Application of six sigma in reducing wedging variation in roller kiln 101 of Company X Ceramics Incorporated

• Main Authors: Curbano, Ryan Jeffrey P., Baloloy, Evinezer G., Dela Cuve, Aprilyn C., Ragadio, Jay Mark M., Villegas, Carolle Beatriz G., Caldo, Rionel Belen
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Tiles—Defects; Six sigma (Quality control standard); Kilns; Electrical and Electronics; Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/2457; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/faculty_research/article/3456/type/native/viewcontent
• Institution: De La Salle University

Company X is the only company in the Philippines that has a production of tiles. It undergoes several processes starting from soil to the final output. Recently, the researchers found out that the production produces several kinds of defects. These defects play a significant role in the financial aspect of the company as well as its relation to the customer. Six Sigma is an effective technique that deals in eliminating defects in the processes using its known methodology which is the DMAIC. It stands for Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve and Control. The company together with the researchers created a team that will conduct an experimental type of study. In the Define phase, the researchers focused on the Wedging defect with 40×40 inches tile size produced in the Roller Kiln 101 (RK101). In the Measure phase, the researchers found out the left position of the tiles entering in RK101 has the lowest capability of Cp = 1=03 and produces 669,857.90 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). The left side were analyzed by the team and found out the accumulation of the tar and water was the main reason of having off burners which affects the dimension of the tiles. Immediate/Corrective Action and Preventive Action were developed by the team. Due to time constraints, the improvement focused only on the immediate/corrective action which is the proper cleaning of the burners. The improvement done by the team was successful leading the RK101 to be in the fourth place in the Pareto Chart from 3% wedging percentage to 0.89%, increased its Cp to 1.97 and decreased its produced DPMO to 27,148.74 which falls to 3.65 sigma level and 97.27%. To sustain the improvement done, the work instruction of cleaning the burners were disseminated not only in RK101 but also to other lines to serve as their standard. © 2016 American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved.