Pharmacist Information (PI) Outsert
PHARMACEUTICAL
A better and more cost effective method was required for applying the pharmacist information via shrink wrapping to a patient’s prescription.
One Plant’s “Go Green” Project
SOUTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING FACILITY
One Plant’s goals included using less power each year, taking advantage of sunlight and reducing water consumption.
- annual electric power use dropped by over 1 million kilowatt hours resulting in savings of over $400,000 per year
- water usage was reduced by over 75,000 liters per year
- 400 employees arefully engaged and motivated to maintain these energy saving benefits
Periodic Well Test Process
OIL EXPLORATION AND DRILLING COMPANY
Improve well test accuracy and capacity
Response Time Project – “No Fluid Detected” Wells
OIL EXPLORATION AND DRILLING COMPANY
The organization’s response time to “No Fluid Detected” wells was impacting production and overall profitability.
Decrease Cycle Time and Production Cost
ASSEMBLY
A leading manufacturer of medals, badges, and service ribbons for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies was experiencing phenomenal growth with a requirement to produce over a million parts per month.
Improving Aircraft Engine Disassembly
AIRLINE
Turnaround time (TAT) for engine repair and overhaul was taking a business on the average of 62 days. The critical-to-quality (CTQ) was 45 days. The customers had to compensate for the poor TAT by having more engines in inventory.
- Variation in the cleaning and inspection process was reduced by 57%
- Overall engine repair and overhaul TAT was reduced 37%
- Inventory reduction and labor productivity increases produced nearly $6 million in savings
Rejection Systems Used for Tracking Defective Materials
MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURER
The problem/opportunity that this manufacturer was facing involved how to effectively combine two existing rejection systems used for tracking defective materials.
Customer Service/Warranty Process Improvement
MACHINING, TOOLING, AND ASSEMBLY
The Customer Service/Warranty claims process was too cumbersome and costly. This was causing unnecessary cost to be incurred by the organization, but even worse it was creating an unsatisfactory experience for their customers.
Automotive Chemical Process and Parts
CHEMICAL PROCESS-AUTOMOTIVE
A leading manufacturer of automotive parts was using a chemical absorption process. There was insufficient understanding of the key input factors controlling the chemical weight from this process with no predictive model available. The current feasible solution was not optimum and had a Cpk of 0.40 and a defective rate of 23%.
- The company reduced cycle time by a factor of 2
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The control phase Cpk had improved to 1 with a 0.26% defective rate
- The project met all goals with estimated future savings of $100,000
Automatic Well Test Process
MANUFACTURING OIL & GAS
A major oil exploration and drilling company realized that improvements to their automatic well test processes were required to increase test accuracy and productivity.
Circuit Simulation Optimization
ELECTRONICS, CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND OFFICE PRODUCTS
The engineer desired a more effective way to optimize the circuit prior to building prototypes.
Crankshaft Production Failures
AUTOMOTIVE
A major automotive company was experiencing excessive crankshaft production failures.
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As a result of the process improvements, the company realized over $100,000 in annualized ROI (Return On Investment).
Data Cartridge Shell Molding
INJECTION MOLDING, HIGH-VOLUME MANUFACTURING
Improve two significant defects in the molding of 8mm data cartridge shells.
Decrease Mistakes and Improve the Cycle Time
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Decrease mistakes and improve the cycle time for loan and lease applications.
Drive Train Reliability – DFSS
LARGE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER
Drive Train Reliability – DFSS
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Robust design changes that yielded a 13X improvement in reliability and a 10X cost reduction
GEMS Lightspeed ™ CT Scanner- DFSS
GE HEALTHCARE
GEMS LightSpeed ™ CT Scanner – DFSS
- Better image quality for earlier & more reliable diagnoses
- Much faster scanning
- Clinical productivity up 50%
- 10x improvement in software reliability
- Patient comfort improved with shorter exam time
- Development time shortened by 2 years
- Higher market share and significant profit margins
High Variability in Titration Measurement System
ALUMINA REFINERY
High variability in titration measurement system
Vehicle Out-of-Commission Rate
VEHICLE MAINTENANCE SUPPORT
A vehicle maintenance organization was experiencing excessive time that vehicles were out of commission.
TV Deflection Yoke – DFSS
ELECTRONICS COMPANY
When embarking on a new design for a TV Deflection yoke, this electronics company looked to DFSS for its cycle time and robust design benefits.
Submersible Pump Production Process
MANUFACTURER – SUBMERSIBLE PUMP REPAIR
The process to produce submersible pumps was too slow for a large manufacturer of these items. This was resulting in a large volume of lost sales and excessive costs.
Increase throughput of the WSH Paint Booth
MANUFACTURER – PAINT OPERATION
Management wants to increase the capacity of the WSH paint booth by a sufficient amount to reduce the need for outside expenditures of more than $50,000.
Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) Production Capacity & Variability Reduction
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) production capacity and variability reduction.
Monoblock Duplexer upgrade – DFSS
ELECTRONICS COMPANY
Rapid expansion of data and communications needs required this Electronics Company to undertake a major upgrade of its Monoblock Duplexer product line.
Oil Content of Injection Water
OIL AND GAS COMPANY
An oil exploration and drilling company needed to reduce the oil content of injection water and improve oil production.
Small Batch Blending Creates New Revenue – DFSS
CHEMICAL COMPANY
The manufacture did not have the ability to accurately blend raw materials in small batch quantities and consequently the blended product was only sold in large batches of standard blends. When it was discovered that significant lost opportunities existed by not supplying smaller customized batches, a Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) team was assembled.
- new revenue stream is projected to add over $50million in incremental revenue the first year
- engineering costs have been reduced by over $200,000 annually
Photoreceptor Belt Tensioning System – DFSS
XEROX COMPANY
When the current iGen3 was to be modified, the engineering team was tasked with redesigning the belt tensioning mechanism on the photoreceptor into a smaller package without adjusting the length of the belt.
Product Forecasting Improvements
INTERNATIONAL SERVICES COMPANY
A study conducted showed that the accuracy of forecasts submitted to the product planning group was very low. As a result, the organization had serious problems with shipments and backlogs. Revenue targets were not being met.
As a result of this project, the service company received over $2 million in incremental revenue. In addition, forecast accuracy improvements have helped reduce inventory and simplify employee work processes.
Water Treatment – Solids Reduction
WATER TREATMENT FACILITY
A Water Treatment facility measured their total solids to be 7 times the specification and treatment costs to be $.14 per barrel. Improvements were required to reduce this cost and bring water quality within required specifications.
