© May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

REDUCING THE DEFECTS RATE BY THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF SIX SIGMA TECHNIQUE
AT LED-BULBS MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Rajana Kishore, Shaikh Saidu, V. Harikiran, S. Ganesh
Avanthi Institute of Engineering and Technology

Abstract: - In the present world, everything is having Management techniques and, particularly, through Six
at least a minute defect which causes a problem. And Sigma. Six Sigma is an organized and systematic
we are facing many problems and defects, which methodology used to improve processes or products’
affect the quality and production rate in the performance with impact on customers, and is based
manufacturing companies. This project work on scientific and statistical methods. This
presents a quality improvement study applied at methodology is applied to repetitive, systematic and
LED-BULBS manufacturing company based on six well known processes. The use of methodologies for
sigma methodologies and techniques. quality improvement fits in the competitive
One of the Six Sigma techniques, DMAIC (Define, environment where companies operate. The selected
Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) & various company for the case study is a multinational from the
tools are utilized to streamline processes & improve automotive sector that uses six sigma projects to
the productivity of the company. improve quality. This project is not a typical Six
Sigma project, since the customer complaints handling
Defects rate of the LED-BULB in the manufacturing process is not a core production process highly stable
process is so important in industry point of view. It and repetitive. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality
plays a very important role for the improvement of of the output of a process by identifying and removing
yield & financial conditions of any company. By the causes of defects and minimizing variability
inspecting & checking of defects of the products at in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set
different sections in production process with the help of quality management methods,
of this DMAIC methodology we can find where more mainly empirical, statistical methods, and creates a
defects are likely to occur. That's why it is decided to special infrastructure of people within the
do work & implement DMAIC methodology in the organization, who are experts in these methods. Each
total making process of LED-BULBS. Six Sigma project carried out within an organization
Key words: Lean six sigma, DMAIC principle, follows a defined sequence of steps and has specific
Fishbone diagram, LED-Bulb manufacturing value targets, for example: reduce process cycle time,
process. reduce pollution, reduce costs, increase customer
satisfaction, and increase profits.
I. INTRODUCTION :
The term Six Sigma originated from terminology
associated with statistical modeling of
Over recent decades, the quality of services has manufacturing processes. The maturity of a
become an area that is relevant to managers and manufacturing process can be described by
researchers due to its strong impact on customer a sigma rating indicating its yield or the percentage of
satisfaction and loyalty and company performance and defect-free products it creates. A six sigma process is
profits. The quality of service can be defined as the one in which 99.99966% of all opportunities to
result of the comparison between the customers’ produce some feature of a part are statistically
expectations and his perception of the manner in expected to be free of defects (3.4 defective features
which service was provided. The competitive per million opportunities). Motorola set a goal of "six
advantages and improvements of services can be sigma" for all of its manufacturing operations, and this
obtained through the application of Quality

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 289

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

goal became a by-word for the management and November 18/500

engineering practices used to achieve it.
December 19/500
In the LED-Bulbs manufacturing company, they are
manufacturing different types of LED-Bulbs of
different sizes. The manufacturing process for the Defects caused during the period 2015(6-
product goes on as follows: 12thmonth)
To rectify all those defects and increase the production
rate and customers’ satisfaction we are implementing
the six sigma technique in the whole process.
II. SIX SIGMA TECHNIQUE:
Meaning:
Recently, many organizations have attempted to
achieve customer satisfaction. One of the most
important aspects of customer satisfaction is achieved
through a high quality product, which also means a
Flow chart of the production process low defect product. Traditionally, defects include
products containing a flow in the manufacturing
process, customer dissatisfaction in the service
1) Customer Specifications department, or documentation errors in an office.
2) Engineering works Lindermann et al. 2003 stated that six sigma principle
is a statistics-based methodology that relies on the
3) Quality control
scientific method to make significant reductions in
4) Approval customer-defined defect rates in an effort to eliminate
defects from every
5) Production Planning Control
product, process, and transaction.
6) Stores
The six sigma principle can be represented on a
7) Production
normally distributed product quality distribution
curve. When the mean is located at the centre of the
The whole process for the production of the product is normal distribution curve, the lower and upper limits
done in the above 7 steps. are six times the standard deviation sigma from the
centre line. In other words, the range of the lower or
In any company, evolving of defects are common. In upper limit defect is ±6 sigma from the mean.
this particular company they also facing many kinds Ultimately, it aims to keep the defect rates under 0.002
of defects. Some of them are blinking, insufficient parts per million ppm 1 / 106 . If the data set falls
lighting level, more heat, etc, The main cause for these within ±3 sigma from the mean as the upper and lower
defects are like inaccuracy in fixing the components specification limits, it represents a 2,700 ppm 0.27%
and soldering problem. defect rate that is considerably larger than 0.002 ppm.
MONTH-2015 DEFECTS RATE Specifically, assuming that the ideal mean is moved up
to ±1.5 sigma, it adjusts the defect rate into 3.4 ppm
July 20/500 within the quality level of ±6 sigma. Motorola used it
August 25/500 3.4 ppm as the target level of the six sigma principle
movement Lindermann et al. 2003. It signifies only 3.4
September 20/500 defects/million parts or operations.
October 15/500

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 290

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

History:  Define the system, the voice of the customer and

their requirements, and the project goals,
The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement
specifically.
standard can be traced back to Carl Friedrich Gauss
(1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal  Measure key aspects of the current process and
curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in the collect relevant data; calculate the 'as-is' Process
product variation can be traced back to the 1920’s Capability.
when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from
 Analyze the data to investigate and verify cause-
the mean is the point where a process requires
and-effect relationships. Determine what the
correction. Many measurement standards (CPK, Zero
relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all
Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for
factors have been considered. Seek out root cause
coining the term “Six Sigma” goes to a Motorola
of the defect under investigation.
engineer named Bill Smith.
Motorola developed this new standard  Improve or optimize the current process based
and created the methodology and needed cultural upon data analysis using techniques such
change associated with it. Since then, hundred’s of as design of experiments, poka yoke or mistake
companies around the world have adopted Six Sigma proofing, and standard work to create a new,
as a way of doing business. This is a direct result of future state process. Set up pilot runs to
many America’s leaders openly praising the benefits establish process capability.
of Six Sigma.  Control the future state process to ensure that
Methodology: any deviations from the target are corrected
before they result in defects. Implement control
Six Sigma projects follow two project methodologies systems such as statistical process control,
inspired by Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. production boards, visual workplaces, and
These methodologies, composed of five phases each, continuously monitor the process.
bear the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV.
Some organizations add a recognize step at the
 DMAIC is used for projects aimed at beginning, which is to recognize the right problem to
improving an existing business process. work on, thus yielding an RDMAIC methodology.
 DMADV is used for projects aimed at DMADV
creating new product or process designs.
The DMADV project methodology, known as DFSS
DMAIC ("Design For Six Sigma"), features five phases:
The DMAIC project methodology has five phases.

DMADV
DMAIC

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 291

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

 Define design goals that are consistent with state that although Six Sigma is normally used in
customer demands and the enterprise defects reduction (industrial applications), it can also
strategy. be applied in business processes and to develop new
business models.
 Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics
that are Critical To Quality), measure product Banuelas et al. [10] claim that other benefits such as
capabilities, production process capability, (1) an increase in process knowledge, (2) participation
and measure risks. of employees in Six Sigma projects and (3) problem
solving by using the concept of statistical thinking can
 Analyze to develop and design alternatives.
also be gained from the application of Six Sigma. To
 Design an improved alternative, best suited illustrate this point, during the utilisation of Six Sigma
per analysis in the previous step. in this research project, several tools and techniques
were employed. Therefore, skills in the use of these
 Verify the design, set up pilot runs, tools were built up within the staff of the Thai
implement the production process and hand it organisation studied. As a consequence, people
over to the process owner(s). involved in the project enhanced their knowledge and
III. LITERATURE REVIEW: skills. As a reason, not only does an organisation itself
gain benefits from implementing Six Sigma in terms
Six Sigma was proposed by Motorola, in the mid-
of cost savings, productivity enhancement and process
1980s, as an approach to improve production,
improvement, but individuals involved also increase
productivity and quality, as well as reducing
their statistical knowledge and problem-solving skills
operational costs [1]. The Sigma’s name originates
by conducting a Six Sigma project.
from the Greek alphabet and in quality control terms,
Sigma (σ) has been traditionally used to measure the One of the Six Sigma’s distinctive approaches to
variation in a process or its output [2]. In the Six process and quality improvement is DMAIC [11]. The
Sigma’s terminology, the “Sigma level” is denoted as DMAIC model refers to five interconnected stages
a company’s performance [3]. Particularly, a Six (i.e. define, measure, analyse, improve and control)
Sigma level refers to 3.4 defects per million that systematically help organisations to solve
opportunities (DPMO) [4], or in other words, to have problems and improve their processes. Dale et al. [6]
a process which only produces 3.4 defects per every briefly defines the DMAIC phases as follows:
one million products produced. •Define – this stage within the DMAIC process
Besides being a measure of variability and involves defining the team’s role; project scope and
organisation’s quality performance, Brue and Howes boundary; customer requirements and expectations
[5] mention that Six Sigma is also a management and the goals of selected projects [12].
philosophy and strategy as well as a problem-solving • Measure – this stage includes selecting the
and improvement methodology that can be applied to measurement factors to be improved [2] and providing
every type of process to eliminate the root cause of a structure to evaluate current performance as well as
defects. assessing, comparing and monitoring subsequent
In particular, some authors argue that the main benefits improvements and their capability [4].
that an organisation can gain from applying Six Sigma • Analyse – this stage centres in determining the root
are: cost reduction, cycle time improvements, defects cause of problems (defects) [2], understanding why
elimination, an increase in customer satisfaction and a defects have taken place as well as comparing and
significant raise in profits [3, 4, 6, 7]. Markarian [8] prioritising opportunities for advance betterment [13].
suggests that not only can the process improvement
generated by Six Sigma be used in manufacturing • Improve – this step focuses on the use of
operations, as it is the case for the project presented in experimentation and statistical techniques to generate
this paper, but it can also be expanded to improve possible improvements to reduce the amount of quality
business sectors such as logistics, purchasing, legal problems and/or defects [2].
and human resources. In addition, Kumar et al. [9]

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 292

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

• Control – finally, this last stage within the DMAIC 020-

process ensures that the improvements are sustained 1432
[2] and that ongoing performance is monitored.
3. Non
Process improvements are also documented and
isolated
institutionalised [4]. BP OK -
buds of
2833A
DMAIC resembles the Deming’s continuous learning line
and process improvement model PDCA (plan-do-
4. General
check-act) [14]. Within the Six Sigma’s approach,
diodes
DMAIC assures the correct and effective execution of M7 OK -
the project by providing a structured method for
5. Bridge
solving business problems [15]. Pyzdek [16] considers
rectifier
DMAIC as a learning model that although focused on DB 107 OK -
“doing” (i.e. executing improvement activities), also
6. Metal
emphasises the collection and 474 analyses of data,
oxide Val
previously to the execution of any improvement 7D431 OK -
initiative. This provides the DMAIC’s users with a K
platform to take decisions and courses of action based
Inward Material Quality Test Report (1 Bulb X)
on real and scientific facts rather than on experience
and knowledge, as it is the case in many organizations,  The next step is that all the inspected material
especially small and medium side enterprises (SMEs) is sent to the stores for quality control test, if
[11]. there are any rejected parts there are all stored
separately and sent back to the vendor.
IV. EXPERMENTATION:
Whenever the production process starts, the required
We have studied about the production process going
quantity of parts are taken against indeed.
on in the company for the manufacturing of the LED-
Bulbs.  Production process:

The process processed as follows: In the LED-BULBS manufacturing process, the

manufacturing process generally comprised of eight
 Raw materials will be collected from the
steps, namely:
authorised vendors according to the customer
specifications. 1) PCB (printed circuit board) fill with components,

 In the next step inward quality control test 2) Lead components placed,
will be conducted by two processes: 3) Soldering,
a) Physical inspection and 4) Lead cutting,
b) Functional inspection. 5) Physical verification,
Descriptio 6) Functional test,
n of the
S.N Part Accepte Rejecte 7) Assembly,
componen
o No d d
t 8) Cleaning and spraying.
1. Ultra fast Step 1: PCB fill with components:
recovery
ESI-I OK - In this step the PCBs are taken from the stores of
diode
required number. After that the first person will fill the
2. Electrolyt PCBs with the various components and soldered
ic temporarily.
OK -
capacitors

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 293

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

Soldering
PCB (Printed Circuit Board) without components
Step 4: Lead cutting:
The fourth person will cut down all the lead
components which are no more required and which are
excess. This helps for the better placement of the
remaining components without any difficulty.

PCB with components

Step 2: Lead components placed:
In this step, the second person will place the lead
components in their respective positions with the help
of blue print available so there won’t be any
misplacement of the components. Lead Cutting
Step 5: Physical Verification:
The fifth person will verify whether all the
components are placed correctly and also inspect any
damage occurred in the previous steps. After that they
will be sent to the next person.

PCB fills with Lead Components

Step 3: Soldering:
Soldering is a process in which two or more
items (usually metal) are joined together by melting Physical Verification
and putting a filler metal (solder) into the joint, the
Step 6: Functional Verification:
filler metal having a lower melting than the adjoining
metal. The third person with the help of soldering The sixth person will take all the PCBs along with all
mission will solder the all the components components and then test the in and out flow of current
permanently by using a power supply of 230 V. and the input and output voltage of the current and also
the efficiency of the bulb.

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 294

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

Functional Verification
Step 7: Assembly:
After the functional verification of the PCBs it will be
assembled with lamp body, pc cover, base holder etc, Flow Chart of Work Operation Process
DMAIC METHODOLOGY:
The DMAIC steps are the true backbone of
any process improvement initiative. The steps make
sense, they are easy to understand and they are logical
in their sequence. The steps allow a team to adequately
scope the problem, measure the current performance,
analyze the root causes of problems and inefficiency,
Assembling Parts test and verify improvement recommendations and
then implement changes for sustainability over the
long haul.
1. Define
The first stage of the Six Sigma and DMAIC’s
methodology is “define”. This stage aims at defining
the project’s scope and boundary, identifying the voice
of the customer (i.e. customer requirements) and goals
Assembled Bulb of the project. However, before defining these
Step 8: Cleaning and Spraying: elements within the project, the Six Sigma team has to
be set up. In the case of this improvement project, the
A regular incandescent bulb lasts between 1,000 and
team was comprised of three people, which included a
3,000 hours. That’s plenty of time to collect a thin
production manager, an experienced operator from the
layer of dust. And with the long life spans of LED light
shop-floor and the improvement project leader.
bulbs (6,000 – 8,000 hours and 20,000 – 50,000 hours
respectively) they are bound to get even dirtier. But Indicating the project’s scope was the next step within
regardless of technology, they clean the light bulbs by the “define” stage of DMAIC. The voice of the
simply wiping them off with a soft, dry cloth. They customer (VOC) concept, which means identifying
don’t use a damp cloth because the water might enter what the customers want and serving priorities to their
crevices in the bulb that can damage the electronics, needs, was used in this project to define, based on
and they don’t use cleaning solutions on the bulbs to customer requirements, the selected project’s
avoid damaging the glass. As fluorescent tubes are objective. From this point, VOC also ensured that the
typically made of more durable materials than other project problem, which was defects reduction, became
bulbs, it’s usually fine to use a damp cloth on them. the first priority for the improvement team and
After cleaning they will be sprayed with a liquid which organisation.
doesn’t effect the glass of the bulb and they are In order to ensure that the research is in-control and
packed. focuses on the project problem explicitly, the
boundary of the project had to also be defined and

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 295

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

clearly indicated. Finally, a project charter, which is a

tool used to document the targets of the project and
other parameters at the outset, was employed to state
and present the project’s information structure. The
project charter, in other words, summarized the
Defects summary (before the improvement)
project’s scope, boundary, VOC, goal and the team’s
role in this research project. . The project charter is
presented in Table:

2. easure Phase
The “measure” phase of the DMAIC problem solving
methodology consists of establishing reliable metrics
to help monitoring progress towards the goal(s), which Pareto Chart of type of Defect
in this research consisted of reducing the number of
quality defects in the LED-BULBS manufacturing
process. Particularly, in this project the “measure”
phase meant the definition and selection of effective
metrics in order to clarify the major defects which
needed to be reduced. Also, a collection plan was
adopted for the data to be gathered efficiently. One of
the metrics defined was simply number of defects per
type. In addition, two other metrics were used to
LED-BULBs manufacturing process – current and
compare the “before and after” states of the LED-
expected states
BULBS manufacturing process when conducting the
Six Sigma’s project. These factors were quality level, 3. Analysis phase:
which was measured through DPMO, and the Sigma
This phase in the DMAIC improvement
level of the process. After defining the total number of
defects, the DPMO and Sigma level of the gloves methodology involves the analysis of the system, in
manufacturing process were calculated. According to this case the manufacturing process that produces the
the company’s records, there were two major types of LED-BULBS, in order to identify ways to reduce the
defects which had contributed to the LED-BULBS to gap between the current performance and the desired
be rejected by the customers. These two major defects goal(s). To do this, an analysis of the data is performed
were blinking and excess soldering. In addition, other in this phase, followed by an investigation to
less frequent defects were grouped and categorized as determine and understand the root cause of the
“miscellaneous. Finally, the miscellaneous category problem (defects). In order to gain an enhanced
consisted of other types of defects such as misshaped, comprehension and understanding of the LED-BULBs
heating problem etc. The defects data was collected for production process, which according to Aguilar-Saven
one month. The results are summarized in the is a main requirement for improvement, the analysis
following table phase of this project started from illustrating the
manufacturing process using a flow chart, see

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 296

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

Figure12. Figure 12 presents a detail picture of the

different stages of the LED-BULBs manufacturing
process. Once that the inputs, outputs and sequence of
the process were understood with the help of the flow
chart, an analysis was carried out to indentify the root
cause(s) of the defects. Several brainstorming sessions
were conducted to identify, based on the improvement
team members’ experience, possible causes as to why
the blinking problem in LED-BULBs occurred.

and S chart

In the above figure it is shown that the circled ones are

the defective pieces which are above and below the
UCL & LCL. And the points which are on the UCL &
LCL are termed as critical points which are also should
be controlled. In the next figure 14 it is shown that the
graph of the variation between the points.

Standard Deviation Chart

Flowchart of Manufacturing Process

4. Improve phase:
To identify the source of variation defect arising factor
After the root cause(s) has/have been determined, the
we are using control charts. In this type of control chart
DMAIC’s “improve” phase aims at identifying
, the and s chart is used to monitor variables
solutions to reduce and tackle them. Stamatis suggests
data when samples are collected at regular intervals
the use of design of experiments (DOE), which is
from the manufacturing process in the industry.
defined as a statistical technique to investigate effects
For a sample size of 25 bulbs within 5 lots the of multiple factors, in the “improve” phase. According
and s chart is represented as follows: to Montgomery, benefits of DOE can be seen as
enhancing process yields, decreasing variability and
lowering the overall expenses. In particular, an
experiment was designed to investigate whether the
parameters improper training and soldering had a
negative effect on the process, causing blinking bulbs.
To do this and in order to analyze the experiment’s

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 297

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

results, we used PARETO CHARTS as an  Six Sigma Calculator

experimental tool. Pareto Chart is a statistical model
Before Implementation of six sigma technique
for comparing differences among means of more than
two variables that cause defects. However, if there are The calculation of a Sigma level, is based on the number of defects per
two sources of data (like in this case) that need to be
investigated, the Pareto Chart, which is a statistical
methodology for analyzing the effect of two factors, is In order to calculate the DPMO, three distinct pieces of information are
required. The two factors which were mentioned a) the number of units produced
earlier were investigated with 25-6W bulbs. These
parameters were defined based on the process b) the number of defect opportunities per unit
knowledge and experience of the team members, c) the number of defects
specifically the production manager and shop-floor
operator. From this point, the experiment was
conducted with two parameters. As the statistical test
aimed at investigating whether the two factors resulted
in defective bulbs, a hypothesis that indicated that a
variation in the number of defects would occur if the
soldering and cleaning were not done perfectly. The
results of Pareto Chart analysis were given below:

Defects summary (after the improvement) = (1,000,000 X 143) / (2400X 5)

DPMO = 11916.6
Sigma Level = 3.7

Percentage of defects between before and after the

improvement

After Implementation of six sigma technique:

= (1,000,000 X 15) / (2400 X 5)

“Before and after” states of conducting the Six
Sigma project in the LED-BULBs manufacturing DPMO = 1250
process Sigma Level = 4.56
(Pareto Chart Analysis)  Cost of Quality:

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 298

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

The effective cost component of a product or a service Total Cost of Quality: Rs 500/-
that is a attributable to the quality aspects can be called
as a “Cost of Quality”.
Note: The above result is only considering for one of
The costs of quality are:
the type of LED Bulbs (6Watts).
 Failure costs.
 Hidden costs.  KAIZEN Principle:
 Appraisal costs and KAIZEN is a commonsense approach to low
 Prevention costs. cost management. It is a Japanese term meaning
“change for the better”. Applied to business
organizations, it implies small, continual improvement
Exercise: involving everyone and without spending much
money.
Cost of Quality for a LED-BULB Manufacturer-
(100 Nos. per day) Kaizen can also be defined as

a) Sale price of LED-BULB  The systematic,

= Rs 150/- per unit
 Organized improvement of processes,
 By those who operate them,
Old cost New cost
 Using straight forward methods of
b) Prevention cost: Process control & Lab.
analysis.
Rs 96/- Rs 180/-
The three principles upon which KAIZEN thinking
c) Appraisal cost: Evaluation of conformance
and organizational culture are based.
Rs 120/- Rs 192/-
 Process and results: The old approach to
d) Internal failure cost is @ --% rejections per
management is to focus on results (CTQs). It
day @ 5% (550/-) @ 2% (450/-)
ignores the way in which things are done and
e) Other cost related to int. failure so misses any opportunity for improvement
Rs 58.5/- Rs 36/- in the process. In contrast, the six sigma
f) External failure cost is @ --% returns per day approach is to focus on CTPs.
@ 1%(150/-) @ nil%  Systemic Thinking: Looking at all activities
g) Costs like freight and octroi formalities as processes and putting together the
Rs 36/- nil processes in the right sequence, such that
they result in consistent output i.e. right first
h) Rejection analysis, cost of C.A. time, and right every time.
Rs 58.5/- Rs 36/-
 Non-Blaming Approach to problem-solving:
i) Costs of visit to customer The traditional tendency is to find whom to
Rs 96/- nil blame for a blame for a blame for a
j) Intangible costs (loss of good will, business, problem/mistake. In Kaizen, the focus is not
etc) on blaming people. Instead, people work
jointly to find a solution to the problem such
k) Rs 180/- nil
that same mistake must not occur again.
In this approach, the focus is to understand how things
Rs 1345/- Rs 894/- work and how they can be improved, instead of

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 299

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

judging whether things already done are good or bad, and S chart after controlling
right or wrong.
In this control phase we also controlled the stores
Kaizen typically starts with studying the way workers problem by using the two methodologies A-B-C
perform their jobs. The aim of this analysis is to analysis and V-E-D analysis:
develop plant people to recognize and make
 ABC Analysis:
incremental improvements that could be made on a
daily basis by those involved with the production In materials management, the ABC
process. analysis (or Selective Inventory Control) is
an inventory categorization technique. ABC analysis
Kaizen in elimination of waste:
divides an inventory into three categories- "A items"
If we consider the value added activities as those with very tight control and accurate records, "B items"
activities that directly change materials and/or with less tightly controlled and good records, and "C
information into a product or service for which a items" with the simplest controls possible and minimal
customer is willing to pay, then: records.

 Examples of value adding operations would The ABC analysis provides a mechanism for
be fabrication, machining, polishing, identifying items that will have a significant impact on
assembly and processing. overall inventory cost,] while also providing a
mechanism for identifying different categories of
 Examples of non value adding operations
stock that will require different management and
would include unnecessary transportation,
controls.
over-inspection, scrap, over-production,
waiting and excessive inventory. The ABC analysis suggests that inventories of an
organization are not of equal value. Thus, the
Steps for waste elimination would include:
inventory is grouped into three categories (A, B, and
 Go to where the work is being performed, C) in order of their estimated importance.

 Observe what is going on, 'A' items are very important for an organization.
Because of the high value of these 'A' items, frequent
 Recognize the waste, value analysis is required. In addition to that, an
 Take steps to eliminate it. organization needs to choose an appropriate order
pattern (e.g. ‘Just- in- time’) to avoid excess capacity.
'B' items are important, but of course less important
Control Phase: than 'A' items and more important than 'C' items.
Therefore 'B' items are intergroup items. 'C' items are
The aim of the “control” phase is to sustain the gains
marginally important.
from processes which have been improved by
institutionalizing process or product improvements  ABC analysis categories:
and controlling ongoing operations.
There are no fixed thresholds for each class, different
After reducing the defect rate the production rate proportion can be applied based on objective and
increased as number of defective bulbs are decreased. criteria. ABC Analysis is similar to the Pareto
This is shown in the control charts as follows: principle in that the 'A' items will typically account for
a large proportion of the overall value but a small
percentage of number of items.
Example of ABC class are:
‘A’ items – 20% of the items accounts for 70% of the
annual consumption value of the items.
‘B’ items - 30% of the items accounts for 25% of the
annual consumption value of the items.

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 300

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

‘C’ items - 50% of the items accounts for 5% of the Thus we need to manage the materials in stock
annual consumption value of the items. accordingly.
Another recommended breakdown of ABC classes:  Vital goods must always be available, while
preventing they are overloaded as their cost
"A" approximately 10% of items or 66.6% of value
is high.
"B" approximately 20% of items or 23.3% of value
 Essential goods with high inventory stock,
"C" approximately 70% of items or 10.1% of value as they may hamper production and they are
 Advantages: cheap and require not a lot of space. So they
can be ordered in bulk.
 Facilities selective control.
 Desirable goods may or may not be in stock
 Saves valuable time. or as per the requirement.
 Eliminates unnecessary works.
 Results better efficiency. Three categories based on the critically of inventory
 Economic control of items in inventory. (bulbs) items. VED analysis aims at ascertaining the
importance of the bulb and its impact on
 Control over the usage of store materials. manufacturing and other activities.
 Reduce the investment in inventories.  Application of VED on Spare parts:
 V-E-D Analysis:  Spare parts which are vital manufacturing
It is always necessary to understand what is lying in and other activities are grouped into “V”
our inventory. Hence we need to classify all items and category.
then proceed to the control process. This classifying  Spare parts which are essential for
can be done with the help of VED analysis, where: manufacturing and other operational are
V = VITAL. These are the most important materials grouped into “E” category.
in the production of a product. They are usually a hard  Spare parts which are only terrible but not
core requirement of the product. They are usually essential for performing manufacturing
costly and need to be maintained efficiently. Example: operations and other operations are grouped
in manufacturing of automobiles, tyre assembly is a as “D” category.
vital item.
E = ESSENTIAL. These are additions to the vital
items. They are usually sub assemblies and need to  Characteristics of Spare parts:
always be in stock. They are cheap as compared to the
vital items, but can bring the whole production to a halt  The statistics of failure plays a key role in
if they're not available on time. For example if we have the spare parts management.
the tire assembly, but we don't have washers on time,  Spare parts are considered as special
the whole production has to be halted, as it would be independent demand bulbs which obtain
impossible to assemble as per safety norms. their demand from the failure component
D = DESIRABLE. These are not that important with characteristics and also with a unique supply
respect to production, and the process can be situation.
postponed. The production won't be hampered in any  The problems of inventory management
way. For example, the music system in the car could have been observed in the spare parts
be a desirable item. If they're missing, the cars can still management.
be assembled and kept aside. As soon as they become
available they can be fitted. The purpose of this step is to sustain the gains. Monitor
the improvements to ensure continued and sustainable

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 301

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

success. Create a control plan. Update documents, [1] Bhote, K.R. and Bhote, A.K., 1991, World-class
business process and training records as required. quality: using design of experiments to make it
A Control chart can be useful during the Control stage happen, 2nd Edition, American Management
to assess the stability of the improvements over time Association, New York.
by serving as [2] Omachonu, V. K. and Ross, J. E., 2004, Principles
of total quality, 3rd Edition, CRC Press LLC,
1. A guide to continue monitoring the process
Florida.
and
[3] Pyzdek, T. and Keller, P. A., 2010, The Six Sigma
2. Provide a response plan for each of the handbook: a complete guide for greenbelts, black
measures being monitored in case the process belts, and managers at all levels, 3rd Edition,
becomes unstable. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., New York.
[4] Stamatis, D.H., 2004, Six Sigma fundamentals: a
A B C
complete guide to the system, methods and tools,
V 90% 95% 99% Productivity Press, New York.
[5] Brue, G. and Howes, R. 2005, Six Sigma: the
E 80% 85% 90%
MacGraw-Hill 36 hours course, MacGraw-Hill,
D 70% 75% 80% New York.
[6] Dale, B.G., Wiele, T. and Iwaarden, J., 2007,
VED analysis
Managing Quality, 5th Edition, Blackwell
CONCLUSION: Publishing Ltd., Oxford.
[7] Breyfogle III, F. W., Cupello, J. M. and Meadows,
B., 2001, Managing Six Sigma, John Wiley &
Six Sigma looks at all work as a series of Sons Inc., New York.
processes with inherent variations, which can cause [8] Markarian, J., 2004, “Six Sigma: quality
waste or inefficiency. Focusing on those processes processing through statistical analysis”, Plastics,
with greatest impact on business performance, as Additives and Compounding, 9(4), 28-31.
defined by leadership teams, the methodology [9] Kumar, U.D., Nowicki, D., Ramirez-Marquez,
involves statistical analysis to quantify repeated J.E. and Verma, D., 2008, “On the optimal
common cause variations - which can then be reduced selection of process alternatives in a Six Sigma
by the Six Sigma team. Six Sigma becomes a implementation”, International Journal of
continuous process for quality improvement and cost Production Economics, 111 (2), pp. 456-467.
reduction flowing throughout the company. [10] Banuelas, R., Antony, J. and Brace, M., 2005,
Six Sigma developed the capability of reducing “An application of Six Sigma to reduce waste”,
problems or issues effecting customer expectations on Quality and Reliability Engineering International,
key business processes. Six Sigma has provided the 21(6), 553-570.
opportunity to drive forward important customer [11] Garza-Reyes, J.A., Oraifige, I., Soriano-Meier,
focused initiatives across the Cummins global H., Harmanto D. and Rocha-Lona, L., 2010, “An
organization. empirical application of Six Sigma and DMAIC
methodology for business process improvement”,
As an improvement and cost reduction process, Six Proceedings of the 20th International Conference
Sigma is equally valid for marketing and product on Flexible Automation and Intelligent
development as well as manufacturing and customer Manufacturing (FAIM), July 12-14, California,
services. Six Sigma improvement projects and US, 92-100.
techniques are now the cornerstone of Cummins [12] Gijo, E.V., Scaria, J. and Antony, J., 2011,
continued success in cost reduction and quality “Application of Six Sigma methodology to reduce
improvement. defects of a grinding process”, Quality and
REFERENCES: Reliability Engineering International, [Online] (3
May 2011).

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 302

 © May 2016 | IJIRT | Volume2 Issue 12 | ISSN: 2349-6002

[13] Adams, C.W., Gupta, P. and Wilson Jr., C.E.,

2003, Six Sigma deployment, Elsevier Science,
Burlington USA.
[14] Deming, W.E., 1993, The new economic for
industry, government, education, MIT Center for
Advanced Engineering Studies, Cambridge, MA.
[15] Hammer, M. and Goding, J., 2001, “Putting Six
Sigma in perspective”, Quality.
[16] Pyzdek, T., 2003, The Six Sigma handbook: a
complete guide for green belts, black belts, and
managers at all levels, McGraw-Hill Companies
Inc., New York, NY.
[17] Dr. N. V. S. Raju., 2013, Industrial Engineering
and Management

IJIRT 143537 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 303