Six Sigma Defined

Many companies today are implementing the Six Sigma strategy. But what exactly is Six Sigma?

According to Wikipedia, Six Sigma “seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods.”

Six Sigma contains two project methodologies:

DMAIC: Improving existing business process
DMADV: Creating new product or process designs

DMAIC has five phases:

1. Define high-level project goals and the current process
2. Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data
3. Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships
4. Improve or optimize the process based upon data analysis
5. Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects

DMADV also has five phases:

1. Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy
2. Measure and identify characteristics that are critical to quality, product capabilities, production process capability, and risks
3. Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design
4. Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification
5. Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owners

To aid in implementing the Six Sigma process, many different tools can be used. Quality measurement tools such as portable CMMs have proven to be a great addition to companies looking to improve their products and processes. They continue to help quality professionals determine product defects earlier in the manufacturing process, ensuring parts meet customer standards.

Learn more about portable CMMs


Referenced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

Selling Quality and Conquering the World

Does your company actively “sell” quality? If not, you’re missing the boat. This is the premise of an article written by David Crosby for Quality Digest Daily. Mr. Crosby even provides a very fitting analogy – “How are you going to conquer the world if nobody knows you’re there?”

So how do you let the world know you’re there? You have to sell quality both to the outside world and to the inside world within your own company. Selling outside your company is meant to position your product or service, your company, in a potential customer’s mind. How do you do this? By promising quality and, even more importantly, delivering on that promise. In-house selling is essentially reminding everyone of your performance standard, your quality demands. Remind them that the product is important and so is the work they do.

Now, what exactly is meant by quality? Quality is basically two things. What many think of is parts or products that are “free of defects” or are within required specifications – that you deliver what you promised. The other definition of quality is a level of “goodness” – how good is your product compared to your competition?

A great example of selling quality is Ford’s “Quality is Job One” campaign from the 80s. The campaign sold quality to both outside customers as positioned Ford as a quality leader, selling quality in-house as it stressed the importance of quality in everyone’s job. 20 years later, when you hear that phrase, you still think of Ford and they are selling quality – to the world.

Read the full article.
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Manufacturing Tip: How to Accurately Refurbish Hydro Turbines and Generators

Information courtesy of Paper No. 059, HydroVision 2008 – Copyright HCI Publications, 2008

Traditionally, alignment of hydro turbines and generators is performed using both a plumb line and an optical level. The plumb line is hung down the center of the unit and is used to position all the components so that they are concentric and their axis is plumb (readings are taken with an electric inside micrometer). An optical level is used to set the components at the desired elevation.

The negatives to the plumb line is that electronic micrometer readings are very time consuming, are sensitive to outside influences, and the repeatability of readings between technicians is difficult to achieve. Negatives to the optical level are they can be affected by the vibration of neighboring units, and if the difference in elevation between the components is large, then multiple set-ups are required.

There is an alternative to these traditional alignment techniques. When Manitoba Hydro planned to refurbish its Kelsey Generating Station in order to reduce outage durations and construction effort, they investigated this alternative.

Manitoba Hydro investigated three-dimensional measurement systems before settling on a laser tracker measurement system. The accuracy, repeatability, and the time required to take measurements with the laser tracker system were proven to be superior to traditional methods.

The laser tracker functions by emitting a laser that is reflected off a target positioned at the point to be measured. As the operator moves the target from point to point and the light is reflected back to the tracker, the distance to each point is calculated.

Using a laser tracker reduced outage time by an estimated 2 to 3 weeks per unit overhaul and allowed the construction team to work more effectively and produce a better result. The laser tracker was so effective that it was used for significantly more applications than originally anticipated.

As you can see, a laser tracker measurement system can provide substantial savings in schedule and construction effort in both the refurbishment and new construction of hydro turbines and generators.

Read the entire white paper.
Read more about laser tracker technology.

GM and eBay Team Up to Sell Cars

It’s no surprise to anyone that car sales have been down. Accordingly, the government and the automotive industry have been open to looking at new ways to boost sales. One well-known plan is the popular Cash for Clunkers (Car Allowance Rebate System) program. But this plan alone won’t be enough and companies are looking for other innovative ways to jump-start sales.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, one such plan that certainly qualifies as innovative is the joint venture rolled out by GM and eBay to sell new cars online. The idea is to let shoppers scroll through about 20,000 vehicles sitting on the lots of over 200 GM dealers – all without leaving the comfort of their own home! Like many listings on eBay, there is a “buy it now” price, but customers can also enter into online bargaining with a dealer. This pilot program is currently limited to California, but GM plans to roll it out nationwide.

As with anything new and innovative, there are skeptics. Nevertheless, GM is trying to get ahead of its competition when it comes to leveraging new opportunities and technologies. This aggressive plan is a great example of how companies need to be innovative and accepting of change in order to stay competitive. Staying with the status quo and doing things as they have always been done is a recipe for disaster. To improve processes and sales, all companies have to innovate – not just GM and eBay.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article (subscription required).
Learn more about the newest quality innovations.

Hand Tools vs. Portable CMMs

Hand-held measuring instruments have historically been popular among machinists, QC inspectors, and engineers. These instruments have been around for decades, are familiar to users. And have provided trusted results. However, there are pitfalls inherent with these devices.

For example, calipers – one of the most widely used handheld instruments in use today – exhibit measurement error through a phenomenon known as the Abbé principle. This principle states that unless the measurement object is aligned perfectly along the axis of the calipers, there will be a source of error. Other sources of errors can be the user themselves and environmental factors such as temperature.

Portable CMMs have been developed that address some these issues. As parts and products become more sophisticated, the inherent errors associated with hand tools become increasingly unacceptable. The emergence of portable CMMs that provide higher accuracy, easier reporting, and tracking of results has addressed a need in the marketplace while cutting the recurring costs associated with periodic calibration of hand tools.

Download the entire white paper.

Capitalizing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

We are often asked by service providers and construction firms if we know of clients with the need for laser scanning. The signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides a positive answer to this question – and it leads right to the federal and state governments.

To date 6,144 highway construction projects have been approved under the act, for a total of $17.3 billion awarded out of $23.36 billion allocated to the state Departments of Transportation.

There is an additional $9 billion allocated to the Department of Energy and $1.4 billion to the General Services Administration (with an additional $5.5 billion allocated to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings and for building new energy-efficient federal buildings, courthouses and ports of entry).

This presents an enormous opportunity to gain new clients with the need for laser scanning, if you know how to win these contracts. Here are some tips:

1- Find proposals by visiting www.recovery.gov, or using the Search Recovery Actions option on www.FedBizOpps.gov.
2- Understand the qualifications required to participate.
3- Bid on local projects close to home.
4- Price your proposal with the understanding that many bids have come in from between 5% to 30% lower than anticipated.
5- Highlight your firm’s specialized equipment and unique skill sets. For example, a firm with a FARO 3D Laser Scanner has a tremendous competitive advantage over firms using total stations or hand measurement equipment. This is especially important in the case of GSA projects that now require laser scanning integrated into Building Information Models.
6- Partner! Large construction firms should consider using specialized subcontractors. Service Providers should seek to partner with contractors that have received awards for projects that are out of their normal scope of capabilities.
7- Once awarded, complete jobs on time and under budget to be considered frontrunners for additional projects. This provides yet another opportunity to utilize laser scanner technology that is designed to shorten the time to complete projects.

Lean Manufacturing: Getting Ready for the New Economy

While it seems that, to many people the economy keeps getting worse, there will be a day that things will turn around. Being prepared for that turn-around can mean the difference between success and failure in the new economy.

Incorporating lean manufacturing practices into your processes is just one way to be prepared. Wikipedia defines lean manufacturing as “a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.” Now is the perfect time to look into adopting these practices when business is currently slow.

Lean manufacturing encompasses understanding the seven wastes, which originated in Japan (also known as “muda”). Toyota originally developed this idea and thus lean manufacturing was born.

If you are unfamiliar with them, the seven wastes consist of:

1. Overproduction: Manufacturing an item before it is needed
2. Waiting: Whenever products are not moving or being processed
3. Transporting: Moving product between processes
4. Inappropriate Processing: Using the wrong tool for the job
5. Unnecessary Inventory: Clutter in the work areas
6. Unnecessary / Excess Motion: Unnecessary motions of bending, stretching, etc.
7. Defects: Quality defects that result in rework or scrap

The Sioux City Journal recently reported that the company Pure Fishing is “gearing the company for growth with leaner operations”. According to the article, Pure Fishing CEO John T. Doerr said the efforts are “focusing on preparing the Penn manufacturing operation for an efficient rebound when the economy and the demand for higher-end products pick up.”

This is a good lesson for all manufacturers – take advantage of the slower times now to come out on top when the economy rebounds. It may seem like it’s a long way off, but the companies that will be successful will be ready and waiting for it, rather than those that end up being left behind.

Read the full lean manufacturing article about Pure Fishing.

Learn more about technology that can help you in your lean manufacturing efforts.