Showing posts with label Six sigma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Six sigma. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Initiating Six Sigma - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

Lesson 410  of  Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course -  IE Statistics and IE Six Sigma Module.

Robust Productive Process Design

IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

Industrial engineers have to do six sigma improvement or calculation of the process redesigned by them using the latest engineering and process knowledge.

Acquiring and Using the Latest Engineering Knowledge.

Industrial engineering have to develop engineering knowledge acquisition system and develop a knowledge management system that provides them the links to appropriate knowledge when they are evaluating a process for improvement.


Acquiring Process Knowledge

Analyst has to become intimately familiar with the process and develop a graphic to represent it.

Steps.

Analyst observes and records information about the process

One-on-one interviews with those familiar with the process

A graphic model of the process is developed based on these interviews

Group meetings with personnel familiar with process

The analyst records the discussion of the meeting.

A graphic model of the process is developed based on the group meetings.

Based on the comprehensive process chart and detailed information on each operation of the process (Operation information sheet) process is analyzed and improved with the collaboration of the operators, supervisors and engineers using the process.



The six sigma procedure identifies the set of discrete parameters that give the lowest variation. So after industrial engineers redesign the process, that provide additional steps or values of discrete parameters, six sigma exercise can be done. This exercise will confirm the productivity benefit of IE redesign and also in addition confirms the quality of the process also. It is a good integration of productivity and quality dimensions.


Robust product design and process planning in using process capability analysis

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing volume 26, pages459–470 (2015)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10845-013-0802-6



Initiating Six Sigma

Dr. T. P. Bagchi , Department of Management, IIT Kharagpur

_____________________


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd2xKiG8nnw&list=PL8F39D0611CB7BD3B&index=4

_____________________







Ud. 15.3.2026

Pub. 20.3.2022



Saturday, August 23, 2025

Six Sigma Certification Agencies - Course Providers India

 

Henry Harvin® 

https://www.henryharvin.com/ppc/six-sigma-certification




Simply Learn 

https://www.simplilearn.com/lean-six-sigma-expert-masters-program

Six Sigma Green Belt Course Overview

Designed to align with the leading Green Belt standard set by the globally recognized accreditation body - IASSC, this Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Course offers a complete introduction to Six Sigma, DMAIC methodology, how to measure company performance, identify issues and offer solutions using real-world examples.

https://www.simplilearn.com/quality-management/lean-six-sigma-green-belt-training


KPMG

https://kpmg.com/in/en/services/advisory/consulting/business-consulting/human-capital-solutions/learning-academy/business-excellence-trainings/lean-six-sigma-green-belt-training-programme.html

Programme fee

Programme fees: INR 23,600 inclusive of taxes


https://kpmg.com/in/en/services/advisory/consulting/business-consulting/human-capital-solutions/learning-academy/business-excellence-trainings/lean-six-sigma-black-belt-training-programme.html


EY

https://www.ey.com/en_in/services/ey-faas-learning-solutions/certificate-in-lean-six-sigma-green-belt

Course fee

INR 8,000 plus taxes for Indian participants

USD 150 for participants outside India

https://www.tuvsud.com/en-in/store/academy-in/sectors/sector-agnostic/0038-lean-six-sigma-green-belt-training


https://www.6sigmacertificationonline.com/six-sigma-certification-india/


https://iselglobal.com/lean-six-sigma


https://contiprove.com/lean-six-sigma-green-belt-training-certification/


https://iisdt.in/product/certificate-in-six-sigma/





https://www.tqmi.com/six-sigma-lean-six-sigma/



https://www.isimum.ac.in/


https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in/noc20_mg19/preview



https://www.sixsigmacouncil.org/six-sigma-certifications/


https://staragile.com/quality-management/lean-six-sigma-green-belt-certification


https://www.theknowledgeacademy.com/in/courses/lean-six-sigma-training/


https://www.udemy.com/course/six-sigma-green-belt-training-certification-with-expertise-on-minitab/




https://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/


https://iibmindia.in/six-sigma-green-belt-professional/


https://skillogic.com/blog/how-much-does-the-lean-six-sigma-certification-cost-in-india-in-2023/



https://asq.org.in/certification/six-sigma-green-belt-cssgb/



https://courses.qualityhubindia.com/courses/LeanSixSigmaGreenBeltLSSGB-5b38f9afe4b0427509baf378


https://www.sixsigmacouncil.org/six-sigma-certification/training-providers/india-1/



https://www.prosigmaindia.com/


https://www.grantthornton.in/services/consulting/business-consulting/business-excellence/learning-excellence/capability-development/lean-six-sigma-green-belt/


https://classifyiq.com/lean-six-sigma-certification-cost-get-certified/


https://www.6sigma.us/six-sigma-training-india/


https://www.tqmi.com/six-sigma-lean-six-sigma/


https://www.bureauveritas.co.in/training-catalog/web-lean-six-sigma-green-belt


https://www.isid.ac.in/~sqc/gb.html

https://www.aiqmindia.com/lean-six-sigma-green-belt-certification-course.php


https://www.vinsys.com/training/in/quality-management/six-sigma-green-belt-certification-pune


https://imccertifications.com/


https://www.miq.in/programs/six-sigma-black-belt











September - Industrial Engineering Knowledge Revision Plan

New. Popular E-Book on IE,

Introduction to Modern Industrial Engineering.  #FREE #Download.

In 0.1% on Academia.edu. 11,600+ Downloads so far.

https://academia.edu/103626052/INTRODUCTION_TO_MODERN_INDUSTRIAL_ENGINEERING_Version_3_0

Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course








Productivity Engineering - Product Design Based - Process Design Based

Productivity Engineering is driven by productivity science and productivity analysis



__________________

__________________


New Study Plan for September

Revision of Production Technology and Product Design

September 1st Week


1 to 7

Production Technology for Industrial Engineers - Knowledge Base for Industrial Engineers
Introduction - Product Design and Development

Engineering Materials for Product Design and Fabrication
Carpentry

Product Development Process
Metal Casting


Identifying Customer Needs for Product Development
Metal Forming - Hot Working - Cold Working

Product - Part Concept Generation, Selection and Testing - Product Architecture
Forging



September 2nd  Week

8 - 14
Contents of NPTEL - Manufacturing Processes II
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/112105127/

Machining - Cutting Tools and Cutting Speeds

Lathe and Milling

Shaping, Planing and Slotting

Drilling, Boring, Reaming

Grinding - Surface Finishing

CNC Machines

Contents of NPTEL - Manufacturing Processes II
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/112105127/

September Third Week


15 to 21

Additive Manufacturing


3D Printing - Additive Manufacturing Industrial Engineering - Productivity Science and Engineering
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2017/08/3d-printing-additive-manufacturing.html

Design for 3D Printing - Additive Manufacturing - Product Industrial Engineering
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2019/01/design-for-3d-printing-additive.html

3D Printing Materials
https://nraoetkc.blogspot.com/2012/12/3d-printing-materials.html

3D Printing - Production Applications
https://nraoetkc.blogspot.com/2015/01/3d-printing-production-applications.html

Additive Manufacturing - 3D Printing - Human Effort Industrial Engineering
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2019/04/additive-manufacturing-3d-printing.html



September Fourth Week

22 to 28

22.
Energy Management and Energy Industrial Engineering
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2019/09/energy-management.html

Heat Treatment

New Machining Processes

Plastic Components Processing

Robots - Manufacturing Applications

Material Handling and Transport


Earlier Plan - Now to be Shifted to Further Months

September 1st Week

Industrial Engineering Optimization

Mathematical optimization was used by F.W. Taylor. As operations research was developed and more optimization techniques were developed, industrial engineers advocated the use of them in companies to improve productivity, reduce costs, and increase profits. All industrial engineering redesigns are to be optimized and industrial engineers use various optimization techniques to optimize their engineering redesigns to increase productivity.

Complete Course in OR/Optimization -  http://orms.pef.czu.cz/

1

Operations Research - An Efficiency Improvement Tool for Industrial Engineers

PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH
(from the perspective of an industrial engineer)
(From Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook, 5th Edition, pp. 11.27-11.44)
Jayant Rajgopal (From Rajgopal's website)
http://www.pitt.edu/~jrclass/or/or-intro.html

2

What is mathematical programming?
http://coral.ie.lehigh.edu/~ted/files/ie316/lectures/Lecture1.pdf
Examples of Mathematical Programming.
http://coral.ie.lehigh.edu/~ted/files/ie316/lectures/Lecture2.pdf

3

Simplex Method
http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/classes/QUANT/NOTES/chap7.pdf

4.  Transportation Problem
http://orms.pef.czu.cz/text/transProblem.html

5. Queing Models
http://orms.pef.czu.cz/text/QueTeory/QueuingModels.html


September 2nd  Week


8. Simulation
http://orms.pef.czu.cz/text/NolinearProgramming/simulation.html


9. An Overview of Optimization Techniques for CNC Milling Machine
https://www.alliedjournals.com/download_data/IJEMS_V1IS50005.pdf

10. New Technology and Optimization of Mobile Phone Battery
https://theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/110646/Liu%20Jian_Zhang%20Yixian.pdf?sequence=1

11. Combustion Optimization in PF Boilers
http://www.eecpowerindia.com/codelibrary/ckeditor/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Session%201%20Combustion%20and%20Optimisation%20in%20coal%20fired%20boilers_KBP_17_09_2013.pdf

12. Application of Optimization Techniques in the Power System Control
https://uni-obuda.hu/journal/Kadar_43.pdf

September Third Week


Industrial Engineering Statistics


F.W. Taylor himself advocated maintaining of records and data for decision making. The other industrial engineering pioneers also promoted record keeping and data analysis. As sampling based  decision making became more robust, industrial engineers promoted it as a productivity improvement initiative and imperative. One of the prominent areas of application is statistical quality control. Now six sigma, a statistics based technique is being promoted by the IE profession.

15.  Basics of Statistics
http://bobhall.tamu.edu/FiniteMath/Module8/Introduction.html



16.  Statistical Process Control
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmc/section1/pmc12.htm
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmc/section3/pmc3.htm

Evaluation Improvement of Production Productivity Performance using Statistical Process Control, Overall Equipment Efficiency, and Autonomous Maintenance,
Amir Azizi
Procedia Manufacturing
Volume 2, 2015, Pages 186-190
open access
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351978915000335


17. Statistical Quality Control
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmc/section2/pmc2.htm


18. Calculation of Sample Sizes in Work Measurement and Work Sampling

http://www.measuringu.com/sample_continuous.htm
http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/russellcd/PROTECT/CHAPTERS/CHAP08/HEAD06.HTM  (WorK measurement full chapter - Includes sample size calculation for time study and work sampling)


19. Test of Hypothesis
http://www.math.uah.edu/stat/hypothesis/Introduction.html

Test of hypothesis is to be used by industrial engineers to confirm or validate that their redesign or a process has resulted in the increase of productivity. This becomes useful when there is variation in the output from various workstations or persons.  We can also visualize activities in different places. In such case we test the hypothesis that productivity has improved in the workstations where redesign is is implemented.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR THE PROCESS CAPABILITY RATIO - 2002 MS Thesis
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file%3Faccession%3Dohiou1040054409%26disposition%3Dinline

One More presentation
http://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/DOE_Lecture%204%20test%20of%20hypothesis.pdf

September Fourth Week


22. Design of Experiments
http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/data-collection-analysis-tools/overview/design-of-experiments-tutorial.html

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmd/section3/pmd31.htm

23. Six Sigma

http://www.intechopen.com/books/quality-management-and-six-sigma/six-sigma

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2014/05/six-sigma-introduction.html

24. Application of Six Sigma
http://www.intechopen.com/books/six-sigma-projects-and-personal-experiences/5-successful-projects-from-the-application-of-six-sigma-methodology

25. Application of Six Sigma
http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferences/2013/Vouliagmeni/INMAT/INMAT-01.pdf

26. Application of Six Sigma
http://www.journalamme.org/papers_amme05/1414.pdf


----------------


One Year Industrial Engineering Knowledge Revision Plan

January - February - March - April - May - June

July - August - September - October - November - December



Updated  27.9.2024, 27 August 2019,   5 September 2017,  23 August 2017, 11 September 2016,  30 September 2014




Likes

67 likes for the post in Industrial Engineering Network Group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/49280/49280-6309780367545065476

Online Free Access Handbook of Industrial Engineering includes all modules of IE Online Course Notes.


to be updated

Six Sigma Articles, Books, Reports and Case Studies - Bibliography



Six Sigma For Quality and Productivity Promotion  

Asian Productivity Organization 2003
Author Sung H. Park Full book available for download
http://www.apo-tokyo.org/publications/files/ind-09-ss.pdf

Six Sigma Process Improvements - 2005 report  



Six Sigma for Business Excellence: Approach, Tools and Applications
Hemant Urdhwareshe
Pearson Education India, 2011 - 412 pages
Six Sigma for Business Excellence: Approach, Tools, and Applications, based on the author's first-hand experience in quality engineering, provides a comprehensive coverage of the Six Sigma methodology. This book provides the complete study material for students taking the certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt examinations conducted internationally by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). At the same time, it adequately fills the need of management professionals with numerous application examples and case studies providing an insight into the practical aspect of implementing Six Sigma tools. The book begins with providing an overview of the evolution of Six Sigma, explains the basic concepts and then takes the readers step by step through the process. The focus is more on enabling the implementation of the Six Sigma tools by providing illustrations, tables, application examples, and templates as well as Minitab and Excel data files for project work and exercises in the soft form on a CD accompanying the book. The templates carried in the book include the Sigma calculator, Six Sigma project review checklist, process mapping, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, project charter, and measurement systems analysis (Gauge R & R Study). The CD also contains a 30-day trial version of the Minitab and SigmaXL software programs.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mXflPHBh7qUC

Six Sigma for the New Millennium: A CSSBB Guidebook

Kim H. Pries
ASQ Quality Press, 2009 -- 436 pages

"This book is designed to walk the reader through the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) Body of Knowledge (BoK) at a medium level of detail. It follows the nine sections of the BoK exactly, from enterprise-wide deployment, organizational process management and measures, and team management, to detailed coverage of each stage of the DMAIC process. With more than 25 tables and 80 figures, the various concepts can not only be read about but "seen". The appendices include all the statistical tables that test-takers and also those in the field will need. New to this edition is material that shows the Black Belt candidate how to work through some standard statistical tests--just the kind he or she might expect to see on the certification exam."
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=m9e80acjz4oC


Six Sigma

William T. Truscott, William Truscott
Routledge, 2003 -  250 pages


There are a number of distinctive features of this book that makes it different from other on Six Sigma.

It recognizes that there are two diametrically opposing views expressed on Six Sigma, those that are strongly in favour, and those that are not, for various reasons. The book deals, head on, with the principle reasons for such hostility. It cuts through the hype associated with the brand name. It proposes simple remedies for certain defined frailties in the standard approach, particularly those related to the Sigma Measure that provides the brand name for the Six Sigma breakthrough strategy.

The book is highly supportive of the Six Sigma continuous improvement process, provided it is tailored to the needs and expectations of a particular organization. The commitment and active participation of top management is emphasized, to ensure the necessary change in culture and priorities demanded, in most organizations.

Practical guidance is given in the setting up, operating and developing the project by project approach across an organisation. The book also covers how to equip a critical mass of members in an organization with the core workforce competencies required to get the desired results.

The book covers the realities of applying Six Sigma in a range of functions within an organization and also to various types of organizations from the manufacturing sector to commerce and public service. It demonstrates how statistical thinking, coupled with the application of technical and operational knowledge of processes and focus provided by Six Sigma, can considerably enhance quality, competitiveness, effectiveness and efficiency.

Statistical process control is a tool, which enables both manufacturers and suppliers to achieve control of product quality by means of the application of statistical methods in the controlling process. This book gives the foundations of good quality management and process control, including an explanation of what quality is, and control of conformance and consistency during production. The text offers clear guidance and help to those unfamiliar with either quality control or statistical applications and coves all the necessary theory and techniques in a practical and non-mathematical manner. This book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand or implement modern statistical process control techniques.
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=zhNNUhOZafUC

Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies

Ronald D. Snee, Roger Wesley Hoerl
FT Press, 2003 - Business & Economics - 279 pages


In Leading Six Sigma, two of the world's most experienced Six Sigma leaders offer a detailed, step-by-step strategy for leading Six Sigma initiatives in your company. Top Six Sigma consultant Dr. Ronald D. Snee and GE quality leader Dr. Roger W. Hoerl show how to deploy a Six Sigma plan that reflects your organization's unique needs and culture, while also leveraging key lessons learned by the world's most successful implementers. Snee and Hoerl share leadership techniques proven in companies both large and small, and in business functions ranging from R & D and manufacturing to finance. They also present a start-to-finish sample deployment plan encompassing strategy, goals, metrics, training, roles and responsibilities, reporting, rewards, and management review. Whether you're a CEO, line-of-business leader, or a project leader, Leading Six Sigma gives you the one thing other books on Six Sigma lack: a clear view from the top. * The right projects, the right people Identifying your company's most promising Six Sigma opportunities and leaders * How to hit the ground running Providing leadership, talent, and infrastructure for a successful launch * From launch to long-term success Implementing systems, processes, and budgets for ongoing Six Sigma projects * Getting the bottom-line results that matter most Measuring and maximizing the financial value of your Six Sigma initiative * Four detailed case studies: What works and what doesn't Avoiding the subtle mistakes that can make Six Sigma fall short. Proven techniques for leading successful quality initiatives. The Six Sigma guide designed specifically for business leaders Co-authored by Dr. Roger W. Hoerl, a leader in implementing Six Sigma at GE Draws on Six Sigma experiences at over 30 leading companies Covers the entire Six Sigma lifecycle, from planning onward Presents new solutions for overcoming the cultural resistance to Six Sigma initiatives Leading Six Sigma offers an insider's view of what it really takes to lead a successful Six Sigma initiative, drawing on the authors' experience at the top levels of the world's largest and most challenging organizations.Dr. Ronald D. Snee shares experiences drawn from executive-level consulting at over 30 major companies. Dr. Roger W. Hoerl teaches powerful lessons from his experience in pioneering Six Sigma throughout GE during the Jack Welch era. Together they offer unprecedented executive guidance on the issues most crucial to senior managers, covering every stage from planning through ongoingmanagement.Snee and Hoerl offer practical solutions for the cultural challenges and human resistance that face any executive seeking to initiate Six Sigma or improve an existing program. They even explain how and when to "wind down" initiatives, transitioning Six Sigma to a "fact of life" that doesn't require the support of a massive centralized infrastructure. " This is a truly insightful and well-researched book on Six Sigma by two of the leading experts in the field. Theirroadmap for successful deployment is supported by the experiences of major corporations, including GE and Honeywell. Itis extremely well presented in a step-by-step manner and backed up by real business-case examples.


Case Studies

Implementation of Six Sigma in a manufacturing process - 2009 case study
http://ijietap.utep.edu/ojs-2.3.3-3/index.php/ijie/article/view/263/106


Six Sigma at GE

Six Sigma: Why GE do it
Steve Sargent - President and CEO - GE Australia & New Zealand
http://www.ceoforum.com.au/article-detail.cfm?cid=6050&t=/Steve-Sargent-GE-Australia--New-Zealand/Six-Sigma-Why-GE-do-it
The Days at General Electric - Dr. Mikel Harry
http://www.mikeljharry.com/story.php?cid=11

Research Papers
Six Sigma: A Retrospective and Prospective Study
2009 POMS Conference paper


Motorola's second generation Six Sigma - 2002 article

Presentation on six sigma


Six Sigma - Originators - An article by Alan Ramias faculty at Motorola University in 1981

Updated on 23.8.2025,  3 March 2020
8 January 2014

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Production Industrial Engineering - Six Sigma Case Studies in Machining Processes


Six sigma method attempts to reduce defects and improve the process output parameters while achieving the lowest variance. In the direction of defect reduction, six sigma study helps in moving towards zero defects. Six sigma method has to be used by industrial engineers in all process improvement studies using process charts.

Six Sigma Simple Explanation


DMAIC Method

Six sigma method determines the best factor level combination that gives the optimal output with the least variation.

Hence the starting point is the output variable whose measurement or measure is to be optimized and its variability made minimum. The next step is the identification of factors that have an effect on the output variable of interest. The third step is determining the possible levels of each factor that can be employed.

With this as the input information, Taguchi method of experimental design is used to determine number of experiments to be done. The experiments are done and results are statistically analyzed to get the factor level combination that gives the best output variable with the least variance.

Further improvement of the system can be done by engineering modifications that  permit more levels of the factors or introduction some completely new factor that can five better performance of the output variable. Industrial engineers have to look for engineering improvements on a continuous basis. Industrial engineering is primarily engineering improvement.


Six Sigma Case Studies  in Machining Processes



2018

Materials Today: Proceedings
Volume 5, Issue 1, Part 1, 2018, Pages 104-112
Optimization of Process Parameters based on Surface Roughness and Cutting Force in MQL Turning of AISI 4340 using Nano Fluid


The aim of this research work is focused on optimization of process parameters under Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) using nano fluid in turning of AISI 4340. A study of effect of process parameters in turning of AISI 4340  on the cutting force generated and machined surface roughness is carried out. In the experiment conducted, five values of feed rate, three values of depth of cut, two values of cutting speed and tool nose radius respectively, are used. The test pieces were turned on a CNC lathe machine.  

From result analysis, it was found that, feed rate played a major role in producing lower surface roughness followed by depth of cut whereas cutting speed has least significance in producing lower surface roughness.  It was observed that MQL with nano fluid (MWCNT) showed lowest surface roughness as compared to conventional flood system. Thus, with proper selection of process parameters under MQL mode with nano coolant, it is possible to achieve good surface roughness, reduce tool wear while maintaining the cutting forces and temperatures at reasonable levels.



Development of Six Sigma methodology for CNC milling - PDF
Mar 30, 2018 - Six sigma implementation during milling process.  Numerical Control (CNC) machine operation. 
by MN Ismail

Development of Six Sigma methodology for CNC milling process improvements
October 2017, IOP Conference Series,  Materials Science and Engineering 257(1):012009
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320791815_Development_of_Six_Sigma_methodology_for_CNC_milling_process_improvements

Justifying Six Sigma Projects in   Manufacturing Management

Tapan P. Bagchi, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Shirpur
NMIMS Review, 2012
The paper gives justification for investing reducing sigma of ball bearing outer race and inner race grinding operation.
http://www.nmims.edu/NMIMSmanagementreview/pdf/april-may-2012/05-justifying-six-sigma-projects.pdf




Six-sigma Project on Coolant/Chip System Improvement – Batch 1
2011
IMTMA organized a formal program focused at “performance of the coolant & swarf management on machine tools” through Six-sigma approach during May/ June 2011.
http://www.imtma.in/index.php?page=6&subid=178

Improvement of a Production Process with The Use of Six Sigma - PDF
Key words: production process, Six sigma, improvement, Critical-to-quality tree, machine tools (saw, milling machine, CNC turning machine, grinding)
by I Veža - ‎2004 


2006
Ready for Six Sigma

To upgrade machining process capability, Prof. Jerard is conducting research on the process capability of machine tools.

 Currently, CNC manufacturers are providing  two indicators of precision: positioning accuracy and repeatability. But what is the standard deviation of a machine tool?  For example, a machine tool with a standard deviation of 0.002 in. can achieve a six sigma quality level  only when the tolerance band of a part is 0.022 in. If the standard deviation doubles to 0.004 in.,  jump from six sigma quality level to 66,800 defects per million (three sigma).

If machine tools have be made with smaller standard deviations,  error sources such as machine axis squareness, encoder inaccuracy, tool and workpiece deflection, thermal expansion, tool runout and tool wear etc. have to be understood and their impact on standard deviation has to be found. Many of these factors change with time, environmental conditions and usage.


http://americanmachinist.com/beyond-cutting-zone/ready-six-sigma


Updated on 14 March 2023,  19 September 2020,  21 September 2019, 6 March 2015

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Zero Defect Movement, Six Sigma Method and Industrial Engineering - Robust Productive Process Design

Six Sigma - Contribution to GE - 1997 - Covered in the first version.

Zero Defect Movement, Six Sigma Method and Industrial Engineering - Robust Productive Process Design - IE Six Sigma Projects.


Industrial engineers have to make their process redesigns more productive. They have to  robust also with respect to variation and the six sigma exercise will facilitate that task. Industrial engineers can measure the output possible from a current process optimized using six sigma exercise and also  subject the redesigned process to six sigma exercise. It is logical that the process which gives better output in terms quality, productivity and cost will be selected. A multi-objective criterion can be used to make the choice.

Even in lean systems, necessary safety stocks are employed to manage the risks economically. The point in TPS is to attack the risk drivers first to change them for better before using safety stocks to compensate for them.  Narayana Rao, 17.2.2022.



Lesson 158 of  Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course. (Lesson of Analysis of Delays sub-module)
Lesson 156:     Analysis of Delays in the Processes - Part of Flow Process Chart Analysis

Moving closer and closer to zero defects goal improves processes. This will reduce defects and reduce delays that are caused by rework and the maintenance of safety stocks to avoid production stoppages.

Process industrial engineering has to aim at zero defects in its productivity improvement projects. F.W. Taylor specially highlighted the attention to quality in productivity improvement initiatives. But he was not given adequate credit for it by subsequent scholars who blamed productivity improvement for quality deterioration. Industrial engineers have to be conscious of quality dimension. Defects decrease productivity in terms of profit and cost. Additional production does not increase profit, if additional defects offset the contribution provided by the incremental good items produced. Industrial engineers have to justify their productivity improvement ideas and projects through engineering economic analysis. An industrial engineering ideas or suggestion or redesign can be implemented only when it provides adequate return on investment. In doing engineering economic analysis, the cost of defects will enter the calculation and more the defects, more will be the cost and it will reduce ROI.

Industrial engineers have to pay attention to the zero defect science and technology available and adopt it in the engineering systems achieve zero defects along with increased productivity.


Jidoka - Zero Defects - Japan


Jidoka, that is process design and process improvement  is  one of the two pillars of Toyota Production System, the World Standard for Manufacturing during 1970 to 2010. Now of course the aspiration is Smart Manufacturing System and Smart Factory. Many researchers, scholars, industrialists, innovators, engineers and administrators are making great efforts to come out with smart manufacturing system that will give them the competitive advantage in the Industry 4.0 engineering environment. Zero defects is practiced by Toyoda textiles and the objective and practices were further refined in Toyota Motors.

The Toyota Production System was developed by Toyota in the 1950's. Taichi Ohno is a leader in this system development. He wrote some books and also is quoted in some other books. He says Jidoka and JIT are the two pillars of TPS.  Thus, the origins of TPS started much earlier to the special efforts of Ohno and Shigeo Shingo.

The concept of Jidoka, which was originally developed by Toyota's founder, Sakichi Toyoda in 1920's, as 'intelligent automation', and first used on automatic looming machines to improve productivity as well as ensuring quality, by automatically detecting abnormalities. Automatic machines should increase productiion but should  not produce defects is the idea behind Jidoka. A machine that does not produce defects is an idea of Jidoka. Thus Japanese zero defect movement was started by Sakichi Toyoda.

In the 1930s the concept of 'Just-in-Time', was invented by Kiichiro Toyoda as part of his efforts to create an efficient way of manufacturing Toyota cars, when resources were scarce, and waste could not be afforded. Just-in-time depends on getting exactly the right goods (components) to exactly the right place at the right time.

Jidoka and Just-in-time formed the two pillars of the Toyota Production System which was developed by Taichi Ohno and has since been improved over many decades.
https://toyota-forklifts.eu/our-offer/services-solutions/toyota-lean-academy/toyota-production-system/

Supporting documents
https://blog.gembaacademy.com/2007/04/09/jidoka-forgotten-pillar/
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hlgyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://in.kaizen.com/blog/post/2016/10/12/jidoka-the-forgotten-pillar.html
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=K9aYpFdFONUC&pg=PA95#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://world-class-manufacturing.com/jidoka.html
http://alexsibaja.blogspot.com/2014/02/jidoka-is-path-to-zero-defect.html

Zero Defects Movement - Phil Crosby


Six sigma method is engineering solution to zero defect movement started by Phil Crosby.

Zero Defects is the approach to quality that was developed and promoted by the guru Philip B. Crosby in his book ‘Quality Is Free’.

It’s a way of thinking about quality that doesn’t tolerate errors or defects and continually strives to improve processes and prevent errors so that work is always done correctly without needing repetition or rework or generating waste;

The accepted theory was that a certain level of defects is seen as normal or acceptable, as implied by the Acceptable Quality Limit approach; Crosby took a strong line against AQLs for precisely that reason, he saw them as a “commitment, before we start the job, that we will produce imperfect material”.

Zero Defects is based on four key principles:

Quality is simply conformance to requirements.
It is always cheaper to do the job right the first time than to correct problems later
Quality is measured in monetary terms (the price of non-conformance)
The performance standard for a process must be Zero Defects.


The key word for achieving Zero Defects is Zero defects production. Not reworking to correct errors or deviations.

The case for Zero Defects


Crosby explains that defects result in costs which can be measured - inspection, waste/scrap, rework, lost customers, etc. By eliminating defects these costs are sufficiently reduced that the savings more than pay for the quality improvement programme; hence his assertion that ‘Quality is Free’ and his advocacy of the quality management movement.

As with many areas of quality management it’s about the philosophy and the journey you take from where you are now to being a better business, it is the “attitude of defect prevention”.

When your goal is zero defects it sets a standard against which all your processes can be assessed. It’s about continually striving to work better and not being satisfied with the status quo.

Crosby gave a 14 step quality improvement programme.
http://www.qualityandproducts.com/2009/12/08/the-pros-and-cons-of-%E2%80%98zero-defects%E2%80%99/


Lockheed Martin - Proud of Phil Crosby and Zero Defect Program


It was at the Martin Company’s Orlando plant that a far-reaching and influential program was born: Zero Defects, the granddaddy of nearly every quality control program in the world. One of the plant’s first jobs was the production of the first Pershing missile for the United States Army. Philip Crosby was the quality control manager on the Pershing missile program, and he established the four principles of Zero Defects:


1) Quality is conformance to requirements,
2) Defect prevention is preferable to quality inspection and correction,
3) Zero Defects is the quality standard, and
4) Quality is measured in monetary terms—the Price of Nonconformance.


Put simply, it’s better to do it right the first time than to have to correct mistakes later. Crosby’s standards were credited with a 25 percent reduction in the Pershing missile program’s overall rejection rate, and a 30 percent reduction in scrap costs. Zero Defects meant a better product, produced more economically.

The Martin Company offered Zero Defects freely to all other aerospace companies and, years later, it was adopted by automobile manufacturers around the world.

Zero Defects was the guiding principle behind Martin Marietta’s work on the Titan rocket series, which propelled NASA’s Gemini astronauts into orbit over ten months in 1965 and 1966. The end result was a program that launched ten manned missions and had a 100 percent success rate—a feat unmatched in space travel before.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/zero-defects.html

Advancing zero defect manufacturing: A state-of-the-art perspective and future research directions
DarylPowell,   Maria Chiara Magnanini,  Marcello Colledani, Odd Myklebust 
Computers in Industry
Volume 136, April 2022, 103596

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Source: Advancing zero defect manufacturing: A state-of-the-art perspective and future research directions
DarylPowell,   Maria Chiara Magnanini,  Marcello Colledani, Odd Myklebust 
Computers in Industry
Volume 136, April 2022, 103596


_____________________

Manufacturing Excellence - 'Zero Defect, Zero Effect'




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpJ98WObz7w
_____________________


Six Sigma Method - Lessons

409

Six Sigma

http://www.intechopen.com/books/quality-management-and-six-sigma/six-sigma

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2014/05/six-sigma-introduction.html


410

Initiating Six Sigma - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design


https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/initiating-six-sigma-ie-six-sigma.html

411

Measurements for Six Sigma - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/measurements-for-six-sigma-ie-six-sigma.html


412

Data Analysis for Six Sigma - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/data-analysis-for-six-sigma-ie-six.html

413

Improve The Process - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/improve-process-ie-six-sigma-robust.html

414

Control the Process - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/control-process-ie-six-sigma-robust.html

415

Implementing and Getting Results from Six Sigma - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/implementing-and-getting-results-from.html


416

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) - IE Six Sigma - Robust Productive Process Design

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2022/03/design-for-six-sigma-dfss-ie-six-sigma.html

417

Application of Six Sigma. Successful Projects from the Application of Six Sigma Methodology - Jaime Sanchez and Adan Valles-Chavez.

https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/17409


Articles on Six Sigma


The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt - Donald Benbow and T.M. Kubiak - Book Information

Six Sigma - Introduction

Total Quality Management: Focus on Six Sigma - Review Notes

Control of Variation in Inputs and Outputs - Management Insights from Statistics

How GE Stays Young

by Brad Power
May 13, 2014

GE is an icon of management best practices. Under CEO Jack Welch in the 1980s and 1990s, they adopted operational efficiency approaches (“Workout,” “Six Sigma,” and “Lean”) that reinforced their success and that many companies emulated. But,  GE is moving on. While Lean and Six Sigma continue to be important, the company is constantly looking for new ways to get better and faster for their customers. That includes learning from the outside and striving to adopt certain start-up practices, with a focus on three key management processes: (1) resource allocation that nurtures future businesses, (2) faster-cycle product development, and (3) partnering with start-ups.

Harvard Business Review Article.

Six Sigma - Contribution to GE - 1997



Excerpts from  GE Annual Report 1997
http://bib.kuleuven.be/ebib/data/jaarverslagen/GE_1997.pdf


The centerpiece of our dreams and aspirations "the drive for Six Sigma quality.

 “Six Sigma” is a disciplined methodology, led and taught by highly trained GE employees
called “Master Black Belts” and “Black Belts,” that focuses on moving every process that touches our
customers — every product and service — toward near-perfect quality.


Six sigma projects usually focus on improving our customers’ productivity and reducing their capital outlays, while increasing the quality, speed and efficiency of our operations.

We didn’t invent Six Sigma — we learned it.

Motorola pioneered it and AlliedSignal successfully embraced it. The experiences of these two companies, which they shared with us, made the launch of our initiative much simpler and faster.

GE had another huge advantage that accelerated our quality effort: we had a Company that was open to change, hungry to learn and anxious to move quickly on a good idea.


At GE today —finding  the better way, the best idea, from whomever will share it with us, has become our central focus.

Nowhere has this learning environment, this search for the better idea, been more powerfully demonstrated than in our drive for Six Sigma quality. Twenty-eight months ago, we became convinced that Six Sigma quality could play a central role in GE’s future; but we believed, as well, that it would take years of consistent communication, relentless emphasis and impassioned leadership move this big Company on this bold new course.

We were wrong!
Projections of our progress in Six Sigma, no matter how optimistic, have had to be junked every few months as gross underestimates. Six Sigma has spread like wildfire across the Company, and it is transforming everything we do.


We had our annual Operating Managers Meeting — 500 of our senior business leaders from around the globe — during the first week of January 1998, and it turned out to be a wonderful snapshot of the way this learning Company — this new GE — has come to behave; and now, with Six Sigma, how it has come to work.

Today, in the uncountable number of business meetings across GE — both organized and “in-the-hall” — the gates are open to the largest flood of innovative ideas in world business. These ideas are generated, improved upon and shared by 350 business segments — or, as we think of them, 350 business laboratories. Today, these ideas center on spreading Six Sigma “best practices” across our business operations.

At this particular Operating Managers Meeting, about 25 speakers, from across the Company and around the world, excitedly described how Six Sigma is transforming the way their businesses work.

They shared what they had learned from projects such as streamlining the back room of a credit card operation, or improving turnaround time in a jet engine overhaul shop, or “hit-rate” improvements in commercial finance transactions. Most of the presenters focused on how their process improvements were making their customers more competitive and productive:

• Medical Systems described how Six Sigma designs have produced a 10-fold increase in the life of CT scanner x-ray tubes — increasing the “uptime” of these machines and the profitability and level of patient care given by hospitals and other health care providers.

• Superabrasives — our industrial diamond business — described how Six Sigma quadrupled its return on investment and, by improving yields, is giving it a full decades worth of capacity despite growing volume — without spending a nickel on plant and equipment capacity.

• Our railcar leasing business described a 62% reduction in turnaround time at its repair shops: an enormous productivity gain for our railroad and shipper customers and for a business that’s now two to three times faster than its nearest rival because of Six Sigma improvements. In the next phase, spread across the entire shop network, Black Belts and Green Belts, working with their teams, redesigned the overhaul process, resulting in a 50% further reduction in cycle time.

• The plastics business, through rigorous Six Sigma process work, added 300 million pounds of new capacity (equivalent to a “free plant”), saved $400 million in investment and will save another $400 million by 2000.

At our meeting, zealot after zealot shared stories of customers made more competitive, of credit card and mortgage application processes streamlined, of inventories reduced, and of whole factories and businesses performing at levels never believed possible.

The sharing process was repeated at another level two weeks later in Paris, as 150 Master Black Belts and Black Belts, from every GE business throughout Europe, came together to share and learn quality technology. This learning is done in the boundaryless, transcultural language of Six Sigma, where “CTQ’s” (critical to quality characteristics) or “DPMO’s” (defects per million opportunities) or “SPC” (statistical process control) have exactly the same meaning at every GE operation from Tokyo to Delhi and from Budapest to Cleveland and Shanghai.

The meeting stories are anecdotal; big companies can make great presentations and impressive charts. But the cumulative impact on the Company’s numbers is not anecdotal, nor a product of charts. It is the product of 276,000 people executing ... and delivering the results of Six Sigma to our bottom line.

Operating margin, a critical measure of business efficiency and profitability, hovered around the 10% level at GE for decades.  With Six Sigma embedding itself deeper into Company operations, GE in 1997 went through the “impossible” 15% level — approaching 16% — and we are optimistic about the upside.

Six Sigma, even at this relatively early stage, delivered more than $300 million to our 1997 operating income. In 1998, returns will more than double this operating profit impact. Six Sigma is quickly becoming part of the genetic code of our future leadership. Six Sigma training is now an ironclad prerequisite for promotion to any professional or managerial position in the Company — and a requirement for any award of stock options.

Senior executive compensation is now heavily weighted toward Six Sigma commitment and success — success now increasingly defined as “eatable” financial returns, for our customers and for us. There are now nearly 4,000 full-time, fully trained Black Belts and Master Black Belts: Six Sigma instructors, mentors and project leaders. There are more than 60,000 Green Belt part-time project leaders who have completed at least one Six Sigma project.

Already, Black Belts and Master Black Belts who are finishing Six Sigma assignments have become the most sought-after candidates for senior leadership jobs in the Company, including vice presidents and chief financial officers at some of our businesses. Hundreds have already moved upward through the pipeline. They are true believers, speaking the language of the future, energized by successful projects under their belts, and drawing other committed zealots upward with them.

In the early 1990s, we defined ourselves as a company of boundaryless people with a thirst for learning and a compulsion to share

Now it is Six Sigma that is  permeating much of what we do all day.



We are feverish on the subject of Six Sigma quality as it relates to products, services and people — maybe a bit unbalanced —  because we see it as the ultimate way to make real our dreams of what this great Company could become.

Six Sigma has turned up the voltage in every GE business across the globe, energizing and exciting all of us and moving us closer than ever to what we have always wanted to become: more than a hundred-billion-dollar global enterprise with the agility, customer focus and fire in the belly of a small company.


In our 1994 letter to you, we addressed the perennial question put to management teams, which is “how much more can be squeezed from the lemon?” We claimed, then, that there was in fact unlimited juice in this “lemon,” and that none of this had anything to do with “squeezing” at all.

We believed there was an ocean of creativity and passion and energy in GE people that had no bottom and no shores. We believed that then, and we are convinced of it today. And when we said that there was an “infinite capacity to improve everything,” we believed that as well — viscerally — but there was no methodology or discipline attached to that belief. There is now. It’s Six Sigma quality, along with a culture of learning, sharing and unending excitement.

2006 — Six Sigma Excellence Award Winners

Award for “Best Defect Elimination in Manufacturing”, sponsored by Minitab.
Winner: Reliance Industries Ltd (Neeraj Dhingra)

2009 Six Sigma Excellence Finalists
Manufacturing

Medtronic Spinal & Biologics – "Set-screw Breakoff Torque"
Perlos Telecommunication & Electronic Component India Pvt. Ltd. – "Yield Improvement of In Mold Decoration (IMD) Molding Process"
Xerox – "Photoreceptor Belt Tensioning System"


SIX SIGMA PRINCIPLES


Six Sigma is based on the following basic principles.

1. Y=f(X) + ε: All outcomes and results, the dependent variable (the Y) are determined by inputs (the Xs) with some degree of uncertainty (ε).


2. To change or improve results (the Y), you have to focus on the inputs (the Xs), modify them. (In the six sigma method, values of different variables X are changed systematically and resulting output is recorded and analyzed to find the best combination of values.

3. Variation is everywhere, and it degrades consistent, good performance. Your job is to find it and minimize it!

4. You get minimum variation for a particular combination Xs for given set of X and some times by including more input variables.

5. Valid measurements and data are required foundations for consistent, breakthrough improvement.

6. Only a critical few inputs have significant effect on the output. Concentrate on the critical few. There is some effort involved in determining the set of Xs that have significant effect on the output.


Philosophy – Process inputs control the outputs and determine their level of quality.

Focus – An unending quest for improving business processes.

Methods – Known as DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) and DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify).

Measure of Success – Ultimately reducing defects to 3.4 per one million opportunities, through iterative application of six sigma methodology to understand the process better.


Books







https://ashwinmore.com/origin-of-lean-six-sigma/














Updated 11.10.2022,  22.7.2022, 14.4.2022,  17.3.2022,  17.2.2022, 7.2.2022, 21 Jan 2022, 23 Sep 2021,  25 August 2019, 24 August 2017, 3 March 2012