Report for a Six Sigma Case Study in a Large-Scale Automotive Supplier Company in Turkey
Autor: hongkaiwei • October 14, 2015 • Case Study • 567 Words (3 Pages) • 1,355 Views
Hong, Kaiwei:
Groupmates:
- Ji, Yaoan
- Song, Kaiwei
- Bochen, Huang
Paper # and Title:
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Summary:
This case study starts by presenting and discussing opinions from various researchers about how factors such as human factors and company culture, especially in developing countries and heavy industries, could affect the effectiveness of six sigma projects. Because there were too few studies about them that is conducted at the practices level. The authors conducted large number of six sigma projects in a company of heavy industry and through detailed observations, showed what could specifically happen during each phase of six sigma projects and the effectiveness of DMAIC and six sigma methodology.
The whole project was divided into two major phases (wave 1, 2 & wave 3, 4). Phase1 serves as a warm up period in which projects are composed of whole production process of selected products. During phase1 the DMAIC methodology along with other tools was introduced to participants. So after completion of phase1 with successful results, people improved skills on process approach and data-based decision-making. Also, people understood the need for more complex statistical tools and deeper analysis. During phase2, in which improvements are harder to achieve due to success in phase1, more statistic tools were taught through training program and supportive case studies. The results was increased statistical skills among participants and on time completion of nearly all phase2 projects.
What did you learn from this paper that you did not know before and was interesting to you?
I used to think that the DMAIC approach should be strictly conducted in a step-by-step (linear) fashion. But the case showed otherwise. For example, due to the unpredictable nature of the production schedule, the DMAIC structure was repeated as a loop each time the production was due. I learned that in practice, it can be very difficult to finish collecting enough data and act immediately. It may be necessary to go back and forth from measure to define, from improvement to re-measure. Even in data collection phase, lots of root causes could be identified and “emergent improvements” could take place before the Improvement phase. So the DMAIC structure in reality could be composed of multiple Measure phases and Improve phases with Process Walking in between.
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