Process Improvement Activities Research Articles

Scrap Cost Reduction Process Improvement Actions in a Microwave Assembly Plant

Costs are indicators of the financial and economic health of a company, as they are part of the production chain and are therefore necessary for the manufacture of a product, but when extra costs are included in production profitability is compromised. This paper aims to present the reduction of scrap costs of imported materials, identifying the problems related to the product and its impact on the company. As specific objectives, it aims to understand the problems that occur for the amount of parts disposal; develop a containment and correction action plan; implementation of improvements to the inspection and receiving line. As a methodology, we used a case study in a microwave oven assembly plant, where technical visits were conducted by two leaders responsible for the assembly, inspection and receiving sector, where the collection instruments were performed. For the elaboration of the solutions we used the 5W2H tool and control chart to find the faults in the parts.

How to Make a Sustainable Manufacturing Process: A High-Commitment HRM System

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between high-commitment human resource management (HCHRM) practices and process improvement activities (i.e., manufacturing flexibility) by utilizing the theory of social exchange. We conducted an empirical study to discover the links between social exchange theory and process management from an HRM perspective. For the empirical investigation, we used data from 601 manufacturing enterprises provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy in South Korea. The research is conducted based on employees’ capabilities for process management as a mediator in the analysis of the impact of the HCHRM system on manufacturing flexibility (i.e., internally-driven and externally-driven flexibility). The results of the study show that the HCHRM system ultimately explains manufacturing flexibility through enhancement of employees’ capabilities.

Penerapan Metode PDCA untuk Menurunkan Tingkat Kerusakan Mesin pada Proses Produksi Penyalutan

The coating process is the process of covering the tablet with a thin layer of substance which generally has very little effect. The process coating process uses a Driam machine and the machine has a very high utilization of 125%. The company's ability to provide additional salute machines requires time in its investment, remedial efforts to reduce the damage level of the salute machine are needed so as not to increase machine utilization, while the damages that occured in the coating process from January to December 2016 are Speed Pump, Air Flow Damper, Spray Gun, Supply Compressed Air, Steam, Pan Speed, & Wind Hose. From the background of the problem the company needed repairs that were useful to reduce the level of damage to the salute machine. These improvements are carried out using the Plan Do Check Action (PDCA) method. The PDCA method is a repetitive process improvement activity to solve a problem in quality control and is included in the Total Quality Management (TQM) in which TQM is the application of quantitative methods and human knowledge to improve materials and services which of course improves processes and efforts to meet customer satisfaction . The level of damage to the machine salute has decreased after repairs to the engine damage Pump Speed & Air Flow Damper where it eliminates 2 of 7 damage that occurs in the coating process or by 45.6% of the total damage.

The weight of organizational factors on heuristics

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of organizational factors on individual decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and time pressure. A method to assess the impact of individual and organizational factors on individual decisions is proposed and experimented in the context of triage decision-making process.Design/methodology/approachThe adopted methodology is based on the bias-variance decomposition formula. The method, usually applied to assess the predictive accuracy of heuristics, has been adjusted to discriminate between the impact of organizational and individual factors affecting heuristic processes. To test the methodology, 25 clinical scenarios have been designed and submitted, through simulations, to the triage nurses of two Spanish hospitals.FindingsNurses’ decisions are affected by organizational factors in certain task conditions, such as situations characterized by complete and coherent information. When relevant information is lacking and available information is not coherent, decision-makers base their assessments on their personal experience and gut feeling.Research limitations/implicationsDiscriminating between the influence of organizational factors and individual ones is the starting point for a more in-depth understanding of how organization can guide the decision process. Using simulations of clinical scenarios in field research does not allow for capturing the influence of some contextual factors, such as the nurses’ stress levels, on individual decisions. This issue will be addressed in further research.Practical implicationsBias and variance are useful measurements for detecting process improvement actions. A bias prevalence requires a re-design of organizational settings, whereas training would be preferred when variance prevails.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this work concerns the novel interpretation of bias and variance concepts to assess organizational factors’ influence on heuristic decision-making processes, taking into account the level of complexity of decision-related tasks.

Participatory Approaches to Improve Integrated Care Programs: Methods, Experiences, and Early Results Applying Methods from Implementation Research

Background: Innovative process improvements in integrated care programs are increasingly implemented in daily practice by improving certain service elements e.g. safety, person-centeredness, or patient selection to achieve program sustainability and/or program upscaling. Because of the often complex nature of these initiatives, it is challenging to prove effectiveness. We use evidence-based methods from implementation research to monitor and to evaluate integrated care programs during process improvement actions, and to understand if and how implemented actions affect the program in an operational setting. In implementation research, it is important to consider all aspects of the implementation of the program, including the context in which it is being implemented, perspectives of all relevant stakeholders in particular the end users, as well as the organizational processes around the programs. Implementation research also promotes the systematic application of research findings in practice Peters et al 2013. The projects Advancing Care Coordination and Telehealth deployment at Scale ACT@Scale1, Sustainable Tailored Integrated Care for Older People in Europe SUSTAIN2, and DementiaNet3 all apply participatory approaches where local stakeholders design and implement local improvements. The projects all use cyclic improvement processes with the ambition to achieve rapid flow of evidence to practice and to disseminate knowledge and good practices at national and European level. The projects cover a wide variety of integrated care programs running in different settings, having different target populations e.g., chronically ill, multi-morbid, frail elderly, and mental health, and implement different improvement actions. Despite these differences, many common denominators exist, which will be elaborated in this session. Aims and objectives: The overall aim of this session is to provide an overview of implementation research methodologies and to provide examples how to implement and evaluate quality improvement actions in integrated care. Each project will present their experiences with and preliminary results of applying participatory approaches in clinical daily practice, covering different contexts and populations. Common denominators and differences will be discussed. In the discussion part, generalisability of these experiences for other European projects on integrated care will be highlighted. Format timing, speakers, discussion, group work, etc: During the session, the different participatory approaches applied in ACT@Scale, SUSTAIN and DementiaNet will be presented. The authors will further share their experiences applying the participatory approach, using concrete examples and results from actual program improvement actions. After the presentations, common lessons learned in the projects will be identified and discussed with the audience. Target Audience: This workshop targets all stakeholders from clinical management and researcher background who are involved or interested in integrated care improvement methods. Sharing of your own experiences in the open discussion is an integral part of this session. Learnings / Take away: After this session, participants will: 1. have insight in different implementation research approaches for improvement processes in integrated care; 2. will be informed about how to apply these methods and what the pros, cons, barriers and enablers are; and 3. Gain ideas on how to translate and apply lessons learned to their own practice.

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) and Manufacturing Sustainability in Industry 4.0 with Time Study Approach

Nowadays, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming increasingly competitive. In order to fulfill the rapidly changing market and diversified demands of customers, the SMEs need to achieve and maintain high productivity and quality, with fast response, sufficient flexibility, and short lead times. Therefore, Industry 4.0 offers various manufacturing paradigms that might be a solution in order to increase the productivity of SMEs such as intelligent and flexible manufacturing. Furthermore, in the last decade, the emphasis on adopting eco-friendly practices, implementing sustainability measures, and protecting the environment has continued to grow, to gain traction across SMEs. In fact, because of this need, many SMEs are now adopting sustainable manufacturing practices in response to this increased focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship. The main purpose of this paper is to design and study the implementation of a sustainable, intelligent material handling system for material distribution with utilizing an agent-based algorithm as control architecture. A time study-based methodology has been implemented to evaluate the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to identify the matters that need to be resolved and optimized to increase the OEE percentage with consideration of the sustainability of the system. An exhaustive analytical trend applied to the generated time study data. Accordingly, further hardware, software, and layout design limitation and problems detected, and the proper solutions were anticipated. The observed time study results were presented, a fundamental set of analytical observation and information with associated histograms was reviewed. In addition, the study aims to recognize and analyze effective factors on the sustainability of improved processes, using a simple model. To do this, using experts’ viewpoints, affective factors on the sustainability of process improvement activities are determined.

Linking continuous improvement to manufacturing performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine factors that inhibit and facilitate the contribution of continuous improvement activities to advance performance in “lean” factories.Design/methodology/approachFrom the perspective of the routine dynamics theory, this paper considers the possibility of changes in the standard operating procedures (SOPs) made in the course of continuous improvement activities being ignored by employees. This paper builds a hypothesis predicting that firms where employees ignore changes in the SOP cannot achieve the intended improvement effect of these changes. This hypothesis is confirmed with comparative case studies of Toyota and Matsuo.FindingsAt Toyota there is an incentive to perform operations according to the SOP, while at Matsuo this incentive is not present. This difference means that process improvement activities at Toyota generate changes in manufacturing operations, while at Matsuo, although the SOP has been changed, workers continue to perform operations according to the old SOP and fail to advance performance. This paper argues that the presence/absence of an incentive to perform operations according to the SOP is dependent on whether the responsibility of the performance lies with the SOPs or employees. Additionally, this paper finds that the SOP not only limits employees’ creativities but also supports creative activities for the development of continuous improvement as an organizational activity.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalization of our findings requires statistical support for which an extensive subsequent sampling survey including non-Japanese firms is necessary.Originality/valueThis study makes a new suggestion regarding the theory of routine dynamics and the fields of operations management: adequate management of consistency between the three aspects (material, ostensive and performative) of organizational routines is important for lean manufacturing.

Partecipazione e collaborazione negli interventi di comunità. L'esperienza dei laboratori di quartiere del Comune di Bologna

The present contribution is the result of an initial analysis of the experience, launched in March 2017 by the Municipality of Bologna, of the District Laboratories, as a space for relations and interaction among and with citizens, besides as a tool to activate and manage structured and continuous processes of community care. In this framework, the University of Bologna team carried out a scientific supervision that allowed a reflection on the positive repercussions, the critical issues and the open challenges of the process, defining process indicators and improvement actions.

Evolution of process capability in a manufacturing process

Before mass production of individual components industries may assess its capability to produce it according to specifications. This capability assessment is a common requirement in the automotive sector. This work shows a case study, providing an in-depth analysis, on a critical component and finds evidence of process degradation over two years of production, quantified through capability analysis. At pre-production, it was concluded that the process was capable and, thus, no statistical process control was done during its production. Over the months no defective units were detected but then its level began to increase and it was apparent that process variability had increased and the process was no longer capable. Process improvement activities were developed using known quality tools and methodologies. This work shows how the control plan initially defined became obsolete and discusses the need to periodically review quality control mechanisms.

The application of overall equipment effectiveness to support the development of a steamless nut-separated palm oil mill

A steamless nut-separated palm oil mill has been developed based on small-scale community's requirements with the purpose to overcome constraints faced by a conventional palm oil mill. The current paper discusses challenges in the development and technology transfer of the steamless nut-separated palm oil mill, including communication about technology performance, uncategorised problems, and limited flow of financial information. To overcome these challenges, the proposed approach is to use OEE-based plant performance indices and its estimated corresponding financial performance indices to communicate about the technology performance. In this work, the calculation of OEE was derived based on data obtained from palm oil mills. In addition, the performance factor was sub-categorised into the reception and extraction factors to relate the plant performance to the mill capacity and oil extraction rate, which are common variables used in palm oil mills. Moreover, the quality factor was derived based on free fatty acid of crude palm oil. A simulated plant operating data was used for the purpose of demonstrating the proposed approach. The figures of world-class OEE and its components were also used to identify the area for initiating process improvement activities and estimate the potential performance of the technology.

Pillar or platform—a taxonomy for process improvement activities in public services

Research into Lean in public services and particularly implementation, needs to develop from reporting cases to provide a taxonomy for researchers and practitioners. The paper outlines two approaches to process improvement activities (PIAs)—’Pillar’ and ‘Platform’ and tests the validity of these approaches through two organizational case studies (96 PIAs are considered). The degree to which this taxonomy supports decision-making is explored and issues associated with implementation are discussed.

Organisational learning in SMEs: a process improvement perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational learning (OL) can occur through process improvement (PI) activities, leading to sustained improvements over time in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThe authors study PI practices in six engineering-oriented SMEs via interview-based case studies. The authors draw from a range of literature and use an OL conceptual framework informed by Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I framework as an analytical lens.FindingsThe OL perspective provides new insights to conceptualise the nature of PI as a multi-level practice in SMEs. Effective PI practices within SMEs are shown to be consistent with OL concepts, enabling firms to translate individually identified improvement opportunities into organisational-level changes that result in sustained benefits. A new conceptual model is presented that explains how SMEs can learn through improvement activities. The key role of management support, both operational and strategic, is highlighted. It is necessary for management to provide sufficient PI opportunities to enable and sustain beneficial learning.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on a sample of engineering-oriented SMEs located in the UK. Further case-based, longitudinal, and survey-based research studies with firms of different types will enhance the generalisability of the findings, allowing the confirmation and extension of the new conceptual model.Practical implicationsThe findings provide a theoretically underpinned framework for achieving OL in engineering-oriented SMEs through PI activities. The new model highlights the key mechanisms that enable learning from improvement activities. The findings highlight the key role played by management in introducing additional learning opportunities in the form of new business that requires exploratory learning. Without this, the reduction in improvement opportunities reduces the benefits that can be realised from PI.Originality/valueOL provides a multi-level perspective to understanding how smaller firms are able to undergo systematic improvements and the support required to continually improve.

Determination of standard times for process improvement: A case study

Abstract
 The companies are required to use proper methods to reduce their costs and increase productivity levels so that they can survive in the fast-changing competitive conditions of the existing business environment. Work study is one of those highly effective productivity improvement methods in labor dependent industries. Determination of standard times, which is one of the important steps of a work study, provides a critical input for process improvement activities within companies. This work is based on a project which included determination of standard times as one of the earliest steps of process improvement activities in a steel-pipe manufacturing company. In systems analysis phase which was performed as the first step, it was observed that long delays occurred on production lines and an evenly distribution of workload among workers was not achievable most of the times. In order to alleviate these problems, all labor-intensive jobs within the system were identified and depicted in process charts. Standard times of the processes were determined by using time study and work sampling techniques. Next, line balancing problems associated with uneven workloads were addressed using these standard times data and some solutions were obtained. All in all, the framework which provided promising results in this pilot study was recommended to be broadened to the entire manufacturing system of the company.
 Keywords: time study, work sampling, standard time, productivity.

1402 (CMMI)^[○!R]レベル 3 達成までの改善活動とその効果

1402 (CMMI)^[○!R]レベル 3 達成までの改善活動とその効果

Determination of Standard Times for Process Improvement: A Case Study

AbstractThe companies are required to use proper methods to reduce their costs and increase productivity levels so that they can survive in the fast-changing competitive conditions of the existing business environment. Work study is one of those highly effective productivity improvement methods in labor dependent industries. Determination of standard times, which is one of the important steps of a work study, provides a critical input for process improvement activities within companies. This work is based on a project which included determination of standard times as one of the earliest steps of process improvement activities in a steel-pipe manufacturing company. In systems analysis phase which was performed as the first step, it was observed that long delays occurred on production lines and an evenly distribution of workload among workers was not achievable most of the times. In order to alleviate these problems, all labor-intensive jobs within the system were identified and depicted in process charts. Standard times of the processes were determined by using time study and work sampling techniques. Next, line balancing problems associated with uneven workloads were addressed using these standard times data and some solutions were obtained. All in all, the framework which provided promising results in this pilot study was recommended to be broadened to the entire manufacturing system of the company.© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.Keywords: Time study; Work sampling; Standard Time; Productivity

Do staged maturity models result in organization-wide continuous process improvement? Insight from employees

During the last two decades, staged models have been successfully used by software organizations for process improvement. However, the relationship between these models and organization-wide continuous process improvement has not been studied extensively. This study questions the continuity, extent and participation characteristics of software process improvement by analyzing the software process improvement activities and employee perceptions within two different software companies that has CMMI level-3 certification. In order to perform this analysis a multiple case study in two phases were performed. In the first phase the process improvement suggestions submitted by the employees are analyzed from three aspects, namely the submitter, timing, and content characteristics. In the second phase, the employees’ perception regarding the organization-wide continuous process improvement activities are analyzed by performing a factor analysis on questionnaire results obtained from the employees. The results of the multiple-case study show that there are shortcomings with respect to organization-wide continuous process improvement. It is seen that the software process improvement activities are not performed in a continuous manner. In addition, the contribution of employees to these activities and their perspectives of process improvement are highly dependent on their role within the organization. Based on these findings, it is concluded that staged maturity models fail to enable organization-wide continuous process improvement. Organizations employing these models display a case of process-wise oligarchy where a minority manages the processes for a majority who use them. We believe that these findings should generate the incentive to more deeply analyze these shortcomings and determine improvement opportunities for staged models.

Application of SPC and Quality Tools for Process Improvement

This work presents a case study on the application of quality tools to improve product quality. One component was selected as object study because it presented higher percentage of nonconformities and was increasing over time. Before mass production, at pre-production, Statistical Process Control (SPC) was performed and it was concluded that the process was capable. No further SPC was done during production. After defective units were detected at increasing levels it was apparent that process variability had increased and the process was no longer capable. The study ends with the development of process improvement activities.

Recurring opinions or productive improvements\u2014what agile teams actually discuss in retrospectives

Team-level retrospectives are widely used in agile and lean software development, yet little is known about what is actually discussed during retrospectives or their outcomes. In this paper, we synthesise the outcomes of sprint retrospectives in a large, distributed, agile software development organisation. This longitudinal case study analyses data from 37 team-level retrospectives for almost 3 years. We report the outcomes of the retrospectives, their perceived importance for process improvement and relatVed action proposals. Most discussions were related to topics close to and controllable by the team. However, the discussions might suffer from participant bias, and in cases where they are not supported by hard evidence, they might not reflect reality, but rather the sometimes strong opinions of the participants. Some discussions were related to topics that could not be resolved at the team level due to their complexity. Certain topics recurred over a long period of time, either reflecting issues that can and have been solved previously, but that recur naturally as development proceeds, or reflecting waste since they cannot be resolved or improved on by the team due to a lack of controllability or their complexity. For example, the discussion on estimation accuracy did not reflect the true situation and improving the estimates was complicated. On the other hand, discussions on the high number of known bugs recurred despite effective improvements as development proceeded.

Refactoring technical support to reduce interrupts of developers

AbstractIn this paper an analysis of a technical support data with the goal of identifying process improvement actions for reducing interrupts is presented. A technical support chat is established and used to provide internal developer support to other development teams, which use the software code developed by a core team. The paper shows how data analysis of a 6‐month support time helped to identify gaps and action items for improving the technical support process to minimize interrupts from other developer teams. We show that developers are interrupted through the investigated technical support chat multiple times a day and the interruptions come during the peak working hours. We also show that these interruptions can be prevented with the introduction of multiple tools such as a dispatcher service policy, a dispatcher role, and an FAQ page among others. The paper also shows effects (advantages and drawbacks) of the technical support refactor actions taken on the basis of this analysis.

Incorporating engineering process improvement activities into production planning formulations using a large-scale wafer fab model

In most semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities (wafer fabs), both production and engineering lots share the same expensive equipment. Production lots will be shipped to customers whereas engineering lots are used to support production and process development efforts. While production activities might lead to large revenue, engineering activities result in increased future output. In the present paper, we propose three different production planning formulations. The first formulation assumes a reduced available capacity for production due to engineering activities. Costs for production products are minimised. The second formulation is based on the idea that aggregated demand is available for engineering activities for the entire planning window. Costs for production and engineering products are minimised. Learning effects are incorporated to model the capacity increase due to engineering activities. The third model assumes that demand information for engineering activities is available only for the first period. In addition to learning effects, forgetting effects are modelled to provide an incentive to plan releases of engineering lots in later periods. Costs for production and engineering products and forgetting effects are minimised. The performance of the production planning models is assessed using a simulation model of a large-scale wafer fab including specific dispatching strategies to deal with production and engineering lots. The simulation results demonstrate that the second model slightly outperforms the third one when a rolling horizon approach is taken, while the second model provides significantly higher profit than the first one.