DMAIC Case Study - Powder Paint Quality

Background
This project begins in an industrial transmission manufacturing facility located in a town named
Mars. The facility produces three major product lines that vary in complexity, but are considered
customized product. The order-to-remittance (T!" process involves intensive expertise, from
#uoting the order through design engineering, manufacturing, and shipping. The Mars facility is
part of a business whose head#uarters are located in the city of $luto. %oth locations are
considered by many to be &out of this world.'
The Mars plant is considering a major capital plant and e#uipment investment to expand its
powder coat paint line which paints the housing for each of the transmissions produced at the
plant. (owever, before this initiative is launched the plant manager as)s the employees involved
in the powder coat paint production to evaluate the capabilities of the existing process and
improve control of that process.
*n the course of this evaluation, the internal customers (the assembly personnel on the three
product lines" complain bitterly about the poor #uality of the painted parts they receive. +very
assembled product they ma)e for the end-user contains many painted parts. Thus, any part that
must be repainted reduces the ability of assembly personnel to deliver the final product to the
customer.
Cast of Characters
Fred %lac) %elt
Neal ,rea leader (-reen %elt"
Dae $rocess +xpert (-reen %elt"
Sara (ourly process operator
!eorge (ourly team leader
Irene ,ssembly team leader
Ste"hanie +mployed by the powder paint supplier
#ans +mployed by the paint system supplier
Business !eneral Manager
!esponsible for the entire business operation
in Mars. mar)eting, design, manufacturing and
support operations such as finance, human
resources, and information technology
Ally
$lant Manager responsible for the
manufacturing operation in Mars
Quality Manager
!esponsible for the #uality system, focused
primarily on manufacturing and design #uality
Marketing Manager
!esponsible for mar)eting the three product
lines produced in Mars
,lly the plant manager charges /red and 0eal with understanding the process, determining what
improvements need to be made, and implementing the improvement and control plan. /red and
0eal decide to use the 1M,*2 roadmap to start this project.
To get started, /red and 0eal begin planning for the first phase of this new 1M,*2 project (i.e.
The 1+/*0+ phase". To begin their wor), /red and 0eal must develop the 2T34s for the project.
5pecifically, /red and 0eal will have to
*dentify the true customer
+valuate the customers6 needs and concerns, also called voice of the customer, or 72
2ontain the problem, if necessary
Translate the 72 into product or process re#uirements that are critical to customer
satisfaction8 these re#uirements are critical to #uality, and so are called 2T3s
This tells them their first job is to define the problem. %ecause they understand that the customer
must define the problem, they must first identify the customer.
(ere is where 0eal and /red run into their first hurdle. 9ho is the customer: *s the customer the
external customer who purchases the transmission: The assembly personnel: r maybe, the
customer is ,lly. ,fter all, isn6t she the person who as)ed them to start the project: 5he should be
the real customer, shouldn6t she:
/red thin)s the end-user should be the focus of the project. ,fter all, isn6t this what 5ix 5igma is
all about: 0eal maintains that the assembly people are the true customers, because they are the
ones demanding a better coat paint process.
,fter considerable debate, they decide to investigate this idea further. /red agrees to loo) into
existing end-user information regarding paint #uality. 0eal will tal) to the assembly personnel and
the plant manager, ,lly. They agree to meet the next day with more data.
Fred and the end-user
/red consults with the product service team and the #uality manager. (e learns that the product
service people have been )eeping customer-complaint data for years. *n reviewing the prior
year6s record, /red finds that a very small percentage of customer complaints have anything to do
with paint #uality (see the $areto chart below". /red ascertains that the end-users are not
complaining about paint #uality.
*n his discussions with the #uality manager, /red also learns that customers6 biggest complaint
does not even show up on the $areto chart. ,pparently, customers complain most vehemently
about the fact that only ;<= of promised ship dates are met. The ability to meet scheduled
shipping dates is )nown as >5chedule ,ttainment.6 To verify this concern, /red spea)s with the
mar)eting manager and the business general manager. They shared information from recent
visits with the facility6s top ten customers. 1uring these visits, the majority of customers identified
the low schedule attainment ratio as the most critical factor deterring them from continuing to do
business with the company. ,s a result of this direct customer feedbac), the general manager
and his staff identified improving schedule attainment as one of three major business thrusts.
Neal and the asse$%ly crew
0eal decides to tal) with the leader of the final assembly team for products from in the second of
the three product lines. /irst, he listens to the team leader complain strongly about the paint
problem. The team leader as)s if 0eal )nows that the assembly team sends two to three huge
bins of painted parts to the scrap area every day. 1ue to the high volume of waste parts from all
causes, the assembly people dump them in a single scrap bin to save time. 0o attempt is made
to categorize the defects causing the parts to be rejected.
Questions for Discussion in &our !rou"
?. %ased on the information 0eal and /red gained, *dentify the customer for this project.
,lly
The final assembly team
The team in the powder paint operation
The purchasers of the final assembled transmissions
5omeone else:
@. 9hat does the voice of the customer (72" data indicate is needed by the &customer' that
you4ve identified:
A. *s there any evidence that immediate action is needed to &contain the problem' before the
1M,*2 project continues: *f so, what type of action:
B. Translate the 72 information into one or more 2T34s for this project. !emember. the
2T34s must be measurable but need not be #uantitative. That is, each 2T34s must be clearly
enough stated so that anyone can unambiguously determine if the process output satisfies
that 2T3.
C. $rioritize the 2T34s (if there is more than on", indicating which is the most critical, which is
the next most critical, etc.
D. 9hat evidence do you have that your top-priority 2T3(s" are either consistent with the
current business strategy or that they conflict with that strategy: