Abstract
In this paper, Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques were utilized to determine the root causes of waste in a water bottling process and proffer solutions to remove these sources of waste in order to produce only standard quality items with minimal to zero waste generated, and also to attain a reduction in production cost. The Value Stream Map (VSM) tool was used to highlight the sources of waste in the current state of operations at the plant, as well as to proffer an improved future state of the production processes at the plant. Also, the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) framework of Lean Six Sigma methodology was employed to statistically analyze the root causes of waste in the plant. The analysis showed that the major sources of waste which constitute approximately 80 per cent of waste in the plant are water volume variation, alignment error in the shrink wrapping machine and manual inspection. After implementation of the proposed solutions, manufacturing lead time and cycle time are expected to reduce by approximately 42.1 per cent and 22.2 per cent respectively, with a reduction of 2 quality inspectors in the bottling process, leading to a drop in labour cost.
Highlights
Waste generated during production is a major concern in the manufacturing industry worldwide
MATERIALS AND METHODS The overarching framework that was used to proffer improvement solutions to the production processes at the water bottling plant is a Lean Six Sigma framework known as the DMAIC framework
Data was obtained by using Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques such as Process stapling, Value Stream Maps, 5 Whys and cause-and-effect diagram, in order to identify problems
Summary
Waste generated during production is a major concern in the manufacturing industry worldwide. Waste can be described as that aspect of the production process which adds no value to the product from the customer’s perspective. At the case study water bottling company, waste is evident within the bottling plant primarily in the form of defects and increase in production cycle time due to waiting during machine failure. On one hand, these forms of waste negatively affect the output between the individual process steps, as well as the overall output of production shifts in the plant. Customers experience delays in waiting, late deliveries and slow responses which negatively affect customer loyalty
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