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RELIABILITY PAPER

Implementation of a Six Sigma

project in a 3M division of Brazil
Ricardo Pires de Souza, Helio Roberto Hekis,
Lucas Ambrosio Bezerra Oliveira, Jamerson Viegas Queiroz and
Fernanda Cristina Barbosa Pereira Queiroz
Department of Production Engineering,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte UFRN, Natal, Brazil, and

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project

129
Received 22 February 2011
Revised 31 January 2012
Accepted 3 February 2012

Ricardo Alexsandro de Medeiros Valentim

Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte UFRN, Natal, Brazil
Abstract
Purpose The Six Sigma project aims at a continual reduction in process variation, eliminating
defects or flaws in products and services, optimizing processes and reducing costs. The purpose of this
study is to demonstrate improvements in customer service index (CSI), product cycle time and
inventory turnover after implementation of a Six Sigma project.
Design/methodology/approach This research focused on the value stream mapping of a
company process, performed by a multidisciplinary team that implemented a pull production
system, the standard operational procedure in machines that were process bottlenecks, and the kanban
system.
Findings After three months of implementation, the authors observed an 11.7 percent reduction in
product cycle time, increase in customer service index (CSI) from 93.9 to 97 percent and increase in
inventory turnovers from 4.9 to 9.
Originality/value The project was in accordance with the competitive strategy of the company,
which is focused on customer satisfaction and cost reduction.
Keywords Six Sigma, Customer service index (CSI), Value stream map, Kanban, Brazil
Paper type Case study

1. Introduction
After commercial barriers were lowered, competition among companies became more
intense, forcing them to seek new forms of competitiveness to survive. Consumers
began to demand higher product and service quality at lower prices (Pinto et al., 2006)
and the customers opinion became the reference of quality. Programs such as Six
Sigma have provided competitive advantages to companies, since they have positive
impacts on sales and cost reduction (Van Der Wiele et al., 2010).
Exploring, describing and explaining the problem are important for successful
projects. Pepper and Spedding (2010) assert that:
[. . .] aligning the cultural aspects of Lean with the data driven investigations of Six Sigma
holds huge potential in a bid for a genuine and sustainable approach to organizational change
and process improvement.

International Journal of Quality &

Reliability Management
Vol. 30 No. 2, 2013
pp. 129-141
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0265-671X
DOI 10.1108/02656711311293553

IJQRM
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Thus, this study was developed by a multidisciplinary team in order to draw a value
stream map of a companys process and implement improvement action plans
contained in Six Sigma methodology. The opinion and experience of several staff
members, from the operational to the management level, are the basis for the projects
success, since changes are more acceptable at operational levels.
Intense competition has forced many companies to implement the pull production
system to meet demand, eliminate waste and reduce inventory. The philosophy of the
pull production system is to manufacture only what the client really needs, using kanban
as the primary tool in the visual management process. All of these tools and processes
seek to improve the productive process in order to make production more flexible, reduce
inventory and costs and satisfy the customer.
The research problem to be evaluated consists of determining the reasons for the
poor customer service index (CSI) in a company division, despite high finished product
inventory levels. It is hypothesized here that this is a result of the lack of knowledge
regarding the process as a whole and non-standardization.
The article is divided into six sections. This introductory section is followed by
Section 2, a theoretical summary of the subjects discussed. Section 3 presents
methodological aspects, while Sections 4 and 5 show a case study in a division of 3M
Brazil and the results obtained, respectively. Finally, Section 6 gives conclusions,
limitations and suggestions for future studies.
2. Research background
In the early 1980s, a number of factors contributed to the implementation of techniques
and tools aimed at improving quality, reducing costs and increasing customer
satisfaction in American organizations and throughout the world. The introduction of
mass production and globalization allowed the Japanese to market their products,
especially electronics, worldwide. Consumer acceptance was immediate, owing to lower
costs and higher quality compared to their Western counterparts. During the entire
1980s and early 1990s, Motorola was one of the many organizations in the USA and
Europe that was being overtaken by the competitiveness of Japanese organizations,
demonstrating to top management that the quality of their products was severely
compromised (Bairrao, 2010).
The North American electronics industry was therefore experiencing intense
competition from Japanese products. For this reason, these companies sought to
improve the quality of their products in order to remain competitive in the market (Harry
and Schroeder, 2000). In 1987 Motorola, Inc. developed a new methodology called
Six Sigma. Sigma is the Greek letter d and this methodology is widely used in statistics
to measure standard deviation, variability and process inconsistency (Pande et al., 2000).
Considered a reformulation of principles, practices and quality management tools
(Clifford, 2001), Six Sigma assumes that the process is subject to small variations and the
goal is 3.4 defective parts per million opportunities (Montgomery, 2001). To achieve this
goal, significant efforts are needed, since the implementation of this methodology requires
financial and human resources, in addition to the use of advanced statistical tools.
On a production line using Six Sigma 99.99966 percent of the manufactured parts
should be good (Linderman et al., 2003), while in a three sigma process 66,810 defective
parts per million are produced, meaning that 93.3 percent of the manufactured parts
are good.

Figure 1 shows the relationship between defect rate and the Sigma process,
assuming normal distribution.
All processes can be operated at the Six Sigma level, but the suitable level will depend
on the cost-benefit strategy adopted by the company. If the process is at Two or Three
Sigma, it is relatively easy to reach level four, but achieving Five or Six Sigma requires
considerable financial resources and sophisticated statistical tools. The recent
resumption of investments aimed at improving processes is an important strategy
that will determine the process level the company will be striving for achieve
(Linderman et al., 2003). For several years, this methodology was limited in the literature
to guide books (Harry and Schroeder, 2000) and a small number of academic articles
(Schroeder et al., 2008). Recently, academic articles have been published in respected
periodicals, such as the Journal of Operations Management and International Journal of
Quality & Reliability Management, using a scientific approach to demonstrate a number
of Six Sigma contributions to companies (Calia et al., 2009). Despite originating in the
electronics industry, in the last two decades this methodology has been implemented in
several industrial sectors as well as in services. The primary applications of Six Sigma in
organizations in the 2000s and the main benefits and difficulties in its application can be
seen in Tjahjono et al. (2010).
A widely accepted definition in the literature was put forth by Schroeder et al.
(2008), who defined Six Sigma as a parallel-meso structure to reduce variation in
organizational processes by using improvement specialists, a structured method, and
performance metrics with the aim of achieving strategic objectives, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 shows that the team of specialists responsible for implementing Six Sigma
projects (Champion, Black Belt, Green Belt) are autonomous within the organizational
hierarchy and for this reason do not encounter many institutional barriers in the
departments.
Six Sigma technology was innovative compared to the traditional total quality
program, since it integrated statistical methods to achieve higher production gains
(Schroeder et al., 2005). The application of Six Sigma uses various improvement

Source: Linderman et al. (2003)

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Figure 1.
Relationship between
defect rate and
Sigma process

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Figure 2.
Parallel structure of
Six Sigma

Source: Schroeder et al. (2008)

methods and problem solutions. The main methods used are define, measure, analyze,
improve and control (DMAIC) and DFSS.
DMAIC is the most widely used method in companies aiming at process
improvement (Pande et al., 2000; Banuelas and Antony, 2003; Lynch et al., 2003;
Antony et al., 2005), as well as the most cited in publications (Brady and Allen, 2006).
This occurs because the method is very simple and similar to the PDCA cycle, which is
amply used in a continuous improvement process (Satolo et al., 2009).
DMAIC stages were well defined by Satolo et al. (2009):
.
Define. The clear definition and objective of the project, including technical
requisites, which must be identified in Six Sigma projects that will be developed to
meet customer expectations of quality, price and delivery time. According to
Behara et al. (1995), the ability of the organization to meet this expectation is
closely linked to process variation (refers to any type of administrative or
transactional process, such as services, sales and manufacturing).
.
Measure. Identifying key measures of efficiency and efficacy in transporting such
measures to the Six Sigma concept. According to Edgeman et al. (1999), to ensure
the expected results in this phase, practices such as Six Sigma metrics;
measurement systems analysis (MSA); failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA);
and quality function deployment (QFD), among others, are used.
.
Analyze. Determining the causes of the problems that need to be rectified.
According to Eckes (2001), the following practices are used in this stage: data
visualization; hypothesis tests; correlation and regression analysis and analysis of
variance.
.
Improve. Is the sum of activities related to generation, selection
and implementation of solutions. This stage involves developing design of
experiments (DOE), in order to obtain thorough knowledge of each process, using
structural changes in the operational levels of several factors, simultaneously to
the process under study (Barney, 2002; Lynch et al., 2003). The information
obtained with DOE helps to identify the adjustment required to modify and
optimize processes.

Control. Is the action of ensuring that improvements are sustained over time.
Young (2001) reports that the following practices are adopted in this phase: control
cards; process planning charts; reliability testing and process error proofing.

The DFSS method design for Six Sigma is most used in the process of
developing new products and innovation (Watson and Deyong, 2010).
The main organizations with a history of quality management that adopted the Six
Sigma methodology reported significant transformations in productive performance
(Mcclenahen, 2004) encouraging the management of corporate knowledge and enhanced
competitiveness (Wu and Lin, 2009). After implementation of Six Sigma in the dental
division of 3M in the USA, the company improved business performance (Fiedler, 2004).
Other organizations, such as Ford, Honeywell and American Express, also adopted Six
Sigma to enhance business performance (Hahn et al., 2000).
Six Sigma is currently grouped into three generations. The first generation
(1987-1994) focused on reducing defects, as achieved by Motorola, the second (1994-2000)
on reducing costs and was implemented in companies such as General Electric and Du
Pont and the third (2000 to the present) concentrates on creating value for the customer
and the company, as shown by Samsung (Aghili, 2009; Antony, 2007). For an overall
view of the process, Six Sigma projects use value stream mapping (VSM). Rother and
Shook (2003) define VSM as a collection of all the actions, with or without added value,
necessary to produce a product or group of products that use the same resources through
primary streams, starting with raw materials and ending with the customer.
VSM is different from conventional techniques, since it gathers information at each
stage of the process, such as cycle time, tool changeover time, inventory, parts in process,
information flow, materials flow and finished product inventory (Singh et al., 2010). With
the representation of materials flow, this technique helps visualize the entire productive
process.
While several authors have developed tools to perfect individual operations within a
supply chain, most of these fail to visualize and link materials and information flows
from the entire supply chain of the company (Abdulmalek and Rajgopal, 2007). VSM
overcomes this deficiency and is aimed at mapping the processes and links between
them, which are designed in a large image, facilitating decisions for perfecting product
value stream.
Another very useful piece of information obtained with VSM is product cycle time,
that is, the time needed to manufacture a product, including all the processes required
to make it available for sale.
The activity mapping process involves a number of stages, such as preliminary
process analysis, a detailed record of all the required items, number of persons
involved, distance traveled and process time (Hines and Rich, 1997). VSM is one of the
most important elements for evaluating a particular process, allowing teams to discuss
and implement flow modifications in order to reduce costs.
Another important element for process evaluation process is the standard operating
procedure (SOP). SOP is a process document that describes in detail how the operator
should perform the designated task (De Treville et al., 2005). Almeida and Souza (2000)
consider SOP to be one of the first elements for effective and organized production that
is free of loss. They underscore that balancing the process and defining minimum
inventory level are also goals of this procedure.

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Colenghi (1997) corroborates other authors by stating that SOP is a detailed

description of all the operations needed to perform an activity. It has significant
weight within any process aimed at ensuring, by standardization, the expected results
for each task. The procedures manual for developing an operation is the most widely
used in companies and normally leads to the creation of an organizational flowchart. The
components of a standardized operation are takt time, standard operating routine and
standard amount of in-process inventory.
Standard operating routine is a set of operations performed by operators in a
determinate sequence, allowing them to repeat the cycle consistently over time.
Standard operating routine prevents each operator from randomly performing the
steps of a particular process, reducing cycle time fluctuations and allowing each
routine to be executed within takt time, in order to meet demand.
To meet demand, eliminate waste and reduce inventories, companies started to adopt
the pull production system, with the aim of producing only what the customer needs. In the
pull production model, the way in which materials flow gains considerable importance.
Process stages only produce if there is customer consumption, and the definition of each
part as well as when and how much to manufacture is given by the amount of inventory in
stock. Each process pulls the parts of the previous process, eliminating the need for
programming each stage of the process with an material requirements planning (MRP)
system. The need for production depends on inventory levels (Almeida and Souza, 2000).
Kanban is widely used to help in the visual management of a pull production system.
The term kanban means billboard in Japanese (Lexico_Lean, 2003). Its function is to
make pull production viable, using customer-supplier signaling with respect to what,
when and how much will be produced. According to Chan (2001), kanban dimensioning
is a critical factor for a better customer service and strategic for regulating stocks.
Figure 3 shows the direction of kanban and material flow. According to Almeida
and Souza (2000), when demand effectively occurs, kanban cards are transmitted to
each stage of production. Thus, production only initiates through these cards.
3. Methods and techniques of the present study
The present study used explicative, exploratory and descriptive research in a case
study conducted in a division of 3M Brazil. Initially, an exploratory study was needed
to provide more familiarity with the problem faced by the company. This is reflected in
the low CSI and low inventory turnover. After understanding the problem, a value
stream map of the process was made to record, describe and analyze the facts.
Armed with the data described and analyzed, the multidisciplinary team identified

Figure 3.
Card and material flow in
the pull production system

determining factors for the occurrence of the problem and improvements were
implemented in the process by means of a Six Sigma project.
4. Case study: 3M Brazil
3M was founded in Minnesota in 1902 and in 1910 the company moved to Saint Paul, the
capital of the state. Several years were required for the company to achieve the quality
desired for its products and its raw material supply line. In 1946, 3M Brazil was established
in the city of Campinas in the state of Sao Paulo under the company name Durex, Lixas e
Fitas Adesivas Ltda. Durex adhesive tape became a common substance, which is still on the
market. With the need to expand, the company opened a plant in 1975 in the city of Ribeirao
Preto, also in the state of Sao Paulo, where the present study was conducted.
In order to make their technologies and solutions available for national industry, 3M
Brazil opened the first Customer Technical Center (CTC) in Latin America in 2005,
consisting of 17 technical laboratories, reinforcing its commitment to continued
innovation to satisfy its customers.
In 2009, 3M operated in 65 countries, with global sales of 23 billion dollars and
75,000 employees. In Brazil, 3M generated gross revenues of 2.03 billion dollars and
employed 3,262 workers. Some of the values of the company stand out, such as customer
relations, evidenced by the following policy: act with inflexible honesty and integrity in
everything and meet customer needs with innovative technologies and superior quality,
value and service.
3M invests in technology to offer more innovative solutions to meet market needs.
Over the years, 3M Brazil has been working to improve peoples lives through its
solutions, maintaining a strong relationship with the community in which it operates.
Seeking a strategy of competitiveness and customer focus, the company adopted and
standardized Six Sigma methodology as a way of providing its customers with greater
quality and innovation.
The first step in implementing the process under study was to determine the problem,
which was the low CSI and low inventory turnover of finished products in a division of
the company. The following step was to form a multidisciplinary team, which was the
basis for the success of the project. After the problem was defined and the team set up, a
value stream map of the current state of the process was drawn. After elaborating VSM,
the team analyzed improvements in the process, including the standard performance of
the roll cutter (Dusenbery), in order to obtain productivity goals, elaborate the standard
hour concept to define kanban boards and calculate the standard deviation for kanban
implementation.
The major difficulty faced during implementation was employee training, since they
had no prior knowledge of the kanban board or standard work. This training was done
over a two-month period, with particular attention paid to materials management. After
training, workers were able work without interference from materials management,
thereby improving customer satisfaction levels.
5. Discussion
Initial results showed that the CSI of the sector was 93.9 percent in the first six months
of 2008 and that finished product inventory turnover (inv turns) was 4.9, as shown in
Figures 4 and 5. These data exemplify a very unfavorable scenario, given that some
customers were dissatisfied with late product delivery, even with high stock levels.

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Figure 4.
CSI monitoring

Figure 5.
Monitoring of finished
product inventory
turnover (inv turns)

Measures started to be implemented in mid-June 2008 and concluded two months later.
First, a multidisciplinary team was set up, with participants directly involved in the
process, from production managers to machine operators. A current state value stream
map was drawn for the structured team and it was found that, despite high stock
levels, the desired product was often not available in time.
The current state value stream map (Figure 6) showed that materials management
placed production orders at all stages of the process and that production cycle time
(lead time) was 60 days.
However, the future value stream map (Figure 7) was improved so that materials
management no longer placed orders at two production levels, justifying the
implementation of intermediate supermarkets. These two levels (Calender and Maker)
were supplied directly by standard cards from production. The absence of materials
management at two production levels reduced production cycle time, since the process

weekly

23 days

416,000
m2

30 ton

MR
PVC Resin

C/T = ?
C/O = 25 min
Shifts = 3

CALENDAR

FLC

22 days

401,536
m2

weekly

MRP

monthly

MRP

1.09 sec

C/T = 56 m2/min
C/O = 25 min
Shifts = 3

MAKER

weekly

spreadsheet

monthly

7 days

124479
m2

MRP 640
daily

CUTTER

2.7 sec

C/T = 22 m2/min
C/O = 15 min
Shifts = 3

Materials Management

CURRENT STATE VSM CG

C/O = Changeover Time

C/T = Cycle Time
C/G = Commercial Graphics

153,751
m2

SHIPPING

orders

daily

8 days

Forecast

Lead Time

daily

60 days

DEMAND = 2,496 rolls/month

TAKT TIME = 3.06 sec/min2

Family CG

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Figure 6.
Value stream map before
project implementation

Figure 7.
Value stream map after
project implementation

23 days

416,000
m2

30 ton

C/T =
C/O =
Shifts = 3

CALENDAR

FLC

10 days

super market

C/T =
C/O =
Shifts = 3

MAKER

monthly
MRP

10 days

PPPC

super market

C/T =
C/O =
Shifts = 3

CUTTER

Materials Management

10 days

SHIPPING

super market

orders

daily

C/O = Changeover Time

C/T = Cycle Time
C/G = Commercial Graphics

daily

Forecast

Lead Time

daily

53 days

DEMAND = 2,496 rolls/month

TAKT TIME = 3.06 sec/m2

Family CG

138

weekly

PVC Resin
supplier

monthly
MRP

FUTURE STATE VSM . CG

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became more autonomous. Thus, the execution of the current project decreased
production cycle time from 60 to 53 days, that is, an 11.7 percent increase in production
capacity.
In addition to reducing production time, the project was able to gradually increase
the CSI, reaching 97 percent in November 2008 and to maintain finished product
inventory turnover at 9. Thus, mean time in which products remained in stock dropped
from 2.4 to 1.3 months.
The project also developed effective SOPs. Company employees were trained and all
shifts adopted SOP, avoiding waste, production fluctuations and operational errors.
6. Final considerations
The Six Sigma program, which considers several projects, is producing excellent
results for 3M Brazil, as evidenced by this study. Company values are aligned with the
program, that is, provide customer satisfaction and reduce costs by improving
processes and reducing production time.
The study hypothesis was shown to be true, since the team did not have sufficient
knowledge of the process. The value stream map drawn provided the team with
thorough knowledge of the process and the implementation of SOPs allowed
standardization of operator activities, improving production index measuring accuracy
and reducing production fluctuations.
Considering the specific aims of the present article, it was found that production
cycle time decreased by 11.7 percent, CSI increased from 93.9 to 97 percent and
inventory turnover from 4.9 to 9 turnovers, three months after project implementation.
The general aim of the study was achieved, given that the increase in inventory
turnover and decrease in product cycle time are effective gains resulting from the Six
Sigma project, since they reduced production costs.
The low CSI of the division was due to the managers lack of knowledge regarding
the process and the non-standardization of activities, since production did not reach
constant levels, owing to losses and redos.
This investigation also showed that forming a multidisciplinary team is essential to
a successful Six Sigma project. The team elaborated and implemented standard cutting
machine (Dusenbery) performance, the cornerstone for implementing the kanban
board. Improvements in service quality resulted in customer satisfaction, which in turn
increased trust in the company.
The present study will also serve as a base for future research in other divisions of
3M Brazil in addition to other companies.
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