Homework Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

            In this case study, there is a discussion about the injection method process for improving the quality of the product. This project is basically based on the injection-molding project. This can be done by investigating the manufacturing process of the product. In the manufacturing process, all operations and things are carried out smoothly or not. In that case study, there is a discussion with the input team of the product management. For the analysis, they will conclude that there are three factors that have some impacts on the product. Factor A is peak pressure, factor C is injection speed during manufacturing and the D factor is screw RPM of the product. According to these factors in that case study, there will be some setting that will be done on the product to improve its quality through the use of DMAIC process in detail. For improving the quality of the product there is the proper setting for these factors that include the factor A is set at 150 psi, the injection speed of factor C is 0.5 inch per second and screw RPM is set at 200. At the end of this case study, there are some recommendations for improving the quality of the product with perfection.

Key Words Injection method; DMAIC; Injection-molding project; quality

Introduction to DMAIC of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

            There are 5 factors that are taking part in improving the quality of the product. These include Define, measure, analyze, improve and control. All of these factors are important for improving the quality of product with perfection. Many companies in the world when they wanted to improve the quality of the product so their main concern is to use the Six Sigma methodology for enhancing the quality.  DMAIC is basically dealing with the data-driven quality strategy for enhancing the quality of the product for the company. This process is also an integral part of the organization if they wanted to improve the quality of the product. If the company wanted to achieve quality goals so that the company must have to follow all the steps with perfection so that through this they can easily achieve the best possible results. The first step is to Define, in that process the company has to define all the factors that will be important for the company to enhance its quality (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        The company has to define the customers in detail and also the main quality requirements of the customers. The company also has to define the expectation of their customers on their quality issues. Then after this, the company will work on defining the boundaries of their project in detail. The company is able to improve the refining process by just mapping the process in a proper way. The next step is regarding the measurement. After defining the main problem for quality measurement, then the company has to work on measuring the performance of the core business process. In that step, the company has to develop its data collection process, this is because through this they can easily analyze the future results of the problem in detail (Sokovic, Pavletic, & Pipan, 2010). Then after this, the company also has to work on collecting the main data form different unique sources so that after this in the next step they can easily analyze the data. In the measuring step, the company also has to work on taking surveys from different customers. Then after this, the company has to compare the results of their survey in detail and find out the results. The next step is regarding the analysis of the last step.

        The data that has been collected from the measuring process will be analyzed in a proper way. The analysis process is extremely important for the company because through perfect analysis the company is able to improve the quality of the products. In the analysis process, the company has to identify the gaps that are between their current performance and future goals in detail. After this, the company has to analyze different type of opportunities for improving the quality of the product. In the analysis process, the company also work on identifying different sources of variations. After analysis of all the factors for the quality insurance, the company will work on improving the quality of the product.

            For this, the company has to work on improving the target process that is useful for the company for enhancing the quality of the product. In the improvement process, the company also has to work on making a creative and innovative solution by using different technologies. But for this, they have to ensure that these solutions are under the analysis process. Then a proper development and deploy plan will be implemented. In the last step after initializing the plan, the company has to design some important strategies for controlling the quality process so that the results will be according to the goals of the company (Sokovic, Pavletic, & Pipan, 2010). The purpose of using the six-sigma methodology is to increase the value and to minimize the mistake. The flexible system is considered in the business for the target. The understanding of statistical analysis is important to improve the system, productivity, customer retention, reduction in the defects, change in the product and service (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010). The methodology is supported by different organizations and improved strategy can be recommended for different management processes. In the previous researches, different methods are proposed to control the baseline data issues and to analyze the improvement steps for development and solution of the problems (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

Case study literature review of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

            According to the author Justin, he has given a proper demonstration for improving the quality of the product. He has also given a systematic review of six sigma and lean. This paper is regarding the two approaches for the quality improvement that is six sigma and lean. Both of these approaches are implemented in health care centers. From the past data of health care centers, many people are died due to lack of quality issues in these centers. Then taking this loss of life under concentration, the health care centers must have to develop a perfect quality improvement plan by the use of these approaches.

            The methodology used for this research is sig sigma and lean or may be lean sigma. For this, they will collect data from different health care centers. In the result section, the data has been collected from 539 health care centers. From this data 12 centers are using the lean project method for improving the quality, 20 centers are using six sigma method and only 5 are using lean sigma. It can be concluded that the total impact of these approaches is not measurable. In the next studies, there is still proper room for future work on the impact of these approaches on quality insurance (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        According to the author Gamal, he has given proper information about the six sigma method for improving the quality of products and services. He has also mentioned some implications for future research that is based on improving quality. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the emerging aspects of six sigma over the last 17 years. For conducting this research, the methodology has been used is the data collected from the 417 general articles related to management and business (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        The results and finding of this research are quite amazing, this approach is increasing at a fast rate for improving the quality of the product. Theirs a lot of data is available on the six sigma approach for improving the quality of the product, related to business and management industries. This paper is based on the literature review of the six sigma approach. The results are quite unique about both of the approaches that are six sigma and lean sigma, both of these approaches are the complement of each other. When both of these approaches are used together for improving the quality so that through these variations can be eliminated (Aboelmaged, 2010).

        In this article, the author Sokovic has given some important methods and techniques that can be used for ensuring the quality of the product or services. The main purpose of this article is to analyze different techniques and processes for improving the quality of the product. In that article, there is an introduction to different methods for improving the quality of the product. These approaches are PDCA tool, Six Sigma (DNAIC) and in the last EFQM excellence model. The methodology for this article is the comparing of different characteristics. The finding of this approach is the main aim of this research. The results show that the company must have to focus on defining different approaches and then according to that they have to find a proper way to solve the quality issues of the company. If the company wanted to improve their quality so for that they must have to focus on combining six sigma and lean sigma approach in their organization. The results also show that RADAR matrix is one of the most important methods if the company wanted to improve its performance. If the company wanted a continuous improvement in their organization so for that they must have to use the PDCA cycle. The most important approach is the use of DMAIC approach, the reason is that in DMAIC the steps are organized in a proper way so that the company can easily able to improve their quality. The results of this research are quite unique, the reason is that if the company wanted to improve their quality so for that they must have to focus on applying DMAIC approach (Sokovic, Pavletic, & Pipan, 2010).

        According to the author Guevara, he was involved in defining a different aspect of residual stresses that are present in the injection molded products. The author has mentioned that this technique is one of the most used techniques in designing different products that are related to mechanical parts or polymers. There are some advantages of using this technique for manufacturing the products. That include, this technique offers the best surface finishing and also ability to complete the sensitive requirements and finishing of the product. Another best advantage of this technique is that it is very cost effective technique for the industries. The main disadvantage of this approach is that while deformation of the product so that its quality is affected in a great deal. In the paper, there is a proper demonstration of the injection molding technique in the proper way (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        There are different applications of this technique that has been discussed in detail. There are different types of residual stresses that included in the injection molding products. It can be seen that from only two effects this residual stress is originated. From this, the first effect is flow-induced stresses and it has been originated by the help of the movement of molecules. The next effect is thermal induces stress and it has been originated during cooling. In that paper, there is a discussion about residual stress management techniques in detail. The result shows that both of these effects are extremely dangerous for injection molding. For that, the industry must have to focus on minimizing these effects during the implementation of an injection molding technique (Guevara-Morales & Figueroa-López, 2014).

        In this article, the author Huamin has demonstrated different techniques for injection molding. Computer molding is one of the most precise techniques that has been used for injection molding. This approach also becomes an active research area for future areas. This is because through the use of the computer the organization is able to achieve its quality goals quite easily. In the past due to lack of information about the computer molding so this technique plays a major role in affecting injection molding.

        There are some advantages of computer molding and that includes this technique is involved in providing word processing, designing, marketing, raw material processing and also in business. The best advantage of this technique is that through this the quality in injection molding can be increased easily without any difficulty. This is because with the help of computer molding the precision in the injection molding can be increased easily. Through the use of computer molding the organization can easily able to design different variables with them also processing variables (Zhou, 2013).

            According to this author Kumar, he has explained some important concepts and applications of the design of experiments. In that article, the applications are discussed that are related to the bioprocessing. It can be seen that many biotechnological operations are extremely complex and it is also very difficult for the researchers to ensure the quality of the product. There are many advantages of using a design of experiment approach in handling different biological tasks in the organization (Kumar, Bhalla, & Rathore, 2014).

            Through this technique, the organization is able to estimate all effects and also another thing by just the help of some experiments. In this paper, the design of the experiment has been analyzed in a perfect way with the help of different experiments. For conducting this research the systematic methodology has been used for the construction of a model, and also with the help of this precise prediction can be done easily. The author has described different material and methods that are used for the design of experiments. In that paper, there is also discussion about Design of experiment molding. The results and findings from this research show that there are four datasets chosen from this research that is involved in representing a huge range of variation (Kumar, Bhalla, & Rathore, 2014).

            According to the author Paulo, he has presented a common study that is about the design of experiments for microencapsulation application. In this article, a brief review is presented about microencapsulation. It can be seen that microencapsulation techniques have been used in most of the industries through the help of the design of the experiment. This technique mostly used in different food industries, the reason is that through these techniques the industries are able to enhance the quality of the food products easily. In this article, there is a brief explanation about the use of response surface methodologies. In the literature review, there is a complete survey of different optimization.

        In this research, there are different applications for microencapsulation that is utilized for the design of experiments. The first application is regarding the implementation of the response surface methodology. The next application is related to screening experiments and their factors. After this, the next application is regarding the choice of experimental design. Through this approach assessment of predicted model can be done easily. The last application is related to the graphical representation for implementing model equation. In the last part some of this research some applications that are related to pharmacy and food industries are discussed in detail (Paulo & Santos, 2017).

Define of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

        According to the case study of injection molding products. If the company wanted to achieve the quality goals, so for that they must have to use the DMAIC approach to gain the quality goals for such products. There are different basic sections of the injection molding machine. The first part is the injection unit. That is involved in melting the polymer resin of the plastic product. The next section is regarding the molding, and this section is involved in making a hollow form.  The last section is related to the clamping system and it is involved in holding and molding the product at the same time and then release a finished part.

        If the company wanted to increase its quality for the injection molding product so first, they have to define the need of the customer and also their requirements. In this case study, there is a proper demonstration of all of these section of the injection molding machine. This is one of the most important parts of the handling the quality issue in this machine. In the first step, they have to focus on defining the problem that is related to the quality issue of this injection molding machine. In defining process they have to define the product that is achieved from this machine and then they have to analyze all main requirements that are related to this product. The quality manager has to work on defining all the important parameters that are regarding the injection molding products (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        According to these parameters, a proper process map has been made. In the high-level process mapping, the quality manager has to define different stages of this machine. This type of mapping is involved in clearing defining the quality defects in this machine. This can be explained with the help of an example that the quality is low in receiving raw material from the suppliers. The next factor is related to the storage of the raw material like there is no proper warehouse to store the raw material for this machine. Like there are also some defects in supplying the raw material to this injection molding machine. All of these factors are defined in the proper way so that there will be no difficulty in completing other quality stages of the injection molding machine. If the defining stage is perfect so that the quality for injection molding machine can be achieved easily.

Measure of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

        It can be seen that the measurement system is playing a very important role in finding and enhancing the quality of the product that is manufactured from an injection molding machine. if the measurement has been done with perfection so that the quality manager is able to ensure the quality of the product easily. There are two most important factors that are involved in playing a major role in measuring the quality of the product, these are repeatability and reproducibility. After defining all of their parameters of the injection machine, the next step is regarding the measurement.

        The quality manager has to measure the different parameters of this machine. In that process, they have to ensure different parts of the injection machine and their performance. Moreover, after defining the main problem for quality measurement, then the company has to work on measuring the performance of the core business process. In that step, the company has to develop its data collection process, this is because through this they can easily analyze the future results of the problem in detail. Then after this, the company also has to work on collecting the main data form different unique sources so that after this in the next step they can easily analyze the data (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        In the measuring step, the company also has to work on taking surveys from different customers. Then after this, the company has to compare the results of their survey in detail and find out the results. From the case study, it can be seen that there are different parts of the injection molding machine that needs to be under concentration for measuring the quality of this machine. The first factor is related to the repeatability and it is basically a measure of changes that have been found during the performance of the machine. On the other side, the reproducibility is the advance measurement change that has been found during the performance of the same step. For the measurement of the quality of the product, for the injection molding machine. For the measurement, different experiments have been proposed in detail. For conducting the experiment a sample was tested and its performance has been measured in detail.  Through this type of performance, the future steps can be easily done for improving quality. According to the case study the injection molding machine is struggling with excessive flash, for this different experiment are performed so that the quality can be enhanced in the further steps.

Analyze of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

        The process of injection molding depends on the melting of plastic under the higher pressure and in this process, the material can be molded in cavities. After molding the material is cooled and hardened. The major issue faced in the process is the face of a bulldog. It can undergo the defect issue in case of extensive flash on the mold. According to the existing knowledge about the selected process, the normal situation is required of the molding of the bulldog without any excessive flash. The excessive flash can result in the defect of the quality and requires proper precautions to solve the problem (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010). The root cause of the problem and the factors affecting the process are considered. The fishbone diagram shows the project and brainstorming of the team members makes the process more possible to reduce the excessive flash. There are a number of issues related to the process and use of flashes such as mold construction, melt temperature, injection pressure, and clamp pressure. The collection of data and reconstruction process for the use of flash in the present work is cost-effective. In the process, the important factors are not eliminated due to lack of pressure, injection speed, pack time, screw RPM and important causes will have a focus on the molding process. In the data collection process, the required data and the measurement are considered with significant factors. The means are adjusted and controlled by solving the flash problems such as A pack pressure, C injection speed, D screw RPM. The factors are not significant to affect the problems such as B that is pack time. however, the interaction between the factors can cause an effect on the problem and it is required to be controlled through AC and CD (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010). The collected data can be used to verify the root causes that induces impact on the output process, and it can be used to measure average excessive flash by having the change in the values of all the factors. There are different possible settings for the investigation of the optimum situation and zero average for the excessive flash on the mold bulldog.

Improve  of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

            After the analysis process, the next step is to identify the defect in the problem system. In the process, the root cause will be eliminated to solve the problem. In the process of improvement, the injection molding process is used for the design of the experiment. The significant effect is used to reduce the model for the values of A, C, D, CD, and AC. The significant effect will be carried by considering the regression equation. The regression equation is the estimated function. The analysis of variance is carried out by using ANOVA under significant conditions. The lack of fit test shows that adequate modeling can be carried out under specific conditions. The results are satisfactory to measure the constant variance and the independent assumptions are considered for the residuals. The analysis of collected data includes lack of fit source, less degree of freedom, the adjusted sum of square, the sequential sum of square, and pure sources of error. The mean square of the residual errors is included in the analysis (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

        In the present process, the data is collected, undergoes through the process and then the normal plot is developed by using the Minitab software. The purpose of using the software was to measure the normality of the residuals. In the normal plot, the graphical technique is used to define all the residuals and values of the model fit. As shown in the figure and graph the observations are related to the simple linear regression.

            The y-axis of the plot shows probability and residuals. The relationship between all the values is given according to the conditions. Besides all the observations residual supports are included. The normality estimation is included in the analysis. The production process in the pack time is at the maximum level. The pack pressure is lower for different values and injection speed (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

Control of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

            In the control process, the best solution is selected. The process includes excess flash on the production and the injection molding machine is developed. The process is based on the applicable solution and for long term consideration, it is important to sort the issue. In the six-sigma project, the wastage of time and money is considered, and the solution is identified to improve with the required period. The important consideration of the analysis is the time period of the solution and how it can be resolved. In the improvement strategy, some phases are developed to generate long term relations. The measurement of length for the flash often important over a different period of time. The X bar and the charts show that the change in the measurement is related to the length of flash and for the product.

        The figure demonstrates subgroups with the average number of flashes and the control point is also considered and consequently, OCAP chart is investigated to find the causes. There is a number of OCAP steps that can be used for the control point analysis. The setting point is considered for the pressure and the injection speed of the machine. The results of the system and machine are under control. The analysis shows that comparison for the baseline of the system is based on the DMAIC approach. The process capability and the analysis are designed for improvement strategies in the present work (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010). The defects can be reduced by improving the process and by using the methods of six sigma. The understanding of customer needs is required to be improved. The six-sigma analysis are analyzed in the present work for the customer retention, improvement in the productivity, values of the market share growth, reduction in the defects, and the cost saving process. The methodologies are mainly based on the technical trades and the prevention of the defects (Glasgow, Scott-Caziewell, & Kabol., 2010).

Conclusion and recommendation of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

        Summing up all the discussion from above it is concluded that if any company wanted to improve the quality of their products so that they have to follow the DMAIC method. Through this, they can easily achieve quality goals with perfection. Define, measure, analyze, improve and control. All of these factors are important for improving the quality of product with perfection.

        Many companies in the world when they wanted to improve the quality of the product so their main concern is to use the Six Sigma methodology for enhancing the quality. The company is able to improve the refining process by just mapping the process in a proper way. The next step is regarding the measurement. After defining the main problem for quality measurement, then the company has to work on measuring the performance of the core business process. In the analysis process, the company has to identify the gaps that are between their current performance and future goals in detail.

            After this, the company has to analyze different type of opportunities for improving the quality of the product. While manufacturing the products such as injection modeling products it is important to maintain the quality during production otherwise after some period of time several defects can occur in the product which not only creates the problem for the manufacturing concern but also for the clients who have purchased the product. It is the duty of the production manager to maintain or control the quality of the goods. The quality of goods can be maintained by using the latest technology and giving tasks to skilled employees. The strong internal control of the corporation along with a performance management system can also help the organization in maintaining high-quality standards.

            The high-quality standards can be set in the corporation by implementing the ISO certification.  The production process is the one in which the product is assembled and manufactured. During this time the employees should use their expertise so that product can be manufactured with the best quality. Today the clients and organizations want such products which are not only higher in quality but also innovative. Therefore the organizations should keep on upgrading their products to meet the needs of the customers. If the needs of the customers are not going to be fulfilled than selling such products will become impossible.

        In the present case analysis, the six-sigma project is considered for the DMAIC and to define the problem. The analysis of the case includes an explanation of the problem according to the determinations and current status. The root causes of the problems are addressed and analyzed to define the current status for the analysis of different factors. The analysis includes the process for the improvements of the controlled system. The solution to the problem will be addressed after measurement and analysis. In the analysis, some of the alternative solutions and recommendations are considered to reduce the defective parts and to do flash. The prevention from filling the cavity is considered for injecting the machine materials. Some of the recommendations are based on the phase analysis and Pareto charts to indicate the effective factors.

References of Quality Improvement of Injection Molded Product Using Six-Sigma

Aboelmaged, M. G. (2010). Six Sigma quality: a structured review and implications for future research. nternational Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 268-317.

Glasgow, J. M., Scott-Caziewell, J. R., & Kabol., P. J. (2010). Guiding inpatient quality improvement: a systematic review of Lean and Six Sigma. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety , 553.

Guevara-Morales, A., & Figueroa-López, U. (2014). Residual stresses in injection molded products. Journal of materials science, 4399-4415.

Kumar, V., Bhalla, A., & Rathore, A. S. (2014). Design of experiments applications in bioprocessing: concepts and approach. Biotechnology progress, 86-99.

Paulo, F., & Santos, L. (2017). Design of experiments for microencapsulation applications: A review. Materials Science and Engineering.

Sokovic, M., Pavletic, D., & Pipan, K. K. (2010). Quality improvement methodologies–PDCA cycle, RADAR matrix, DMAIC and DFSS. Journal of achievements in materials and manufacturing engineering, 476-483.

Zhou, H. (2013). Computer modeling for injection molding. Simulation, Optimization, and Control.