An Application of Lean Techniques to Construct an Integrated Management Systems Preventive Action Model and Evaluation: Kaizen Projects

Abstract

The Occupational Health and Safety system enforces the continual improvement culture in industries for much safer processes and zero injuries. The Quality Management System also enforces the same philosophy of continual improvement within the processing system for zero defects, hence a high productivity rate. Good quality products always result from good Overall Equipment Effectiveness; hence, Process Re-Engineering is essential for the good functioning of machinery. This research is based on Integrated Management System requirements in terms of problem-solving, especially the opportunities that arise within Quality nonconformances, Safety Incidents, as well as Process Engineering related breakdowns. This study aims to develop a troubleshooting system that evaluates continual improvement projects. The method used to develop the troubleshooting system is based on Total Quality Management, where lean principles are combined with kaizen concepts and quality standards. The proposed troubleshooting system is separated into three development phases: the first phase is for recording the details of the fault that has been raised, where one will record full details of the nonconformance, the time and date, validation of the nonconformance by the lab test or any other form of validation depending on the nature of the problem as well as the details of the location of the problem. The second phase is for problem classification, whether it is a quality nonconformance, Safety incident, or engineering-related breakdown. The deeper root cause analysis is performed by an application of lean techniques, which are the eight types of waste, Five Whys and Ishikawa analysis. The eight types of waste identify the type of waste contributed by the problem, the Five Whys analysis assists in finding the reason for the problem occurrence, and the Ishikawa analysis classifies the problem accordingly, which assists the analyst in identifying the area to focus on for problem-solving. The third phase is for a database system and an application of the kaizen philosophy by evaluating continual improvement projects as well as status reports on the permanent solutions to the faults. The proposed troubleshooting model was applied in a case study company to upgrade the problem-solving model that the company was using which was assisting for corrective and preventive action. The study resulted in drastic improvements; hence, continual improvement projects were evaluated within the problem occurrences.