A case study of improving the tile manufacturing procsses using Lean Six Sigma

Abstract

Increasing competitiveness, in domestic and global market of ceramic tile, has made tile manufacturers to produce good quality products with low price. The purpose of this case study was to use lean six sigma methodology to reduce cost in glazed porcelain lines of the Apadana Ceram Company. The value stream mapping was used to identify 7 kinds of wastes during the define phase of the DMAIC methodology. Subsequently two main wastes in the project scope were long change over time and high defect rate. The Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) was used to reduce long change over time while the Taguchi method was used to reduce the high defect rate. The results show that long change over time and high defect rate were reduced using SMED and Taguchi. Finally, all kinds of wastes can be reduced using Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools which lead to processes improvement and cost reduction.