Throughout history, ceramics have been important for food usage, storage, and art. The modern ceramics industry creates products for electronics and building components. Lean and Six Sigma are used in the industry to improve manufacturing and distribution.

We’ll look at applications from India, Poland, and Portugal, and finish with a video of making ceramic wall tiles.

 

Applying Lean Six Sigma to Reduce Manufacturing Cycle Time: India

 

In a paper titled “A study on the application of Lean Six Sigma techniques to reducing manufacturing cycle time for an industrial ceramic manufacturing unit,” author Kannan Vis discusses the application of Lean Six Sigma techniques to reducing manufacturing cycle time in an industrial ceramic manufacturing unit.

The paper includes:

  • Production Process Map of Metalized Cylinder
  • Lead Time Between Stations
  • Cycle Time for Each Process
  • Production and Loading Capacity of Metalized Cylinder
  • Inventory Data
  • Cycle Time vs Takt Time
  • Line Balancing
  • Findings

Appendices:

  • Assembly line Balancing for Metalized Cylinder
  • Current State Value Stream Map
  • Future State Value Stream Map
You can read Kannan’s paper here.

 

Issues Affecting Implementation of Lean Manufacturing in the Ceramic Industry: Poland

 

In an article titled “Lean Manufacturing in the Ceramic Industry” authors Daniel Kleszcz, Michał Zasadzień, and Robert Ulewicz discuss issues regarding the implementation of the Lean concept in ceramic manufacturing sector in Poland.

The article includes:

  • Barriers and Limitations in Implementing Lean Manufacturing
  • Barriers in the Refining Process in the Ceramic Industry
    • Size of the Enterprise
    • Location
    • Customer Relations
    • Production System
    • Labor Market
    • Assortment and Degree of Modernization
  • Production Processes After Modernization
  • Findings Based on Survey
You can access the article here.

 

Using DMAIC to Improve the Order Fulfillment Process: Portugal

 

In a paper titled “Order Fulfillment Process Improvement in a Ceramic Industry” authors  Marianna Maia and others discuss the DMAIC application to improve the order fulfillment process.

The paper includes:

  • New Products Line General Process Flow
  • Problems Associated with Order Fulfillment Process
  • Ishikawa Diagram for Due Date Delivery Failures
  • Survey of Error Types in SAP System

The percentage of late orders was reduced from 43.8% to 12.7%.

NOTE: To read the article, copy and paste this URL into your browser. Then click on View PDF at the upper left on the page.