The DMAIC roadmap is always associated with Six Sigma methodology. Many Six Sigma projects have been successful because of DMAIC.
I will share with you today one company that was successful in their project through DMAIC.
Systems and Electronics Inc. (SEI), a manufacturing facility in West Plains, MO, received one of the 2005 awards given by the Excellence in Missouri Foundation. The foundation annually presents quality awards to organizations and teams with excellent performance.
SEI, a subsidiary of Engineered Support Systems Inc. (ESSI), specializes in heavy metal fabrication (including Army tank trailers, Air Force aircraft loaders, and ballistic armor kits). It supplies diversified defense products and advanced sustainment solutions for the U.S. military and other government customers.
At one point the company was commissioned to provide ballistic armor kits for the U.S. Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle (FMTV) trucks. Each kit is 2,275 separate parts, and many require painting with a special U.S. Army Chemical Agent Resistant Coating system. The painting task proved daunting. The painting would ultimately pace production and delivery. The company estimated that capacity must be increased by 20%, utilizing all available shifts to meet customer needs.
Here’s how DMAIC was used.
SEI initiated the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) methodology, selecting team members based on skills and resources needed to define and implement improvement, with particular consideration given to stakeholders.
Teams report progress for each project phase during DMAIC gate reviews. Reviews are constructed around a checklist outlining specific deliverables. The team developed a data collection plan and baseline performance data using Voice-of-the-Customer (VOC) models and Critical to Quality (CTQ) diagrams. The measure phase revealed a problem larger than originally estimated. Rather than 20%, a 31% improvement was necessary to meet the customer’s schedules. Using Six Sigma tools (process maps, Pareto charts, statistical control charts, etc.) the team analyzed the process to define the critical elements with the greatest impact to paint conveyor line output. They identified and prioritized potential solutions based on anticipated impact, ease of implementation, and cost using trial runs to assess effectiveness. Improvements were evaluated for impact with primary Critical to Quality metrics. SEI teams are empowered to implement improvements and because most key stakeholders were team members, changes were implemented with immediate output improvements.
The results were amazing. The final gate review showed improvements over 60% in output and 19% in overall cost, enabling SEI to manufacture and ship armor kits per the customer’s schedule. The added capacity also facilitated additional contract awards for ballistic armor kits. SEI has delivered over 2,000 armor kits, receiving numerous reports about the armor kits produced by the West Plains facility saving lives of U.S. soldiers.
With the global red alert on terrorism, what SEI is able to do definitely takes some of the worries out from our minds.
Source: Team uses DMAIC to ramp up armor painting capacity
