A Lean Six Sigma framework for the reduction of ship loading commercial time in the iron ore pelletising industry

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Abstract: Evidence suggests that specifically designed frameworks to implement Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects to tackle particular problems are more effective than ‘generic’ versions. This paper proposes an implementation framework to effectively deploy LSS to improve a key operation and performance indicator, i.e. ship loading commercial time, of one of the largest world producer of iron ore. This article therefore contributes with a refined framework to effectively implement LSS, and documents its successful application and effectiveness within the context of the case organisation. The LSS framework and project contributed in helping the studied organisation to improve both the capability of its ship loading process and commercial time by more than 30%, resulting in operational savings in the range of $300,000 USD per year. The systematic nature of the framework proposed also helped the organisation to establish a standardised routine to improve its operations. Managerial implications exposing the challenges faced during the implementation of LSS are also discussed to serve as lessons learnt to be considered in other LSS projects. Managers and engineers incharge of improving operations and processes can benefit from this paper as it can be used as a guide to direct the conduction of LSS projects and the empirical application of its principles and tools

Applying Quality Control Charts to the Analysis of Single-Subject Data Sequences

Techniques from the field of quality control can be used to classify the quality of individual samples of physical or cognitive performance. After stable baselines have been established for an individual, deviations in performance can be evaluated using control charts. The effectiveness of this approach in evaluating cognitive performance was tested using databases collected under a variety of risk factors. The sensitivity and specificity characteristics of Shewhart, cumulativesum (CUSUM), and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts were determined for a total of 174 trials involving 10 participants and 23 cognitive performance assessment measures. The most effective technique in each case was typically a function of the specific performance measure and the type of performance change being evaluated. Sensitivity and specificity for the best techniques were as high as 100%. This study demonstrated the usefulness of quality control charts as a tool to evaluate individual participant performance over time. Actual or potential applications of this research include readiness-to-perform screening of industrial workers in order to improve the health and safety of the workforce.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Índices de capacidade de relações funcionais lineares e não-lineares Capability index for linear and non-linear functions

São apresentados métodos para determinação dos índices de capacidade tais como Cp e Cpk aplicados no "design for six sigma" (DFSS) quando a característica de qualidade é não-observável e dada por Y = f(X1, X2, X3,....Xk), onde Xi são variáveis aleatórias com média e variância respectivamente iguais a miXi e sigma2Xi; f é uma função conhecida. A determinação é baseada na série de Taylor e o procedimento será ilustrado com exemplos práticos.<br>Here we present methods to determine capabilit indices such as Cp and Cpk to be applied in "design for six sigma" (DFSS) when the quality characteristic of interest Y is unobservable but given by Y = f(X1, X2, X3,....Xk), where Xi's are random variables with means and variance respectively equal to muXi and sigma2Xi; f is a known function. The determination is based on Taylor series and we illustrate the procedure with practical examples