Lean Six Sigma and Stainless Steel

There are many uses for stainless steel. Here are some of the common ones: culinary uses, kitchen
sinks, cutlery, cookware, surgical tools and medical equipment, hemostats, surgical implants, temporary dental crowns, bridges, automotive and aerospace applications, auto bodies, rail cars, and aircraft.*

We’ll look at Six Sigma and Lean applications in stainless steel and finish with a video of the history of
stainless steel.

*Source

Applying Six Sigma in Stainless Steel Fabrication

In a paper titled “Case Study Applications of Six Sigma in Mild Steel and Stainless Steel Light Fabrication Processes” author Viraj V. Atre discusses the application of Six Sigma quality tools to the fabrication of mild steel and stainless steel modular kitchen cabinets and furniture products.

The processes improve:

Manufacturing Process
Pareto Analysis
Customer Specifications and Standardized Measurements
Shielded Metal Arc Welding Machine Parts and Process
Identified Welding Problems and Quality Control
Cause and Effect Diagram for Welding Defects
Surface Coating Defects Analysis Through Pareto/Cause and Effect Analysis

You can read the paper here.

Using Six Sigma to Optimize Metal Powder Spreading

In a paper titled “Using the Six Sigma method to optimise metal powder spreading in PBF-LB” authors Tim Robert Brocksieper and others discuss the use of Six Sigma to optimize the spreading of stainless steel powder in Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB).

The paper includes:

SIPOC for Powder Application Process
Powder Applications with Various Defect Characteristics
Overview of the Measuring Systems and Parameters Measured
Measurement Systems Analysis Results
Current Process Performance
Pareto Diagram of the Effects on Measurand Void Volume
Effect and Interaction Diagrams for the Measurand Void Volume
Occurrence of Waves and Grooves as a Function of Velocity and Recoater
Comparison of the Measurands of Current Process Performance with Those after Optimisation

Click on the following link to read the paper.

Lean Tools Implementation in a Japanese Stainless Steel Company

In a paper titled “Implementation of Lean Tools (Kaizen and 5S) in Stainless Steel Japanese Company
Through Innovation” authors Santi Setyaningsih and Rucita Cahyawati Putri discuss the use of Kaizen
and 5S on the production floor and in the office.

The paper includes:

Kaizen Umbrella Concept and Kaizen Constituents
5S Overview
Examples of 5S in the Company

Click on the following link to download a copy of the paper.

Improving Stainless Steel Productivity Using Lean Six Sigma
In a short paper titled “Productivity Improvement Using Lean Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology in a Steel Manufacturing Company” authors Flocerfida L. Amaya, Ara Mae R. Aceituna, and Jizelle Aira C. Soriano address the problem faced by a stainless steel manufacturing company in the Philippines regarding low productivity rate compared to target output.

Click on the following link to download a copy of the paper.