This paper is a case study looking at the successful application of the six sigma DMAIC methodology and associated tools to the medicated sweet ? manufacturing process in a southern UK plant of an international food manufacturer. The application was successful, and total savings of £290,000 per annum is demonstrated for an investment of approximately £13,000. The paper also lists the factors that were observed to support the success of this pilot project and describes the factors that the organisation has found to be necessary to embed the good practices developed into the organisation. These are: crossfunctional and multi-level teams lead to faster progress; mentoring/guidance of the team by experienced practitioners; training linked closely to application; and linking the results of the team to organisational objectives and measures helps to embed the practice.
Total Quality Management is an integrative managemetn philosophy aimed at continuously improving the performance of products, processes and services to achieve and surpass customer expectations. Very little has been published on the fundamental difference between manufacturing and service industries with regard to TQM implementation. The purpose of this study is to understand the concept of TQM in both industry sectors and to identify the significant differences (if any) in TQM practices in UK service and manufacturing organizations. The research is based on a pilot survey conducted in both industrial sectors. It was found that five out the eleven management factors are significantly different between manufacturing and service industries. They are top management commitment and recognition, supplier partnership or supplier management, quality systems and policies, communication in company and cultural change. It was also found that “customer focus’ is the most important factor and “supplier partnership/supplier management” is the least important factor for TQM practice in both manufacturing and service industries in the UK.
Experimental design (ED) is a powerful technique which involves the process of planning and designing an experiment so that appropriate data can be collected and then analysed by statistical methods, resulting in objective and valid conclusions. It is an alternative to the traditional inefficient and unreliable one‐factor‐at‐a‐time approach to experimentation, where an experimenter generally varies one factor or process parameter at a time keeping all other factors at a constant level. This paper presents a step‐by‐step approach to the optimisation of a production process (of retaining a metal ring in a plastic body by a hot forming method) through the utilisation of Taguchi methods of experimental design. The experiment enabled the behaviour of the system to be understood by the engineering team in a short period of time and resulted in significantly improved performance (with the opportunity to design further experiments for possible greater improvements).
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