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The Air Academy Associates texts Basic Statistics: Tools for Continuous Improvement and Understanding Industrial Designed Experiments contain dozens of case studies on the application of statistical tools to real-world problems our students, customers and associates have encountered. In the course of our fifteen years of successfully assisting clients we have seen significant knowledge gains from our training and consulting programs which generated ROI far in excess of our clients’ financial investment in our services.
SAMPLE LEAN SIX SIGMA PROJECTS AND CASE STUDIES:
(All projects/case studies are Adobe files. Click here to access Adobe Reader for download to your computer.)
Reduce Process Wire Loss - Achieve reduction in wasted wire in manufacturing process
Reduce Handling Due to Packaging - Reduce time and materials in production parts
handling
Overtime Reduction - Achieve savings through analysis of factors contributing to overtime
in production environment
Supplier Component Qualification Process - Reduce sample plan and build time
Reducing and Controlling Raw Inventory - Improve cash flow due to lesser inventory
Increase Paint Booth Throughput - Reduce need for outside processing through
increased throughput
Under Coating Minimums - Reduce variation for quoting and charging
Silicon Fill - Mating sheets of glass properly
Finish Paper Product - Reduce waste and increase FPY
Ceramic Capacitor Hi-pot Failures - Reduce failure rate
4U2! Scheduled Maintenance - Increase scheduled maintenance tickets
Singer Returns - Refurb Process - identify and streamline process failures
Insurance Claims - Insurance returns inventory analysis
Refurb Process Kaizen - Reducing product waste in returns/refurb process
Muffler Growth Program - Increasing muffler manufacturing capacity
Harley Megaphone Project - Reducing lead time to process product
Carburetor Main Body Machining - Reducing labor requirements; improving FPY
Technical Call Center Optimization - decreasing dropped call rate and increasing sales
Pricing Project - improving management of pricing credits
Assembly Line Balancing - Reducing labor costs; improving FPY
High Volume Header Set-Up - reducing setup times and improving shift production
Carburetor Final Assembly Line Rebalancing - reducing excess labor costs and
variation in assembly process
Remanufacturing Fit-for-Use Parts Supply - addressing defective components and
area work loads to increase FPY
Apogee Enterprises - multiple examples - webinar slides of overview of Lean Six
Sigma program at Wausau Windows including project result examples
FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF SIX SIGMA PROJECTS AND COST SAVINGS FROM A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES:
Industry: Oil exploration and drilling company.
| Project |
Results |
ROI - annualized |
| Response time to “No Fluid Detected” wells |
1. Well downtime reduced from 467 to 138 days/ month
2. Production increase of 377 Barrels of Oil per Day (BOPD) |
$2,500,000
|
| Soft water usage by steam generators in oil reclamation |
1. Reduced CGS by 65% through proper chemical mixture
2. Increased soft water production by 30,000 barrels per day
3. Increased oil reclamation |
$1,000,000 – chemical savings
$18,900,000 – increased oil production |
| Improving automatic well test process |
1. Increased test accuracy by 25%
2. Improved % of successful “workovers” |
$500,000 |
| Oil content of injection water |
1. Reduced content from 40 ppm to 25 ppm
2. Increased oil production by over 100 BOPD
3. No increase in chemical use |
$800,000 |
| Periodic well test process |
1. Increased accuracy by 25%
2. Improved well work decisions
3. Increased number of tests per month by 423 |
$400,000 – well work decisions
$100,000 – value of extra tests. |
Industry: Water Treatment
| Project |
Results |
ROI - annualized |
| Water Treatment – total solids were 7 times the specification; treatment costs were $.14 per barrel |
1. The quality of the water was improved7 fold while the operational costs were lowered to $.08 per barrel.
2. Training on “variation reduction” was instituted for all operators. New SOPs were accomplished. |
$854,000 |
Industry: Vehicle maintenance support unit (large company)
| Project |
Results |
ROI - annualized |
| Reduce the high cost of vehicle maintenance |
1. Moved technical experts to the field
2. Improved data collection techniques |
|
| Lower “no evidence of failure” (NOEF) rate |
1. Reduced NOEF rates from 30-40% to less than 5%
2. Improved training and awareness of operators |
|
| Cut vehicle time out of commission rate |
1. Implemented improved Control Plan
2. Used Measurement System Analysis to improve diagnostic equipment
3. Implemented electronic technical manuals |
Total: $1.8 million
|
Industry: Transactional
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Human Resources: Employee productivity is reduced when employees transfer to different jobs within the company |
1. Lost productivity due to failure of direct deposits, interrupted health care, large out-of-pocket expenses, as well as lot access to computer/phone was calculated.
2. DMAIC process resulted in improved process flows and SOPs to include a transfer binder, use of intranet, and pre-transfer training.
3. Annual survey instituted. |
$479,700 |
Industry: Large Electronics Company
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Upgrade Monoblock duplexer |
1. Upgraded the product using VOC, IPO diagram, and DFSS tools |
$724,000 |
| Deflection yoke for TV |
1. Upgraded the design using DFSS tools and improved the overall production process |
$240,000 |
Industry: Automotive
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Crankshaft production failures |
1. Decreased the number of crankshaft failures from 15,000/million to 1,000/million
2. Used Six Sigma tools to stratify the errors; most were due to grinding failures. DMAIC decreased the interference caused by design of main axle pocket and flange area
3. Improved operator training |
$100,000 |
Industry: Pharmaceutical
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Pharmacist Information (PI) Outsert (shrink wrapped on outside) |
1. PI Outsert bottleneck on the drug secondary packaging line was eliminated.
2. New adhesion process and automated cartoner installed.
3. Eighteen FTE moved from process to another process within the business
4. A new, smaller, and less expensive outsert created. |
$4 million (after the cost of capital equipment) |
Industry: Alumina Refinery
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| High variability in titration measurement system resulting in high variability in the process chemistry (A/C ratio =g/l Alumina / g/l Sodium Hydroxide) |
1. The pooled standard deviation of the A/C Ratio for the four titration systems in use reduced by 69%.
2. The variability of the individual components reduced from 41% to 71%.
3. Improved plant A/C Ratio control and reduced lost production due to not maintaining target production Ratios
4. Reduced downstream problems caused by high A/C Ratios |
1. $180,000
2. Indirect savings – increased productivity due to less maintenance problems caused by poor ratio control |
Industry: Pharmaceutical Company
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Packaging- downtime of machines on the packing line was excessive causing lower than expected/desired productivity. |
1. SOPs were developed
2. Training was improved
3. Variation in the adjustments and adjustment frequencies was reduced |
$90,000 |
Industry: Chemical Production
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) and Ethanol Separation Unit – improve production capacity and reduce variability |
1. Cpk was increased from .77 to 4.3
2. Normal production rates for MEK and Ethanol improved more than 4% above previous maximum rate
3. Ethanol losses reduced |
1. $100million for MEK
2. $70 million for Ethanol
3. Soft savings - $25 million |
Industry: Medical Device Company
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Combine two existing rejection systems used for tracking defective materials. |
1. The two systems were combined, streamlined, and placed on the web.
2. Process flow created for new process |
$118,000 |
Industry: Machining, Tooling, and Assembly
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Customer Service/Warranty claims- the process too cumbersome and costly |
1. New streamline process created permitting better tracking of supplier related warranty costs
2. SOPs developed(PF/CE/CNX/SOP) |
$100,000 |
Industry: Submersible Pump Repair
| Project |
Results |
ROI- annualized |
| Process –process to produce submersible pumps was too slow resulting in a large volume of lost sales |
1. Process streamlined and waste removed.
2. Cycle time reduced from 24 hours down to 19 hours.
3. Physical layout and tool control dramatically improved.
4. Number of temporary storages reduced from 24 to 6. |
1. Reduced waste yielded $436,370
2. Sales increased $4.9million |
Other examples of project case study savings we have seen as a result of our Lean Six Sigma training and consulting support:
| On time drawing deliveries |
$292,000 |
| Improved procurement system |
275,000 |
| Artificial knee joint polishing |
309,000 |
| Reduce audits and cost of audits |
454,000 |
| Improved water quality and handling |
650,000 |
| Reduced plastic part defectives |
246,000 |
| Improved accuracy of claim payments |
578,000 |
| Pick to Box process optimization |
1,940,000 |
| Part washing process improved |
58,000 |
| Improved water quality |
950,000 |
| Minimized claim liability |
950,000 |
| Coil winding process for spinal stimulation |
430,000 |
| Corona fan test failure reduction |
280,000 |
| Leakage of seal reduced |
41,000 |
| Process induced damage reduction |
963,000 |
| Radiology set-up process |
624,000 |
| Reduced cost of former members |
1,015,000 |
| Sampling plan savings |
40,000 |
| Shutter spring optimization DOE |
150,000 |
| Reduced PCB test failures |
50,000 |
| Dimension PTB Box marking |
120,000 |
| Reduction in Loop mail/miss sent mail |
125,000 |
| Reduction in manual mail handling |
86,000 |
| Redefining the Change Mgt. Process during production (2 projects) |
347,000 |
| Photo cathode fabrication yield improvement |
1,012,385 |
| Reducing sick leave at 8 sites |
2,839,327 |
| GPS Nav System Breakout Box initiative proposal |
130,000 |
| HVAC refrigerant leak reduction |
151,266 |
| Turnover reduction |
125,000 |
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