Capability enhancement of a metal casting process in a small steel foundry through Six Sigma: a case study

Purpose -This paper aims to clarify emerging aspects and trends of Six Sigma literature over 17 years, from 1992 to 2008. Design/methodology/approach -The literature on Six Sigma from 417 referred journal articles in business and management disciplines, information systems and computer science, engineering, healthcare, etc. were systematically analyzed based on a scheme that consists of four distinct dimensions: publication year and journal, major themes, research type, and application sector (i.e. manufacturing vs service). Findings -A number of key findings emerged: Six Sigma research is growing rapidly, covering various disciplines and domains with a great focus on Six Sigma tools and techniques; empirical research is dominant with more emphasis on case study approach; and the growing gap between manufacturing-and service-focused articles implies the return of Six Sigma to manufacturing as its initial base. Although a large volume of literature is available on Six Sigma, the topic is still under development and offers potential opportunities for further research and applications. Originality/value -The paper provides both academics and practitioners with a useful framework for pursuing rigorous Six Sigma research through explaining the chronological growth of Six Sigma, challenging themes of Six Sigma research, dominating research types and application areas in Six Sigma, and the major sources of Six Sigma information.

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“…Cupryk et al, 2007;Morusca and Cupryk, 2005), steel (e.g. Sarkar, 2007a, b) and aluminum (e.g. Das and Hughes, 2006) Taner et al (2007).…”

Section: No Unified Standards Have Been Accepted Regarding the Contents Of Belt Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Six Sigma quality: a structured review and implications for future research

Aboelmaged

2010

International Journal of Quality &Amp; Reliability Management

195

137

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“…Although trial and error methods are still practical in the production field, people have made many efforts proposing various strategies to improve the foundry's production. From different points of view, such as six sigma, lean production, and simulation, these studies are all proven successful-for example, the six sigma and Lean six sigma methods to improve quality, predictions, and productivity [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. There is a review of the analysis of foundry defects for sand casting quality improvement [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical Study of Foundry Efficiency Improvement Based on Data-Driven Techniques

2021

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In this paper, a data-driven approach was applied to improve a furnace zone of a foundry in Taiwan. Improvements are based on the historical production records, order-scheduling, and labor-scheduling data. To resolve the bottleneck provided by the company, historical data were analyzed, and the existence of large variance in the process was found. Statistical analysis was performed to identify the primal factors causing the variance, and suggestions were made and implemented to the production line. As a result, daily production increased steadily to more than 30 pots of molten metal, while the original production was 20–30 pots of molten metal and are not controllable. Such significant improvement was mainly made by standardizing the input and reducing the variance of processes. The average cycle time of each pot of molten metal was reduced from 219 min to 135 min. Our suggested improvements also reduced the foundry’s electricity consumption cost by almost $240,000NT per month. In summary, data analysis can help traditional industries in identifying the main factors causing the bottleneck.

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“…This, and its contribution towards the improvement of operations, have added to OEE's increasing use in various industries such as semiconductor (Huang et al, 2003), steel (Anvari et al, 2010), oilfields (Mansour et al, 2013), food (Tsarouhas, 2013a;Tsarouhas, 2007), beverage (Tsarouhas, 2013b) and rail (Åhrén and Parida, 2009) as well as its application in a wide range of manufacturing processes, especially high volume processes where capacity utilisation is a high priority and stoppages or disruptions are expensive in terms of the capacity lost (Garza-Reyes et al, 2010). Specific examples of manufacturing processes where OEE has been used as measure of performance include: press and welding ( Jonsson and Lesshammar, 1999), weaving (Dal et al, 2000) and metal casting (Sarkar, 2007) processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From measuring overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to overall resource effectiveness (ORE)

Garza‐Reyes

2015

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering

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Purpose – Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) provides a quantitative metric based on the elements availability, performance and quality for measuring the performance effectiveness of individual equipment or entire processes. Although these elements are important, other performance factors such as the efficient use of raw materials and the production environment (e.g. production system, logistics, labour, etc.) in which the equipment or process operates may also have a significant contribution to process performance. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative measure derived from OEE, overall resource effectiveness (ORE), which considers these factors. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the OEE’s background and explores its limitations. Then, it shows the conceptual and mathematical development of the ORE measure and the formulas used for its calculation. Empirical and simulation-based investigations and applications of ORE are carried out through two cases study for its validation. Findings – The results derived from both the empirical and simulation-based investigations demonstrate that OEE may not be an appropriate measure for some specific processes and that ORE may offer a more complete perspective on and information of key performance indicators. Practical implications – ORE can provide production managers with more complete information concerning the performance of their processes. This will allow them to take better decisions regarding the management and actions needed to improve their processes. Originality/value – This paper presents a novel and alterative approach to measure the performance of manufacturing equipment and processes.

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Capability enhancement of a metal casting process in a small steel foundry through Six Sigma: a case study

Cited by 11 publications

References 2 publications

Six Sigma quality: a structured review and implications for future research

Six Sigma quality: a structured review and implications for future research

Empirical Study of Foundry Efficiency Improvement Based on Data-Driven Techniques

From measuring overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to overall resource effectiveness (ORE)

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