Six Sigma term paper

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Lecture 12

Application of

Six Sigma

In Manufacturing

Examples from the course book

Computer chip company

Computer chip company

Plastic molding company

Computer company

Environmental company

Telephone equipment company

Satellite equipment interface company

Video conferencing company

Example 1

  • Type of the company:

Computer chip manufacturing

  • Six Sigma project:

Improve the consistency of peel-back force necessary to remove packaging for electrical components by the customer.

  • Six Sigma tools used

1) Statistical process control

2) Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 2

  • Type of the company:

Computer chip manufacturing

  • Six Sigma project:

Develop a technique to monitor and reduce the amount of damage from control handlers

  • Six Sigma tools used

1) Statistical process control

2) Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 3

  • Type of the company:

Plastic molding company

  • Six Sigma project:

Reduce part-to-part variability in the molding process

  • Six Sigma tools used

Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 4

  • Type of the company:

Computer company

  • Six Sigma project:

Reduce printed circuit board defects such as, number of bridges, insufficient solder and non-wet conditions.

  • Six Sigma tools used

Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 5

  • Type of the company:

Environmental equipment company

  • Six Sigma project:

Design and manufacturing parameters which could affect accuracy and precision

  • Six Sigma tools used

Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 6

  • Type of the company:

Telephone equipment company

  • Six Sigma project:

Improve process capability & performance for flatness of plastic component

  • Six Sigma tools used

Design of Experiments (DOE)

Example 7

  • Type of the company:

Satellite equipment interface company

  • Six Sigma project:

To identify the best area to focus the improvement effort regarding product failure rate.

  • Six Sigma tools used

Field reporting methodology

Example 8

  • Type of the company:

Video conferencing company

  • Six Sigma project:

Identify the area of focus for product burn in

  • Six Sigma tools used

1) Pareto chart

2) Statistical process control

GE journey of Six Sigma program

  • The Six Sigma program was launched in 1995
  • Master Black Belt & Black Belt training started in 1995
  • DMAIC process was introduced in 1996
  • Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) started in 1997
  • Green Belt training was initiated in 1997
  • Six Sigma focus on customer started in 1998
  • Six Sigma application in finance dept. started in 1999
  • Over 10,000 Six Sigma projects were initiated in 2001
  • Six Sigma focus on suppliers was launched in 2002

Examples of successes and failures in Six Sigma program

Examples of successes

General Electric

W.R. Grace Corporation

Examples of failures

Royal Chemicals Corporation

Diversified Paper Corporation

Reasons for success at GE

  • Senior Executives, especially Jack Welch provided unyielding leadership and support.

  • Six Sigma effort was directed towards tangible objectives including financial goals.

  • The best people in the company were freed up from their normal duties to focus on Six Sigma effort.

  • GE used a formal and structured deployment process of project selection and benefit verification

Reasons for success at W.R. Grace

  • Leadership stayed actively involved throughout Six Sigma implementation

  • The CEO Norris attended many project reviews with regular drumbeats of project reviews

  • They put top talent into Black Belt roles and selected good projects with emphasis on obtaining hard financial results.

  • They also encouraged Green Belts to complete projects with positive financial results

Reasons for failure at Royal Chemicals

  • The CEO did not provide strong leadership and was not clear about the value of Six Sigma to his company
  • Senior management failed to get involved in the Six Sigma project deployment
  • The company used no Master Black Belts and only part-time Black Belts with minimal training for Six Sigma projects
  • Employees did not view Black Belts as top talents

Reasons for failure at Diversified Paper

  • There was minimal leadership shown at the corporate and business unit level
  • They used part time Master Black Belt and Black Belt resources
  • Project selection process and resource allocation was poorly executed
  • The lacked a reward and recognition system to support the work of MBB and Black Belts.

Key to Six Sigma success

  • Committed leadership
  • Use of top talents
  • Formal project selection process
  • Formal project review process
  • Dedicated resources
  • Financial system integration

Key to Six Sigma failure

  • Supported leadership only
  • Use of whoever was available
  • No formal project selection process
  • No formal project review process
  • Part time resources
  • Not integrated with financial system

Stages of integration of Six Sigma

Example of reducing scrap using DMAIC in a manufacturing process using Six Sigma

Define (D): To reduce scrap on the high-speed rotating machine by $170,000.

Measure (M): The Black Belt conducted an R&R (repeatability and reproducibility) gaging study which showed 17.5% variation in the measurement on the smallest dimension.

Analysis (A): A tooling pin in the machine fixture was identified as a root cause due to excessive wear.

Improve (I): The Black Belt suggested a robust tool holder with scheduled program of mill tool changes.

Control (C): A new slot design was introduced with changes made to setups and changeovers.

Results: The throughput yield increased from 28% to 94% and the annual savings of $ 309,000 was achieved.

Typical Six Sigma projects
used in manufacturing

  • Increasing manufacturing yield
  • Reducing assembly cycle time
  • Minimizing changeover time
  • Reducing variation in machine speed
  • Reducing process variation
  • Eliminating need for testing

Example of a Six Sigma success in a small & medium size company

Name of the company: Textured Jersey (TJ) Corp.

Product manufactured: Knit fabric

Customers: Retailers of women’s casual & formal wear

Major supplier: Dupont (which has a significant Six Sigma program)

Competitive advantage: The achievement of process excellence in manufacturing

Operational philosophy of TJ

  • Focus on the “voice of the customer”
  • Establish processes with minimum variations
  • Consistency of purpose
  • Management by fact
  • Quality in everything we do
  • Valuing our people

Guiding principles for Six Sigma

  • Achieve Six Sigma and process excellence
  • Institutionalize Six Sigma in the company
  • Deliver bottom-line improvements
  • Solve long standing chronic problems
  • Create a motivated work force
  • Develop and train Black Belts
  • Expand the role of Black Belts to positively influence others

Successes achieved through
Six Sigma program

  • Raw material cost reduction of 20%
  • Improved productivity of 20% on bottleneck machine
  • Reduction of 15% in cycle time
  • Reduction of 15% in energy cost
  • Reduction of 25% in water cost
  • Improvement of 50% in finished product yield
  • Elimination of non-value-added process activity cost
  • Resolution of a historical product development limitation which led to increased sales

Key to the success of
Six Sigma program at TJ

  • Providing top-management support
  • Choosing the right partners (consultants) to provide Six Sigma training
  • Selecting the right people to lead Six Sigma program
  • Developing the structure to manage and deploy Six Sigma
  • Selecting the achievable projects with realistic time frames
  • Maintaining Six Sigma momentum

Deployment of Six Sigma Belts at TJ

Roles of Six Sigma Belts at TJ

Section of Six Sigma dashboard at TJ

Additional benefits from implementing Six Sigma

  • Increased critical mass of problem solvers
  • Awareness of latent potential within the company
  • Recognition that 99% quality level is not sufficient
  • Adoption of DMAIC as a standard problem solving and process improvement model
  • Enthusiasm of employees to participate in training
  • Increased understanding of what drives process variation
  • Acceleration of Six Sigma culture within the company

Recommendations for small and medium sized companies considering Six Sigma implementation

  • Do up-front investment as capital expenditure
  • Focus on projects which have immediate payback
  • Choose a consultant who is familiar with the challenges of small companies to guide the process
  • Invest in management education program
  • Assign a senior executive as a Six Sigma champion
  • Demand top managers participation in training
  • Select quick-win projects with reasonable time frame
  • Select top talents to receive the training & projects
  • Create time to work on Six Sigma projects

Steps to integrate Six Sigma in manufacturing

Steps for Six Sigma

Identify customer requirement

Identify team for project

Describe business impact

Plan overall project

Start compiling project metrics

Determine long term process capability

Create current process level

Identify variables that affect the process output

Create the relationship between input and output

Conduct repeatability and reproducibility

Rank importance of input variables

Prepare a focused failure mode analysis

Collect data for input and output

Use visual representation of process variability

Assess statistical significance of relationship

Identify the source of output variability

Conduct studies to gain insight

Conduct experiments to analyze variability

Determine optimum operating windows of input

Identify special cause of input

Verify process improvement stability

Six Sigma tools

Identify KPOV & COPQ

None

None

Gantt chart

Control chart

Pareto chart

Process Map & flowchart

Cause-and-effect diagram

Cause-and-effect matrix

Measurement system analysis

Cause-and-effect + Pareto charts

FMEA (Failure mode & effect analysis)

None

Multi-variable charts

Hypothesis testing

Regression analysis

ANOVA (Analysis of Variance)

DOE (Design of Experiments)

DOE (Design of Experiments)

Control charts

Capability / Performance analysis