Title: Process improvement using Six Sigma DMAIC in the bearing component manufacturing industry: a case study

Authors: Sandeep Kumar Bhaskar; Manoj Kumar Sain; Manu Augustine; Praveen Saraswat; Brij Mohan Sharma

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management and Gramothan, Ramnagaria, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management and Gramothan, Ramnagaria, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management and Gramothan, Ramnagaria, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management and Gramothan, Ramnagaria, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management and Gramothan, Ramnagaria, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Abstract: Bearing parts manufacturing process is highly crucial in maintaining the quality of final product. This paper elaborates the use of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach to minimise variation in dimensions of inner and outer races of ball bearings for enhancing process quality in a manufacturing firm. In various phases of DMAIC, Six Sigma quality improvement tools like voice of customers and employee, statistical process control, control charts, process capability charts, customer/employee survey, and fishbone diagram were used. MINITAB18.0 software was used for data analysis. The results revealed that the adoption of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach significantly improved the process quality. Sigma level was improved from 2.5 to 3.8; defects per million opportunities were reduced from 0.632% to 0.023% and process variation was reduced from ±5 to ±3 and was well within target limits.

Keywords: process capability analysis; process capability indices; process improvement; quality improvement; Six Sigma DMAIC.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2023.134717

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2023 Vol.45 No.3, pp.271 - 290

Received: 23 Dec 2020
Accepted: 29 Dec 2021
Published online: 08 Nov 2023 *

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