LEAN MANUFACTUNRING

APPLICATION OF LEAN APPROACH FOR REDUCING

WELD DEFECTS IN A VALVE COMPONENT

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Prof. A.P.S. Rathore Praveen Chopra 2015UME1762
Mechanical Department Vivek Kumar 2015UME1745
MNIT, Jaipur
 Application of Lean approach for reducing
weld defects in a valve component

Purpose – A structured problem-solving approach based on the Lean approach to analyse weld
defects in Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) and derive appropriate solutions.

Design/methodology/approach –

 Weld defects need to be systematically analysed for valve performance enhancement. In this
research study, Lean approach is used to reduce variations and waste by annihilating the root
causes for failures that occur during submerged arc welding (SAW) process.

 Define, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) framework has been developed with
appropriate Lean tools.
DMAIC Analysis

 In define phase, project goals and objectives,

process and problem statement are defined

 The current process defects are measured in

the measure phase.

 The analyse phase identifies and analyses root

causes for failure, relationships and causality of
factors.

 Optimisation or improvement of process is done

in the improve phase to streamline the process.

 The control phase ensures high process

performance by eradicating the variations in the
process
 1. Define Phase

Project charter. Project charter is constructed by understanding the current

process with the help of product development division of the case organization.

Flowchart. Flowchart is constructed to reveal the detail sequence of steps

that are involved in the SAW process

SIPOC diagram. The SIPOC (Supplier Input Process Output Customer)

diagram gives detailed information about the whole process. This diagram
gives a clear idea of the processes involved, materials used and agencies
responsible and suppliers for each process
Project charter
Flowchart
SIPOC diagram
 2. Measure Phase

 To have the present scenario of product assembly line, the current state map is
constructed so that improvement opportunities can be identified.

 Study the whole workflow process of the assembly line and make a schematic
diagram of the material flow through each workstation.

 Data Required - cycle time, changeover time, number of workers and total available
time.
 Measure Phase

 Current-state value stream analysis. VSM is used to optimize the process by eliminating wastes
associated with it.

 Time line is used to separate value-added cycle time and non-value-added time. Finally, all cycle
times and inventory times are added up at the end of timeline. Total cycle time is 159 h and total
production LT is 226 h. Following equation is used to calculate LT in between the process:

LT = Inventory between the processes

Average daily demand
 Pareto chart

 From the Pareto chart, it is found that the

occurrence of crack is a major defect which
accounts for 48.78 per cent of the total defects.
 Thus, a critical defect is found from the Pareto
chart and counter measures are taken to reduce
it in the next phase.
 Analyse Phase
 Crack and lack of fusion which were identified as the main defects in the measure phase are
used as inputs to analyze phase.

Cause and effect diagram for crack defect

 Analyse Phase
 failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is used to prioritise the causes for defects
according to their importance.
 Risk priority number (RPN) is calculated which is equal to the product of occurrence,
severity and detection ratings.
 RPN is used to guide the rankings of potential causes in the order they should be
addressed.
 Improper joint fit-up and insufficient volume for the weld pool are identified as two
main root causes for failure based on their RPN and they are to be corrected first.
 Improve Phase
This phase include-
 Design of Experiments(DOE)
 Future State VSM
Cause
 Future State failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA)
Validation
1) Design of experiments - Taguchi’s experimental design is used to find the optimal SAW
process parameters for achieving high quality at the same cost.
 As there are three factors and three levels, degree of freedom of experiment is 7. Hence, L9
orthogonal array is selected to study the effect of various process parameters on the
responses.

Parameters- Response Value-

1) Current 1) Bead Width
2) Voltage 2) Bead penetration
3) Speed 3) Reinforcement
 Improve Phase
Optimum Value Calculation for Maximum Bend Width-
 Improve Phase

2 ) Future State failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA)-

 Brainstorming sessions are conducted with the employees of the welding facility to develop
the solutions for main root causes that are identified and analysed previously by current-state
FMEA
 New Risk priority number(RPN) is calculated and it is found to be less than the RPN in current-
state FMEA

3) Future-state value stream mapping-

The processes that are identified in current-state VSM for improvement are addressed and
modified. Outcome of new process implementation are-

 Conducting self-inspection for machining and marking instead of separate inspection procedure
 reduction in cycle time and LT
 reduction in number of steps and improved quality performance
 Cycle time of the total manufacturing process was reduced to 84 h and LT was reduced to 93.6
h which was earlier 159 h and 226h
 Control Phase
Plan for solving the problems was established to sustain the improvements implemented in
the improve phase.

Documentation of improvements-
 CONCLUSION

 Lean framework has been systematically formulated by configuring appropriate tools into
the DMAIC framework.
 The DMAIC phases have been systematically executed to reduce weld defect rate by 42
per cent and cost saving by INR 250,000.
 The study provided appropriate problem-solving methodology for analysis of weld
defects.