15 Sep Manufacturing: Quality Problem
Client:
A manufacturing firm was experiencing a failure rate of over 25% on its largest volume product. The direct cost of the failures was estimated at over $500,000 per month. Indirect costs included missed and late customer deliveries.
Goal:
eMRI sent in a full-time master black belt to lead a Lean Six Sigma team of customer employees. Within a week, a plan had been created and causal factors were under investigation.
Results:
Measurement system assessments showed that several measurement systems were not capable and improvements were made. With the improved measurement systems, it was discovered that supplied parts from a key supplier were outside of specification. This fact, interacting with excessive variation in the assembly process, was causing the problem. Within 3 weeks the internal issues were resolved and within 6 weeks the supplier issues were resolved.
Savings:
$500,000 per month.
