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Preventative Maintenance Tips for Forges that Cut and Process Metal

August 20, 2017 / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

While some downtime is inevitable, more and more forges and other industrial metal-cutting companies are discovering that proper maintenance and proactive care of equipment can significantly reduce its occurrence.

The problem is that maintenance departments are typically busy putting out fires, which pushes anything “preventative” to the side. Why take the time to stop a potential problem when there are enough real problems happening right now?

However, as stated in the eBook, Five Performance-Boosting Best Practices for your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization, proactively addressing maintenance issues allows managers to reduce costs, increase blade and tooling life, and, most importantly, avoid costly mistakes. “With a simple check-list, operators can enhance their knowledge base and positively affect performance on the shop floor,” the eBook states.

What does this look like in practice? According to the white paper, Accounting for Operator Inefficiencies in the Metals 2.0 Environment, operators can conduct daily preventative maintenance (PM) checks in less than 10 minutes. Programs can be as detailed as a manager feels is necessary, but in a band saw environment, the following are a few key checkpoints to include:

Although many shops conduct PM checks at the start of each shift, there are several ways managers can schedule their PM procedures. In a recent blog, maintenance software provider SM Global offers four possible PM schedules:

  1. Date based: Schedule PM checks every X amount of days, weeks or months. So, for example, you can have a maintenance task scheduled every 5 business days, on every Friday, the second Monday of every third month, every January on the first Wednesday and so on.
  2. Meter based: There are two different meter types. In one, you schedule maintenance every time a meter reading increases or decreases by a certain amount. For example, an oil change when a meter reading increases by 3000 miles. The second type is a batch meter. You schedule maintenance after an equipment processes X number of units. For example, replace a bearing every time the equipment produces 500 widgets.
  3. Alarm based: You schedule a maintenance task every time an alarm condition happens. For example, an alarm could be excessive vibration on a machine. You can schedule a PM check on the machine when this alarm occurs.
  4. Relative to another task: Start a new maintenance task when another task completes. For example, order more coolant every time you clean your fluid/lubricant reservoir and screen (typically every 3 months).

If your metal forging operation doesn’t have a current PM program in place, you may want to consider working closely with your equipment and tooling supply partners to set up daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual PM schedules. In addition to helping you create checklists, many provide complimentary annual or bi-annual PM check-ups, which can provide more in-depth equipment diagnostics.

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Reducing Operator Error in Your Machine Shop

August 15, 2017 / , , , , , , , , , ,

A top goal of every operations manager is to reduce error on the shop floor, whether it be mechanical error or human error. While 0% error rates are pretty hard to achieve, the reality is that even a small percentage of error can quickly add up.

An article from Competitive Production puts this into perspective:

“If things are done correctly 99 percent of the time, that equates to two unsafe landings at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport each day; 16,000 pieces of lost mail each hour; 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions each year; or 500 incorrect surgical procedures completed each week. In manufacturing, the slightest of errors, for example one-tenth of a percent, can have a significant impact on a company’s financial performance and profitability.”

When it comes to band sawing, error remains a top concern for managers. As Matthew Lacroix of LENOX explains here, fabricators and other metal-cutting shops have three main areas of concern regarding their band saw processes. “The top frustrations that we repeatedly hear from fabricators are machine downtime, blade failure, and operator error,” he tells Canadian Metalworking. “In each case, there are steps they can take within their own organizations to manage the problems.”

The white paper, Accounting for Operator Inefficiencies in the Metals 2.0 Environment, provides a few steps managers can take to reduce error in their band saw department:

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Achieving Operational Excellence in a High-Mix Industrial Metal-Cutting Operation

August 3, 2017 / , , , , , , ,

Over the last 20 years, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other improvement techniques have changed the face of manufacturing. Kaizen programs, 5S, value-stream mapping, and other lean strategies have rendered impressive results in high-volume manufacturing plants around the world. However, not every lean principle is an off-the-shelf solution for operational efficiency. This is especially true for high-mix, low-volume manufacturing environments.

Industrial metal-cutting shops are often juggling multiple jobs—many of them custom and almost none of them the same. Production requirements, lead times, and due dates can vary, which makes forecasting and traditional lean concepts difficult to apply. In fact, according to the eBook, Five Performance-Boosting Best Practices for Your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization, many small, high-mix operations don’t even attempt to implement traditional lean techniques because they are typically more successful in higher production environments.

The good news, however, is that lean manufacturing is evolving. “A growing number of high-mix, low-volume operations are tweaking traditional lean methodologies to their specific situation,” the eBook notes. “Lean manufacturing techniques can be modified to increase efficiency in even the most customized metal-cutting operations.”

For example, according to an article from Canadian Metalworking, one way to achieve operational excellence in a high-mix manufacturing environment is to create a mixed-model value stream. This begins by creating “product families” or groups of products that have similar process flow and work content. “The next step is to create one current-state map per product family and then a future-state design for that family that can achieve operational excellence,” the article states.

There is no question that this task can be complicated when dealing with a variable product mix. To help managers successfully achieve operational excellence in mixed model production, Canadian Metalworking offers the following 10 guidelines: (You can read the full article here.)

  1. Do you have the right product families? Create product families based on similar processing steps and work content, not brainstorming.
  2. What is the takt time at the pacemaker? Determine how often the pacemaker must produce a part to keep up with customer demand for the product family.
  3. Can the equipment support takt time? Determine if existing machine capacity can support the product family within the established takt time.
  4. What is the interval? Calculate how often the pacemaker will cycle through and produce all the parts in the product family.
  5. What are the balance charts for the products? Balance the work content, per operator, to takt time to create continuous flow through the pacemaker process. There will be different balance profiles for each product within the family.
  6. How will we balance flow for the mix? Determine how variation within customer demand and the product family will be handled, either by adjusting labor, sequencing, or work balancing.
  7. How will we create standard work for the mix? Standard work means establishing one standard way to build the products in the family, and then having everyone follow that method.
  8. How will we create pitch at the pacemaker? Pitch is a visual time frame that tells everyone in the value stream if they are on time to customer demand. The pitch created is tied to how often work is released to and taken away from the pacemaker.
  9. How will we schedule the mix at the pacemaker? Determine the mix that can be supported at the pacemaker, and schedule the pacemaker to handle variation within the product family.
  10. How do we deal with changes in customer demand? Customer demand can vary, and we need to pre-establish a Plan B to use when it does. Plan B might involve pulling a product or rebalancing the pacemaker.

Of course, this is just one example of how lean can be applied to smaller, variable manufacturing environments. For more strategies, check out the book Made to Order Lean by Greg Lane or these links of archived case studies published by Modern Machine Shop and The Fabricator.

While high-mix, low-volume operations certainly present a unique set of production challenges, there are several custom methods managers can put in place to reduce waste, optimize flow, and improve productivity. It may take a little research and some creativity, but leading-edge shops are finding that in today’s competitive market, the benefits are well worth the investment.

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Is Your Forging Operation Ready for Next Generation Lean?

December 25, 2016 / , , , , , , ,

Lean manufacturing is nothing new. Principles based on continuous improvement, streamlining production, and machine efficiency have long changed the way manufacturers operate. Industry leaders like Jorgensen Forge have been using lean manufacturing tools like 5S and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) for years to lower costs, improve responsiveness, and increase efficiency.

However, as stated in the eBook, Five Performance-Boosting Best Practices for Your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization, lean manufacturing is evolving. “Companies that ‘got lean’ years ago are focusing on continuous improvement, and a growing number of high-mix, low-volume operations are tweaking traditional methods to fit their specific situation,” the eBook states.

A recent article series published by IndustryWeek takes this idea further, arguing that lean manufacturing should be evolving. “I am convinced that for Lean to remain relevant as a strategy for improving manufacturing effectiveness it needs to evolve to the point where expert practitioners are NOT needed for most typical Lean transformations,” consultant Paul Ericksen states here in the first article of the series. “Lean shouldn’t be a mystery or black art that is only successfully conducted by an elite group of practitioners. For this to happen, additional Lean concepts, strategies, metrics, processes, and tools need to be developed.”

Specifically, Ericksen argues that the lean evolution needs to go beyond simple “tweaks” and instead, should change its current emphasis on waste elimination to one of total business performance (i.e., revenue). He calls this Next Generation Lean.

You can read through the details of Ericksen’s entire theory here by accessing the full seven-part series, but below is a summary of some of his major points, as detailed in the fourth article:

While Ericksen’s theory may or may not make sense for your shop, one key point is worth noting: Your approach to lean manufacturing should be continuously improving and evolving right alongside your operation. If your forging operation has been using lean manufacturing tools for years, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate and reconsider how those tools could better serve your company.

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Machine Shops Benefit from Standardized Work Processes

December 20, 2016 / , , , , , , , ,

With a slew of improvement strategies, tools, and technologies available, many managers have lost sight of one of the simplest ways they can optimize the performance of their operations—standardized processes.

In fact, according to the Lean Enterprise Institute, standardized work is one of the most powerful, but least used lean manufacturing tools. “By documenting the current best practice, standardized work forms the baseline for kaizen or continuous improvement,” the organization explains here. “As the standard is improved, the new standard becomes the baseline for further improvements and so on. Improving standardized work is a never-ending process.”

As defined by iSixSigma, standardized work is the most efficient method to produce a product (or perform a service) at a balanced flow to achieve a desired output rate. It breaks down the work into elements, which are sequenced, organized, and repeatedly followed.

There are several benefits shops can gain from standardizing processes. The following are just a few:

Many shops are experiencing these and other benefits of standardized processes. Hard Milling Solutions (HMS), a shop featured here in Modern Machine Shop, standardized its parameters for specific material and cutting tool combinations to manage a highly varied workload with minimal labor. “Our primary goal with this system is to ensure every programmer cuts the same way, and gets the same results,” Corey Greenwald, owner of HMS, tells Modern Machine Shop. “We want customer needs to dictate what comes out of this company, not the experience and ability of any one individual.”

Quality Industries (QI), a metal fabricator based in La Vergne, TN, have seen the benefits of standardized work processes across several business areas. “For QI, the move to standardized work created positive scenarios and brought both obvious and underlying benefits to the business,” the fabricator says here on its website. Below are just a few of the ways QI has made standardization work in its operations:

  1. Process Documentation for All Shifts. Historically, many of QI’s productive processes were understood only inside the heads of experienced team members. Creating precise documentation to supplement and replace this “tribal knowledge” helps the fabricator to critically evaluate each manufacturing process to ensure that the most productive sequences and work practices were being documented. In addition, the documentation ensured that a given process could be duplicated on all shifts, and in all work cells and departments.
  2. Reductions in Variability. Once production processes were standardized, variability in product characteristics and quality was greatly reduced. While slight variations still existed due to different machine types, makes or models or tooling types, QI says most of these variations were eliminated because of the achieved consistency of steps and sequences in both material work and downstream activities. This aspect of Standardized Work also delivered tremendous value to the customer, who could rely on consistent finished goods.
  3. Easier Training for New Operators. In any manufacturing environment, bringing new personnel up to speed quickly is a challenge. For QI, standardized work and well-crafted documentation simplified the process. The best process documents not only spelled out steps in clear language, but were also highly visual—with images, charts, drawings and any other helpful illustrations. This training resource provided a continuous reference for the operators and enabled a new communication system for the team.  In the QI shop floor environment, team leaders and others from outside the department were able to determine the level at which each operator is qualified on machines, work cells, and specific operations.

In today’s fast-paced market, process control is essential for shops that want to stay competitive and maintain the high quality customers demand. As stated in the industry brief, “Strategies for Improving Workflow and Eliminating Bottlenecks in Industrial Metal-Cutting,” today’s industrial metal-cutting companies can’t afford costly mistakes that can slow down or stop production. By implementing standardized work processes, many shops are finding they can not only increase productivity, but reduce variable(s?) variable overhead? and improve several other business areas that contribute to the bottom line.

Are your shop’s metal-cutting work processes standardized? 

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Create a Culture of Safety to Improve Your Metal Service Center

December 5, 2016 / , , , , , , , ,

Workplace safety is a priority for nearly every manufacturer. However, when industrial metal-cutting organizations need to do more with less to stay competitive, safety priorities can sometimes fall to the wayside—creating severe and costly consequences for workers and businesses alike.

Here’s the good news: According to OSHA’s “Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses,” private industry employers reported 48,000 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2015 compared to the prior year. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the manufacturing industry had the highest proportion of accidents. As reported by OSHA’s Severe Injury Reporting Program, manufacturing accounted for 57% of all amputations and 26% of all hospitalizations, closely followed by construction, transportation, and warehousing. In addition, of the Top 25 industry groups reporting severe injuries, architectural and structural metal and fabricated metal product manufacturing came in at 17 and 20, respectively.

Of course, workplace injuries come with a cost—not only to  employees’ health but to businesses as well. According to the 2016 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, the most disabling, nonfatal workplace injuries amounted to nearly $62 billion in direct U.S. workers compensation costs. That’s more than a billion dollars a week.

Workplace injuries also create production inefficiencies. As reported in the white paper, Accounting for Operator Inefficiencies in the Metals 2.0 Environment, a cleaner, safer work environment is a more productive, profitable environment. Often times, safety incidents may be rooted in issues such as lack of training, an unorganized shop floor, or poor workflow layout and ergonomics. Neglecting safety issues can lead to reduced output and, ultimately, a lower profit.

One way manufacturers can reduce workplace injuries is to not only make safety a priority, but to create a culture of safety throughout the organization. Tire manufacturer Goodyear, for example, reduced worldwide incident rates by 94% by creating an engaged safety culture in 49 facilities across 22 countries for its 66,000 workers.

In an interview with New Equipment Digest, Michael Porter, Global Environmental Health & Safety Director at Goodyear, said the key to building this type of culture is integration from the top down. “Starting from the highest levels of the company, we tie our EHS strategy down into our company’s overall strategy roadmap,” Porter explained. “Then that cascades down into how we operate on a manufacturing level.” This, he adds, includes everything from workforce organization and equipment care to continuous skills development.

To help create a culture of safety, there are a few strategies metal service centers can consider. Dave Stauffer, director of SBM Management, recently told attendees at the 2016 Safety Leadership Conference the eight building blocks his company has used to create a culture of safety in its 500 operating locations. The following are SBM’s top four strategies (You can read all eight here, as reported by EHS Today.):

  1. Employee observations. Coach and mentor employees to validate that they are doing their jobs safely. Ensure employees are wearing their personal protective equipment (PPE). Observe employees to make sure they are working effectively.
  2. Safety engagement. Establish rapport with employees to help reduce unsafe conditions and at-risk behavior in the workplace. Actively involve all employees in the health and safety of the workplace. Verify employees are engaging in the correct safety behavior.
  3. Employee recognition programs. Reward employees for safe job performance. Reinforce and recognize positive work culture. Celebrate employee successes.
  4. Interactive audits. Supervisors and managers should complete the observations daily and document them. Engage in conversation about safety and assure each employee has the skills, knowledge and training to perform their job safely.

The Metal Service Center Institute also recognizes the importance of safety and recently partnered with the National Safety Council (NSC) to release new safety resources optimized for the metal industry. The new tools include:

While there is no magic formula for creating a “zero-incident” service center, industry leaders are taking steps to ensure their operations are safe. Creating a culture of safety can help identify and eliminate process bottlenecks, improve production, avoid costly injury implications, and most importantly, keep operators and workers safe.

What safety programs do you have in place at your metal service center? Do you consider your center to have a culture of safety?

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Enhancing Customer Service In Your Metal Forge

November 25, 2016 / , , , , , , , , ,

There is no question that customer expectations are changing. Companies like Amazon have raised the bar on what customers should expect from a service provider, whether that means Sunday deliveries or using the latest technology to improve the purchasing experience.

Not surprisingly, the so-called “Amazon effect” has found its way into industrial manufacturing. Supply chain consultant Lisa Anderson says she has seen this first hand with all of her manufacturing and distribution clients. On-time deliveries, she says, are no longer enough. Today’s customers are looking for suppliers that can offer faster lead times and value-added services that will benefit their bottom line.

While same-day delivery may not yet be feasible, industry leaders are finding several ways to enhance customer service. According to the brief, “Strategies for Improving Customer Service and On-Time Delivery in Industrial Metal Cutting,” the following are just a few of the strategies industrial metal-cutting organizations are using to better meet the demands of their customers:

Many forges and other industrial metal-cutting companies are also diversifying their services to better serve new and existing customers. In fact, Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation has built diversification into its corporate strategy. Earlier this month, the Carnegie, PA-based forging operation announced the acquisition of ASW Steel, Inc., a steel producer based in Welland, Ontario, Canada.Commenting on the acquisition, John Stanik, Ampco-Pittsburgh’s CEO, said:

“This acquisition is a very important element in Ampco-Pittsburgh’s strategic diversification plan. ASW’s proven broad expertise in flexible steel refining methods will provide us with the capabilities to manufacture the additional chemistries needed to expand our reach in the open-die forging market. The transaction also enhances our ability to grow in markets in which we currently participate and to add new markets for customers in the oil and gas, power generation, aerospace, transportation, and construction industries.”

What does it take to keep your customers satisfied and, more importantly, gain their loyalty? In today’s demanding market, most industrial metal-cutting companies would say high quality, competitive costs, and on-time delivery. However, those have always been the hallmarks of any good manufacturer, and some might argue that the last few years weeded out any companies that even remotely lagged in these key areas. How you “amp up” your customer service game will largely depend on what you already have in place, but the above strategies are just a few ideas to get you started.

What is one thing you could do to improve customer service in your forging operation?

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Keep Your Machine Shop Competitive with Value Steam Mapping

November 20, 2016 / , , , , , , , , ,

Research continues to show that leading industrial metal-cutting companies are focused on continuous improvement. For example, according to the latest Top Shop benchmarking survey from Modern Machine Shop magazine, “top shops” (defined as the top 20 percent of the 350 shops that were surveyed) are more likely to apply lean-manufacturing methodologies than other shops. They are also more likely to have cultures of continuous improvement. Specifically, the survey revealed that 62 percent of top shops have adopted formal continuous improvement programs compared to only 46 percent of other shops.

The survey also found that shops are implementing a variety of improvement tools to stay competitive. One tool in particular that is widely used is value-stream mapping (VSM). In fact, the survey found that almost 40 percent of top shops are using this lean methodology compared to only 20 percent of other shops.

As explained in the eBook, Five Performance-Boosting Best Practices for your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization, VSM is a “paper and pencil” tool that helps managers visualize and understand the flow of material and information as a product makes its way through the value stream. The map is a representation of the flow of materials from supplier to customer through your organization, as well as the flow of information that support processes as well. According to iSixSigma, this can be especially helpful when working to reduce cycle time because managers gain insight into both the decision-making and the process flows.

Although it is easy to become overwhelmed by the terminology, an archived article from Ryder outlines VSM in five simple steps:

  1. Identify product. Determine what product or product groups you will follow. Focus on one product at a time and start with the highest volumes.
  2. Identify Current Flow. Once you’ve defined the scope, the next step is to create a “current state map,” or a visual representation of how the process (or processes) in the warehouse is operating at the present moment. Key data points such as units per month, shipping frequency/schedules, hours of operations (available time), number of shifts worked, or any pertinent information around customer demand should be gathered before beginning the current state.
  3. Observe. Get on the floor and walk the entire process through step-by-step. Take notes and compile data such as inventory, cycle times, and number of operators.
  4. Make the map. Literally map out the process you just witnessed by drawing it out on a board. Include the data you collected and place inventory numbers under each step in the process. This will identify your bottlenecks.
  5. Create (and implement) a plan. Now that you know what and where your process improvements are, choose one or two to focus and improve on in a set amount of time. Once those are complete, you can prioritize the other bottlenecks to improve lead times.

One of the biggest misconceptions about VSM is that it is only applicable to high-volume shops. Like many other lean tools, VSM can usually be adapted to fit high-mix, low-volume machine shops. In an interview with Fabtech, Mike Osterling, a senior consultant with Osterling Consulting, Inc., explains:

“Let’s begin by pointing out that the front office processes (order taking and management) for low-volume, high-mix production processes are much more complex than the front office processes for high-volume low-mix environments – thereby meaning those value streams are in much greater need of VSM alignment!  So we need to start those VSMs at the receipt of order (or at receipt of a request for quote), and we need to include leaders from those areas in the actual VSM activity.  In some cases we can identify VS product families if there are products that are different, but they go through common production processes. In those situations, there may be opportunities to create areas of flow (or mini-flow).” (You can read the rest of the interview here.)

In an industry driven on speed and schedules, taking a few days to complete VSM or other improvement exercises may seem like wasted time. However, managers need to consider the price of not taking the time to focus on continuous improvement. Investing in tools like VSM can help your shop operate more efficiently, reduce lead time, improve customer service, and as research suggests, help you keep up with your competitors.

If you want to learn more about value stream mapping, iSixSigma provides a wealth of information available here, and the Lean Manufacturing institute offers educational classes and webinars here.

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Improve Your Metal Service Center Operations with Standardized Processes

November 5, 2016 / , , , , , , , , ,

Process improvement strategies are nothing new to manufacturing. As an industrial metal-cutting company in today’s challenging market, chances are you’ve spent time finding ways to reduce costs while increasing output to keep up with rising material costs and customer demands.

However, with a slew of improvement strategies, tools, and technologies available, many managers have lost sight of one of the simplest ways they can optimize the performance of their operations—process control.

Process control can help metal service centers ensure consistent quality, and minimize blade and machinery failures that can cause a workflow bottleneck. While there are many ways to implement process control, standardization is perhaps the easiest and most successful way to keep employees moving in the same direction.

Standardized practices, as defined by leanmanufacture.net, dissect larger, overall processes into simple, easy-to-follow steps that any operator can easily perform. This standardized approach allows operators to perform tasks the same exact way every time, which results in using resources, such as time and raw materials, more efficiently.

According to the Lean Enterprise Institute, standardized work “is one of the most powerful, but least used lean tools. By documenting the current best practice, standardized work forms the baseline for kaizen or continuous improvement. As the standard is improved, the new standard becomes the baseline for further improvements and so on. Improving standardized work is a never-ending process.” The approach consists of three elements:

  1. Takt time, or the rate at which products must be made in a process to meet customer demand.
  2. The work sequence in which an operator performs tasks within takt time.
  3. The standard inventory, including units in machines, required to keep the process operating smoothly.

Benefits of standardized practices include:

Not convinced such a simple approach can make a big impact? Case in point—McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain. As cited in this article by consulting firm WIPRO, McDonald’s has standardized it “manufacturing” process for hamburgers so well that most of the organization is focused on growing the business, product development and marketing.

As described here, metal manufacturer ThyssenKrupp reduced work-in-process by 40%, reduced operator movement by nearly 5,000 feet per day and improved productivity by 9% by implementing standardized work at two working stations at its Sao Paulo, Brazil plant.

In today’s fast-paced market, process control is essential for metal service centers that want to grow against competition. According to the industry brief, Strategies for Improving Workflow and Eliminating Bottlenecks in Industrial Metal-Cutting, as the pace on the shop floor increases, metal service centers can’t afford a blade failure or costly mistakes that can slow down and stop production. Today’s metal service centers must focus on the process to identify and correct any mistakes on the shop floor immediately. By implementing standardized work, metal service centers not only gain insight into potential workflow bottlenecks, but also have a solid foundation for a continuous improvement plan going forward.

Even if your metal service center has a cutting-edge improvement plan in place, take a step back and look at your processes. Are they standardized? Have they gotten too complex? By going back to the basics and standardizing work practices, managers can optimize operations and ensure that every employee—and every process—is successful, every time.

What process controls and improvements have you implemented at your metal service center? Is standardized work one of them?

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Using DMAIC Methodology in Your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization

October 1, 2016 / , , , , , , , , ,

Being a leader in today’s industrial metal-cutting industry is tough. In addition to dealing with external challenges like high inventory levels, falling commodity prices, and a slowdown in China, managers still have to deal with operational pain points such as process and workflow bottlenecks, resource allocation, and delivery schedules.

As stated in the eBook, Five Performance-Boosting Best Practices for Your Industrial Metal-Cutting Organization, thriving in today’s unstable market requires metal-cutting executives to focus on continuous improvement. “Whether implementing a lean manufacturing tool to improve processes or investing in training to develop people, proactive leaders are focused on making positive changes in their operations so they can quickly respond to today’s changing customer demands,” the eBook states.

One methodology many leaders are using as part of their continuous improvement initiatives is DMAIC. As explained here by American Society for Quality (ASQ), DMAIC is a data-driven quality strategy used to improve processes. Although it is typically used as part of a Six Sigma initiative, the methodology can also be implemented as a standalone quality improvement procedure or as part of other process improvement initiatives such as lean.

DMAIC is an acronym for the five phases that make up the process:

According to an archived article from Six Sigma Daily, the heart of DMAIC is making continuous improvements to an existing process through objective problem solving. “Process is the focal point of DMAIC,” the article explains. “The methodology seeks to improve the quality of a product or service by concentrating not on the output but on the process that created the output. The idea is that concentrating on processes leads to more effective and permanent solutions.”

DMAIC can be used by any project team that is attempting to improve an existing process. For example, SeaDek, a manufacturer of non-skid marine flooring, used DMAIC methods to reduce major inventory stockouts in 2015. The company went from 14 major stockouts in 2014 to one stockout in 2015, resulting in a materials cost savings of more than $250,000 and improving on-time delivery from 44 percent the previous year to 95 percent in 2015. (You can download the entire case study here.)

Paul Bryant, senior OPEX manager of LENOX Tools, says there are two key ways companies can identify when and where to apply the DMAIC method:

  1. Target highest scrap cost by machine and/or cost center
  2. Areas with low production yield or poor quality (i.e., high defective parts per million)

In his experience, Bryant says that DMAIC can be especially helpful in lowering scrap costs. Last year, LENOX made the strategic decision to start making wire internally; however, the blade manufacturer was working 10-15 hours overtime to keep up with weekly demand. “Using the DMAIC process, we reduced scrap and improved production speeds by 19.2%, resulting in $75K plus an additional $30K in overtime reduction,” Bryant says. “In 2017, we expect to pick up an additional 15% in production using the DMAIC methodology.”

Of course, the real payoff is what DMAIC can bring to the customer. “The ultimate expected benefit is that customers receive products of the best quality, on-time, and at lowest possible costs,” Bryant says.

Could DMAIC help your industrial metal-cutting organization? To learn more about this Six Sigma continuous improvement tool, click here for a detailed DMAIC roadmap or here for an overview and short video tutorial.

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