a fixed component

in automotive industry

standards

Based on statistical tools

and methods

Source: Hamrol, 2007. 2 3

To achieve the goals and realize the tasks of every organization it is needed to have some 4

funds that enable to form the quality of the products at every stage of the product life cycle. 5

In literature different techniques and methods supporting quality management may be found. 6

They may be divided into: 7

 Conceptions and principles of quality management – by using the principles of quality 8

management in practice the organization can strengthen its position on the market, 9

increase the revenue and achieve other benefits. They help in establishing the strategy 10

and goals of the company. The examples can be TQM, Six Sigma or Kaizen. 11

 Tools of quality management – in quality management the strategic and operational 12

decisions at every stage of production process should be made based on facts. To gain 13

actual data, tools of quality management are essential. They are usually divided into 14

traditional and new tools. The examples are a block diagram, Ishikawa diagram, 15

Pareto diagram, histogram, correlation graphs, control card. 16

 Methods of quality management – the methods are more complex than tools. Using 17

methods of quality management requires knowledge from statistics, data processing 18

and consequence. In every method the set of tools are used. The examples can be: 19

Quality Function Deployment, value analysis, FMEA, Statistical Process Control 20

(Hamrol, 2017). 21

Although the term of quality is difficult to clearly define and measure, it is essential to 22

take care of it in an organization. The main determinant of quality nowadays is a customer 23

and his needs and expectations which should be met in order to achieve his satisfaction. The 24

companies need to focus on development and improvement of all the processes and in general 25

its functioning. Different types of quality management system may be found in different 26

organizations. It is important to choose the best practice adequate to the branch and activity of 27

the company. 28

3. The concept of Six Sigma 29

Six Sigma is an implementation of proven quality in organization. Sigma is a Greek letter 30

used in statistics to measure the variability in the process. The performance of the company is 31

measured by the sigma level in their process. Most of the companies agree on three or four 32

Quality improvement in production enterprise… 155

sigma performance levels as a norm, but it may be seen that in these cases the processes 1

create between 6210 and 66807 defects per million opportunities. In order to meet all the 2

customers’ needs and expectations that are still increasing, the Six Sigma program may be 3

introduced and implemented in organization. At the Six Sigma level there are 3.4 defects for 4

million opportunities. Six Sigma is based on reliable and valuable methods that are commonly 5

known. It refuses the whole complexity which characterizes Total Quality Management 6

(TQM). It was counted that there were around 400 different methods and tools connected with 7

TQM which may be overwhelming and difficult to implement and use. Six Sigma based on 8

smaller amount of methods and tools and trains leaders who are known as Master Black Belts 9

and have theoretical and practical knowledge about proven methods (Pyzdek, 2013). 10

Six Sigma may be characterized by six principles: 11

 concentration on customer, 12

 based on facts, 13

 process approach for improvements and management, 14

 proactive management, 15

 cooperation without boundaries, 16

 toleration of defects, but set for perfection (www.projekty.4innovations.pl/2009/08/ 17

charakterystyka-metody-six-sigma). 18

Sigma Performance Scale is presented below in the form of table. It shows the defects per 19

million opportunities, percentage of good products and estimated cost or poor quality 20

according to Sigma level which may occur in organization. 21

Table 2. 22 Sigma Performance Scale 23

Sigma level Defects for million

opportunities (DPMO)

Percentage of good

products

Estimated Cost or Poor

Quality (% Revenue)

1 sigma 690 000 31% >40%

2 sigma 308 537

(uncompetitive enterprises)

69.14% 30-40%

3 sigma 66 807 93.32% 20-30%

4 sigma 6 210 (average enterprises) 99.38% 15-20%

5 sigma 233 99.97% 10-15%

6 sigma 3.4 (world’s leaders) 99.99% <10%

Source: Watson, 2005. 24 25

The goals of Six Sigma are connected with eliminating the number of defects, taking care 26

of the customers’ satisfaction, elimination of time in production cycle, reduction of costs 27

connected with mistakes and reparation and improvement of the image of the company in the 28

market. Taking into consideration the functioning of all aspects of enterprises the main tasks 29

of Six Sigma program are: a measure of customer satisfaction which has to be defined at an 30

every stage of the project, determination of the quality index as well as the estimated number 31

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of products with defects. After each cycle of DMAIC phases, gained results should be 1

analyzed and actions to reduce the time in one cycle should be taken (Aruleswaran, 2009). 2

Although Six Sigma is usually perceived as a method which may bring many profits to an 3

organization there are some myths connected with the perception of its functioning which 4

may result in resistance of workers before its implementation. The first myth claims that it 5

may work only in manufacturing organizations. Although, before Six Sigma was much more 6

popular in the production companies, in the recent time there are a lot of publications about 7

implementation and using Six Sigma in other processes such as administration. Another 8

example of the myth is that Six Sigma ignores the needs of the customers and focuses only on 9

the benefits for the organization. It is rather a wrong interpretation, because every customer 10

brings profit to enterprise. Many people also think that Six Sigma is just another quality 11

program using complicated statistical methods and tools, but actually it is a way of managing 12

the whole organization and maintaining the best quality level. When implementing Six Sigma 13

with full awareness it may bring different profits even in short period of time (Breyfogle, 14

Cupello, Meadows, 2001). 15

One of the methods which supports Six Sigma is DMAIC cycle which based on process 16

improvement. DMAIC is an acronym comes from Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, 17

Control. All these five phases are connected which each other and help to order the whole 18

improvement process. The goal of the first phase Define is to identify the problem which will 19

be an issue to solve in the next stages. It is also about defining all needed resources, processes 20

in organization and support from management. It is important to divide the processes into 21

external and internal, and firstly focus on elimination of the external ones. The next step 22

which is Measure, is about collecting data and information which will be needed in the next 23

stages to compare the results and to show the achieved progress. The most important in this 24

phase is to check if there is enough data to measure. In Analyze stage different analysis are 25

performed using various tools and methods of quality management. It is needed to perform 26

process capability. The main goal of Improve phase is to create an action plan which should 27

be implemented in order to achieve planned goals, while the last stage, Control is about 28

continuous verification if implemented changes bring expected profitability (Shankar, 2009). 29

4. Case study 30

The research study was done in 2018 in the printing company which is specialized in 31

production of books, especially in hard covers. The enterprise was found in 1989 and 32

nowadays it is one of the leaders in printing industry not only in Poland, but also abroad. 33

It offers wide range of products which means that the production process is diversified and 34

advanced. The main customers of the company are the biggest publishing houses from Poland 35

Quality improvement in production enterprise… 157

and other European countries. The company owns three production halls and offices. 1

It employs more than 300 workers which perform their activities on different production 2

machines. 3

The enterprise develops quickly, invests in new machinery and production halls. In 2014 it 4

received ISO 9001 and 14001 certificates. It also got Forest Stewardship Council certificate 5

that confirms the responsible attitude for environmental issues and practical care about 6

forests. The company has already implemented different tools of quality management to 7

support the production and eliminate unnecessary activities. However, there are still some 8

downtime in production process which should be improved. The implementation of lean 9

management was supposed to bring different profits to organization, but what is more to 10

deliver the product to the customers in shortest possible lead time and according to their needs 11

and requirements. 12

Due to the fact that competitiveness on the market is high, the enterprise wants to increase 13

its efficiency and provide products with higher quality. At the same it tries to maintain the 14

same amount of resources and machinery. In order to monitor implemented lean management 15

tools and methods continuous control is used in daily activities. The companies nowadays 16

have to attract their customers by demonstrating the ability to meet their expectations and 17

offering highest possible quality of products and services. 18

The first phase of research study started with the meeting in the company where the 19

processes and its bottlenecks were discussed. Also the management board took part in this 20

discussion. After deep analysis of the whole process it was seen that there are some downtime 21

of the production on specific printing machines. It was observed that two machines has lower 22

efficiency than others and also that the efficiency level is not stable, but it varies depends on 23

different seasons. The main problem was clearly defined in the form to be understood by 24

everybody involved in the quality improvement process. Based on the discussion with 25

management board, the needed resources were also defined. The idea is to offer the customer 26

the product with highest possible quality and deliver it on time. That is why it is important to 27

analyze and implement some solutions in order to increase the effectiveness of the process 28

and eliminate bottlenecks which appears on production line. 29

Measured data, which are the process capacity, are presented in the form of graphs below. 30

It concerns the amount of printed products on two specific equipment Roland IV and Roland 31

V which are four-colors printing machines used in the technique called offset printing. The 32

data are taken from years 2014-2017 and presented month by month for comparison of 33

particular period in different years. From the first graph it may be seen that production 34

process is not stable and varies a lot. There are some fluctuations which appeared on machine 35

Roland IV. The bigger amount of products were produced in the second half of the year. 36

158 M. Konieczna

0

200 000

400 000

600 000

800 000

1 000 000

1 200 000

1 400 000

1 600 000

1 800 000

2 000 000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2015

2016

2017

1

Figure 1. The amount of production on machine Roland IV, month by month in years 2015-2017 2 3

Second graph presents the amount of produced goods on machine Roland V. It may be 4

seen that there are a lot of instability of the production process, similar to previously 5

presented machine. The highest production was in July 2017 which may be surprising, while 6

the lowest was in July 2016. It is well visible that there is no rule which determine the level of 7

production and process efficiency. 8

0

500 000

1 000 000

1 500 000

2 000 000

2 500 000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

2015

2016

2017

9

Figure 2. The amount of production on machine Roland V, month by month in years 2015-2017. 10 11

From the graph below it may be noticed that the quantity of printed products was always 12

bigger on machine Roland IV. In general, the lowest production was in 2015 on machine 13

Roland V while the biggest production was in 2014 on machine Roland IV. 14

Quality improvement in production enterprise… 159

0

2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

16 000 000

18 000 000

2014 2015 2016 2017

Roland IV

Roland V

1

Figure 3. The comparison of production on machines Roland IV and V, month by month in years 2 2015-2017. 3

4

Analyze phase started with discussion about measured information and data. After 5

collecting all ideas about the reasons of downtimes in the production processes, gained issues 6

were divided into few categories of causes, such as man, method and machine. From the data 7

it was seen that there are a lot of fluctuations in the printing process which may be due to the 8

fact that there is a significant rotation of the employees working on production line. Usually, 9

during holiday season when the human resources are limited there is a help from students 10

internships. Continuous rotation results in additional time spent on trainings. Another cause of 11

variability of the process is connected with lack of clear work instructions concerning process 12

of production and setups. It is not defined for workers which activities should be perform in 13

order or which processes may be eliminated. Also technical state and condition of the 14

machine have influence on the process performance. The machinery used in printing company 15

is old, so its maintenance requires costs and time which has a big impact on production 16

effectiveness. 17

Improvement proposition concerns all three aspects which are the main reasons for 18

downtimes on machines Roland IV and V. First proposition is connected with performing 19

SMED on printing machines to eliminate unnecessary activities and reduce the time spent on 20

setups. Single minute means that the time needed for a setup is with a single digit. In the 21

printing company it was observed that there was no procedure how to do changeover in the 22

way to be the most effective. After preparing correct work instructions SMED may be 23

implemented in production process. Another proposition how to increase the effectiveness of 24

production performed on the printing machines is to decrease rotation of workers. The key to 25

long-term employee retention is the recruitment process. It is very important to look for 26

a specific potential in candidates during interviews. After hiring qualified employees, the 27

company have to face much more difficult issue - how to keep an employee and motivate to 28

develop and work effectively. One idea is to introduce the bonus system for workers to thank 29

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them for their engagement. The last proposition of improvement is to prepare good work 1

instructions which will help to identify internal and external activities, eliminate unnecessary 2

operations and organize work to be most effective. 3

Very important in improvement process is control which is the last phase of DMAIC 4

cycle. Control should be continuous in order to be effective and to check future process 5

performance. It may be done by creating a control plan which help in measuring the results 6

and checking if the estimated progress and set goals were achieved. Control is the process 7

which is essential in measuring if the implemented changes bring profits to the organization. 8

It may be done by comparing the performance from analyze phase and after implementation 9

of improvements. 10

5. Conclusions 11

Taking all into consideration it is essential to take care of quality aspects in enterprise. 12

Nowadays, the environment is changing at the rapid rate and that is why the ability to quickly 13

react to upcoming changes is very important. However, the term quality is difficult to define, 14

it is essential to satisfy the customers’ needs, because they are the factors which drive the 15

economy. The history of quality and different conceptions and tools may contribute to better 16

understanding the development and evolution of quality management. In different 17

organizations there may be found different ways of quality development and improvement. 18

The enterprise has to decide by itself which method is adequate for it and which one brings 19

the best profits. One of the presented methods is Six Sigma which based on DMAIC cycle. 20

Using this methodology in the printing company helps in defining and measuring the main 21

problem which occurs on production line. Analyze of the issue is essential to create the 22

improvement proposition which was presented in order to increase the effectiveness of the 23

process. It may be achieved if there is continuous control. 24

Bibliography 25

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