Six Sigma Benchmarking of Process Capability Analysis and Mapping of Process Parameters
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60 JOSCM | Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management Submitted 10.10.2016. Approved 19.12.2016. Evaluated by double blind review process. Scientific Editor: José Barros Neto DOI: http:///dx.doi/10.12660/joscmv9n2p60-71 SIX SIGMA BENCHMARKING OF PROCESS CAPABILITY ANALYSIS AND MAPPING OF PROCESS PARAMETERS Jagadeesh Rajashekharaiah Professor at SDM Institute for Management Development - Mysore, India [email protected] ABSTRACT: Process capability analysis (PCA) is a vital step in ascertaining the quality of the output from a production process. Particularly in batch and mass production of components with specified quality characteristics, PCA helps to decide about accepting the process and later to continue with it. In this paper, the application of PCA using process capability indices is demonstrated using data from the field and benchmarked against Six Sigma as a motivation to improve to meet the global standards. Further, how the two important process parameters namely mean and the standard deviation can be monitored is illustrated with the help of what if analysis feature of Excel. Finally, the paper enables to determine the improvement efforts using simulation to act as a quick reference for decision makers. The global benchmarking in the form of Six Sigma capability of the process is expected to give valuable insight towards process improvement. KEYWORDS: Benchmarking, process capability, Six Sigma, mapping, control chart. © JOSCM | São Paulo | V. 09 | n. 2 | jul-dec 2016 | 60-71 ISSN: 1984-3046 Rajashekharaiah, J.: Six Sigma Benchmarking of Process Capability Analysis and Mapping of Process Parameters 61 ISSN: 1984-3046 • Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management Volume 9 Number 2 p 60 – 71 1. INTRODUCTION All the calculations, scenario building, optimiza- tion, and simulation, including the development Quality control and improvement is the most impor- of charts, have been done using Excel 2013 version, tant part of organizations engaged in the manufac- which has powerful features to support the current turing of products or delivery of service. Monitoring research work. the quality using the standard references, or metrics, is vital to any organization that cares about custom- ers and ultimately helps the organization to capture 3. BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW the market. Process capability analysis (PCA) forms the initial The advent of new technologies, increased demand step in establishing acceptability of a production pro- for high quality products, and quality based competi- cess to produce output as per the specified tolerance. tion mandate close scrutiny and careful selection of The literature on process capability studies, besides processes. The overall cost depends on the judicious being rich and diversified, has a long historical back- selection of the process and thus process capability ground. Different aspects of process capability have analysis (PCA) is considered as a vital step in ensur- been covered with varying details to satisfy the needs ing the quality of products. Increasing competition, of practitioners and researchers. It is not the intention availability of low-cost suppliers, global supply here to provide an exhaustive coverage of PCA, but chains and information technology driven manufac- a brief overview of the major aspects relevant to this turing, all have caused new paradigms in process de- paper, is presented in the following sections. cisions. Manufacturers are moving towards more of Process capability refers to the ability of a process to outsourcing and trying to cut down the cost of pro- produce the output namely a product or a service, duction. In addition, these decisions are more influ- according to the specifications as suggested or pre- enced by global standards, and benchmarking with scribed by the designer or the customer. Because of best practices. Hence it is imperative to ascertain the the variations that occur in a process due to assign- quality of output from a production process before able as well as the chance causes, a process will not that process is identified for batch or mass produc- be always performing as per the expectations and tion. Further it is necessary to find out how the pro- hence the output quality can deviate from the pre- cess can further be improved to meet the global stan- set standards. Process capability studies help to ver- dards so as to remain competitive in the market. ify whether the processes adopted by the manufac- turer or the service provider are capable of meeting 2. ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPER the specifications. In addition, process capability as- sessment studies have several objectives as follows, In this paper, first a brief overview of PCA is pro- (Summers, 2005): vided and the numerical measures in the form of Process Capability Indices (PCI) are described. The 1. To ascertain the extent to which the process will mathematical formulae to calculate these PCI’s along be able to meet the specifications. with their interpretation are also given. A descrip- 2. To determine whether the process will be able to tion of relevant concepts of benchmarking and Six meet the future demand placed on it in terms of Sigma are also provided for completeness as well as the specifications. continuity. Later, using field data PCA is performed and benchmarked against Six Sigma standards. The 3. To help the industries to meet the customers’ de- two key process parameters namely process mean mands. and the variance are optimized to accomplish the required Six Sigma standards, using Excel’s “what 4. To enable improved decision making regard- if” analysis. Next, using simulated data how much ing product or process specifications, selection of improvement efforts are needed to reach global of production methods, selection of equipment, standards is demonstrated. Finally mapping of pro- and thus improve the overall quality. cess parameters with respect to the required level of Six Sigma (SS) standards is carried out and how the Besides the above, it is reported that process capabil- two process parameters are simultaneously tracked ity studies help in vendor certification, performance is illustrated. This enables continuous monitoring monitoring and comparison and also for setting tar- and improvement and helps to set the goals clearly. gets for continuous improvement. Rajashekharaiah, J.: Six Sigma Benchmarking of Process Capability Analysis and Mapping of Process Parameters 62 ISSN: 1984-3046 • Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management Volume 9 Number 2 p 60 – 71 Process capability indices are simple numerical shows the different types of indices used in prac- measures to express the potential and performance tice. The corresponding formulas are also shown capabilities of a process under different conditions. in the Table 1. A Cp of 1.00 indicates that the pro- These indices essentially link the key parameters like cess is judged capable. It is generally necessary to process mean and variance to design specifications estimate the process standard deviation so as to of a quality characteristic. Thus they act as a bridge estimate Cp of the process. Due to sampling varia- between the fixed or static tolerance values and the tion and machine setting limitations, Cp = 1.00 is dynamic process values as seen over a period of not used as a minimally acceptable value, and a time. A lucid paper by Kane (1986) explains the fun- minimum acceptable value of Cp is 1.33 which damentals of process capability indices along with ensures acceptable quantity within the specifica- numerical illustrations. The importance of sampling tions, as a shift in the process mean from the tar- for the estimation of process capability indices has get value and a change in the process variance oc- been vividly presented by Barnett (1990). A detailed cur over a period of time. Since the Cp and Cpk explanation about the process capability indices is indices do not take into account the departure available in Porter and Oakland (1991). It is impor- from the target/nominal value, Chan, Cheng, and tant to observe that the process capability measures Spiring (1988) have introduced another measure are all basically sample based and both the sample of process capability, called the Cpm index. This size chosen and the method of sampling need to be index takes into account the proximity to the tar- carefully considered. In addition, it is essential that get value as well as the process variation when the process be stable and in the state of statistical assessing process performance. The Cpm index control before taken up for capability assessment. is also referred to as “Taguchi capability index’, Assessment of process capability is commonly as illustrated by Boyles (1991) and Balamurali and done using process capability indices and Table 1 Kalyanasundaram (2002). Table 1: Process Capability Indices Name Index Formula USL− LSL Process Potential Index Cp Cp = 6σ m − µ K = Scaled Distance Factor K ()USL− LSL 2 Process Performance Index Cpk Cpk = Cp (1 – K) USL − µ Cpu Cpu = 3σ µ − LSL Cpl = 3σ Cpl m − µ K = ()USL− LSL 2 Rajashekharaiah, J.: Six Sigma Benchmarking of Process Capability Analysis and Mapping of Process Parameters 63 ISSN: 1984-3046 • Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management Volume 9 Number 2 p 60 – 71 USL− LSL Cp Cpm = or Cpm = 22 2 Taguchi Capability Index Cpm 6σµ+− ()T µ −T 1+ σ Min (USL - µµ, - LSL) C pmk = 3σ Third Generation Process Cpmk Capability Index C pk C pmk = µ - T 2 1 + ( ) σ Symbols and notations used: the industries it is still the