Defect Reduction through Lean Six Sigma

A large single source vendor providing finished plastic moulds and plastic components to various multinational mfg. groups. The vendor is single source supplier to the group and is facing significant quality problems (high number of defects reported by customers and poor response time of support services

Poor quality and unsatisfied customers had driven staff morale to very low levels. The capability improvement enabled the organization to minimize time spent on fixing defects, rework, recycle and improved the responsiveness and performance of support services.

Defect reduction through lean Six sigma

Client:

A large single source vendor providing finished plastic moulds and plastic components to various multinational mfg. groups.

Challenge:

The vendor is single source supplier to the group and is facing significant quality problems (high number of defects reported by customers and poor response time of support services).

Project:

Defect Management project to improve the capability of the process and reduce the number of critical defects “leaking” to customers.

Approach:

Lean Six sigma DMAIC approach for problem solving which includes Assessment of process and activity yields, prioritization according to criticality, mistake proofing of the overall manufacturing process.

Activities:

process mapping and capability analysis, introduction of DMAIC approach and Tollgate Reviews, processes, training and ongoing coaching.

Results and financial returns:

:: Improved Rolled through put yield from (from 81%, to 95%) Overall defect reduction from 36721 to 9592.
:: COPQ reduction $100000 per annum Improved perceived quality by the customer.

What makes this a “Lean Six Sigma” project?

::Focus on reducing the number of defects found by customers and internal defects.
::Intensive use of process metrics and quantitative methods.
:: Introduction of new review techniques to improve defect containment.
:: Mistake Proofing the manufacturing process.

The Lean Six sigma toolkit:

Process mapping techniques, Process capability analysis and metrics, cause and effect analysis, Pareto analysis, hypothesis testing and regression analysis, design of experiments Statistical Process Control (SPC).

How did we engage people and drive change?

Poor quality and unsatisfied customers had driven staff morale to very low levels. The capability improvement enabled the organization to minimize time spent on fixing defects, rework, recycle and improved the responsiveness and performance of support services.

Gazelles added value:

Extensive experience in Manufacturing Process Improvement initiatives and the ability to effectively teach more advanced verification techniques for defect containment and elimination.