A Six Sigma Project On

Identifying & Reducing Causes Of Production Variation

Undertaken at

KAMA SCHACHTER PVT. LTD, MUMBAI

Submitted By:

Joseph Chawang-020 (MBA)

Mahesh Avhad-013 (ADMM)
Sonal Kininge-019 (ADMM))

Under the guidance of

Mr. Bhavin Parekh

Deputy GM Production, Kama Schachter Pvt. Ltd.
 Acknowledgement

The success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of not only
the team which has put their efforts but many others as well. We take this opportunity to
express our gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion
of this project.

First of all we would like to thank the KPMG team for giving us an opportunity to do our Six
Sigma Live Projects which helped us in a great deal to get acquainted to Six Sigma
Methodology in real time.

We would like to make use of this occasion to thank Dr. Vandana Sonwaney, the Director of
SIOM Nashik for giving us this exciting opportunity to be a part of an esteemed organization
like Kama Shachter.

We would like to thank Mr. Murari Gandhi (CPO) for sponsoring the six sigma project. We
felt motivated and encouraged every time we attended his meeting. Without his
encouragement and guidance this project would not have materialized.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to Mr. Bhaven Parekh and Mr. Shirish Kulkarni for
mentoring our project by helping and guiding us with important concepts and helping in
laying down the framework for the execution of the project.

The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are
contributing to this project, is vital for the success of the project. We are grateful for their
constant support and help.

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 Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................................4
Company background.........................................................................................................5
Define Phase.........................................................................................................................7
Project Charter.........................................................................................................................7
Roles and Responsibilities......................................................................................................8
Identify the customers.............................................................................................................9
Gathering the VOC..................................................................................................................9
X-Y interpretation...................................................................................................................9
High Level Process Map.......................................................................................................10
SIPOC....................................................................................................................................11
Sub Process Mapping for Setting Department......................................................................12
Measure Phase...................................................................................................................13
Cause & Effect Diagram.......................................................................................................13
Cause and Effect Matrix........................................................................................................15
Data Collection Plan..............................................................................................................16
Process Capability of existing process..................................................................................17
Analyze Phase....................................................................................................................18
Regression Analysis..............................................................................................................18
5 Whys Analysis....................................................................................................................20
Cause and Effect Diagram.....................................................................................................22
Findings and Suggestions for improvement....................................................................22
Bibliography........................................................................................................................24

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 Executive Summary

At Kama Schachter the management was concerned with the production variation. No deep
analysis was done earlier and they were interested in identifying the root causes in this six
sigma process. Presently the production output is 82.42%. The project target was to achieve
8% increase in production output. This can be achieved by identifying and reducing the root
causes that is hampering the production. Achieving this new level would not only increase the
turnover of the company but also it would result in better delivery performance.

In the Define Phase the project charter was made and the business Y-X analysis was done.
From VOC, reducing production variation was identified as project Y. After this process
mapping and sub process mapping was done to understand the way work flows on the shop
floor. SIPOC was made for setting department.

In the Measure Phase probable cause and effect diagram was prepared. Then detail Data
Collection Plan was chartered. The production output of all workers at the setting department
was recorded for 15 days. Also the main factors that affect production were identified through
Pareto Analysis. Absenteeism, rework/repair and extra metal were the main causes that affect
production. To reaffirm that these three factors also has considerable impact on production,
brainstorming session was conducted.The data were then collected for 15 days for further
analysis. MSA was not done as data collections were just manual recording of diamonds
setting and rejections or delay.

In the Analyze Phase Regression Analysis was carried out to find out the impact and relation
of the three main factors on production variation. From Regression analysis it was found that
absenteeism, extra metal in piece and rework had significant impact on production output.
Then 5 Why Analysis was done to find out the core root causes of the three factors. From 5
Why Analysis it was identified that that absenteeism was mainly due to overloaded work load
in terms of overtime and work on Sundays. Extra metal in piece was due to short stem on wax
tree, which was also resulting in huge gold losses. Rework/repair was due to rejections from
final QC. Diamond falling off from the prong was due to solid prongs. As a result of which
prongs could not be pressed sufficiently hard against the diamonds.

If the causes that were identified are eliminated or reduced to the minimum then production
output would increase by about 8%. This would result in increase of revenue by about 5.68
crores. And the delivery performance would also increase at the same time, which would
result in better customer satisfaction.

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Company background

Kama Schachter is one of Asia's largest manufacturers and exporters of diamonds and
diamond jewelry. Kama talented designers, skilled craftsmen and dedicated managers use
state-of-the-art technology to produce the finest level of diamond jewelry for leading retailers
all over the world.

Kama Schachter's executive offices in Mumbai use a comprehensive ERP system to manage
all manufacturing and distribution processes. The manufacturing infrastructure includes three
large factories in Mumbai and the diamond sourcing office located in Mumbai's diamond
center. Kama Schachter partnership with Leo Schachter Diamonds, one of the world's largest
DTC Sight holders, allows direct access to a vast range of loose diamonds of every category.
This gives a unique advantage of functioning both as a jewelry manufacturer and as a
diamond source.

As a supplier to some of the world's most exclusive retailers, Kama have intimate knowledge
of the cultures and trends of the markets served. The international sales and distribution
network in seven cities around the globe allows to cultivate a close relationship with
customers and guarantees efficient service.

History

Kama, named for the god of Love and Passion in Indian mythology, was incorporated in 1996.
The company began in a small 1,500 square foot facility with 40 people manufacturing about
1,000 to 1,500 pieces a month. In barely more than a decade Kama has grown to become an
international company, one of largest and most modern jewelry manufacturers in asia.

Today manufacturing operation includes three large factories occupying a total of 60,000
square feet with 850 people manufacturing an average of 70,000 pieces a month.

Kama partners Leo Schachter Diamonds. Leo Schachter was founded in 1952 in New York.
Today it is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel and has factories in Botswana, China, Thailand
and India. Its sales network spans the globe with offices in all the major diamond hubs. Leo
Schachter is regarded by industry experts as the leading strategically-driven and marketing-
focused enterprise in todays quickly evolving global diamond industry.

Leo Schachter's company slogan is "Four Generations, One Passion." The passion for
excellence has helped to make Leo Schachter the world's leading manufacturer of fine
diamonds. That same passion has been driving kama jewelry since its inception.

Mr. Colin Shah, Founder and Managing Director of Kama Jewellery, hails from a family of
doctors. Initiated in to the diamond trade at the age of 17, he had hands-on training in polished
assortment, diamond manufacturing, and jewelry manufacturing, after which he started his
own business at the age of 21 exporting diamonds to Japan.

Simultaneously he began manufacturing jewelry for local needs and exported jewelry to the
Gulf. With his jewelry business outperforming the diamond business, he decided to start a

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casting jewelry factory. After a further experience of running a production at SEEPZ
(Mumbai), he formed an association with Mrs. Mamta Apparao. That association bore fruit
with the beginning of Kama Jewelry
In 1996 and continues to the present.

Worldwide Manufacturing Infrastructure

India
The manufacturing units in Mumbai were set up in 1996, followed by expansions in 2001,
2004 & 2008. The state of art facility consists of three units employing 850 workers and
professionals. The large manufacturing capability and computer-based management system
allows Kama to offer customers a high quality product at competitive pricing.

Japan
while most manufacturing globally has moved to Asia, Kama have a small set up in Tokyo
that manufactures the Kama Certified Diamond Jewellery collection.

New York.
New York facility focuses on high-end items that require special skill sets of this diamond
center. The manufacture standard item in New York has a duty benefit and it works to
customers advantage.

Worldwide Sales Network

India
Kama Schachters manufacturing premises also house the groups corporate headquarters in
Mumbai the hub of international marketing and distribution network. Kama has a significant
presence in the Indian and Gulf markets serving independent specialty retailers. These
customers are served by the head office and by additional offices in New Delhi and Chennai.

New York
Located in the heart of New Yorks diamond center on 47th Street in Manhattan, this office
serves national retailers and regional chains all across America. Most of our American sales
consist of generic programs with a strong footing in the bridal business, backed by
comprehensive branding initiatives.

Toronto
Canada Kama Schachters office in Toronto serves Canadas large jewelry chains as well as
smaller independent jewelers all over the country.

Tokyo,Japan With Japan being the worlds second largest market for jewelry, Kama Schachter
opened a permanent sales office in Tokyo in 2007, serving retailers and wholesalers.

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 Define Phase
Project Charter

PROJECT CHARTER

Project Name: Identifying and reducing production variation

Process Name: Project Sponsor Mr. Murari Gandhi Project No

Setting of Diamond on Project Mentor Mr.Bhaven Parekh
ornaments
Green Belt Mr.Shirish Kulkarni
Business Case Problem Statement

The loss of production has a huge impact on Kama Schachter monthly output production
the company as well as the outside customers. level is 82.42% from its target level. This huge
With high variation in production the delivery variation in production is hampering the
schedules are affected and it also results in overall business in terms of delivery and
huge cost to the company in terms of late meeting customer commitments
delivery penalties.
Goal Statement Project Milestone
To identify and reduce the factors that are Start Date End Date
hampering production and to increase the Define 22/03/2010 27/03/2010
production output by 8% from the present Measure 2/03/2010 20/03/2010
level. Analyze 21/03/2010 30/03/2010
Improve 31/03/2010
Control
Project Scope Includes Project Comments
Setting Department at Factory 3
Project CTQ Details Project Charter Sign Off
Sponsor
Reduce production variation from 17.58% to Project Mentor
10% GB
Project Translation Plans Project Benefits Estimate
The success of this project will be carried over Increase in monthly revenue by 5.68 crores
to other Factories.

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Roles and Responsibilities

Name Function Responsibility

Mr. Murari Gandhi Sponsor To approve phases

(CPO) To extend cooperation to the
project team.
Mr. Bhavin Parekh Project Mentors To conduct team meetings
(Production Manager) To drive the projects to
Mr. Shirish Kulkarni achieve the goal
(Asst Production Manager)
Joseph Chawang Project Members To actively participate in all
Mahesh Avhad activities
Sonal Kininge To be a product knowledge
resource for the project

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Identify the customers

The customer in this project is the management of Kama Schachter.

Gathering the VOC

It is important to understand the voice of customers which may be categorized as Voice of

Business, Voice of external or internal customers, Voice of Processes etc. In this project
emphasis is laid on the internal customer i.e the management of Kama Schachter.

From business perspective the voice of business is to deliver the goods in time with optimum
cost and at the require quality. The management of Kama Schachter is concerned that due to
production losses the voice of business is getting affected. As per the production record of past
three months the production output is not as per the target. The delivery dates are getting
affected due to the production variation. The management wants to know the factors that are
affecting the production output and at what amount.

Translating VOC to CTQ

The voice of customer is to achieve optimum production output so as to satisfy the external
customer commitments. Here the CTQ is to reduce the production variation by 8% by
identifying the root cause and trying to eliminate them to achieve on time delivery and at the
right quantity.

X-Y interpretation

Kama Schachter

Big Ys
Achieve customer delivery schedule

Critical Xs
Production output

GB Project

Big Ys
Production output

Critical Xs
Factors affecting production output

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High Level Process Map

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SIPOC

At Business level

Supplier Input Process Output Customer

Leo, BOI Gold, Silver, Manufacturing Rings, pendants, Sterling, Titan,

alloy and of jewellery necklace, bangles Walmart
diamonds and ear rings

At process level

Supplier Input Process Output Customer

CAD designs of Designing RPT model waxing

department customer department
waxing RPT model, Waxing master mould/ wax casting
department wax tree department
casting wax tree, gold, Casting cast and trimmed grinding
department silver and alloys rings/ pendants department

grinding trimmed Grinding grounded filing

department rings/pendants rings/pendants department
filing grounded Filing filed pre-polished
department rings/pendants rings/pendants department
pre-polished filed Pre-polishing semi-polished setting
department rings/pendants rings/pendants department
setting semi-polished Setting diamond studded polishing
department rings/pendants rings/pendants department
polishing diamond studded Polishing polished Stamping
department rings /pendants rings/pendants Department

Stamping polished rings/ Stamping Stamped rings/ QC department

Department pendants pendants
QC department polished Rhodium & QC approved packing/
rings/pendants quality check rings/pendants dispatching
packing/ QC approved Packing/ packed rings/ Final outside
dispatching rings/pendants Dispatching pendants customer

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Sub Process Mapping for Setting Department

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 Measure Phase
Cause & Effect Diagram

From brainstorming with Cross Functional Team, A fish bone diagram was charted to know
the suspected or probable root causes because of which there is 17.62 % production variation.

Probable factors affecting production

Material Personnel

D elay in is s uing diamond

E xtra metal in piec e
S izing is s ue
L os t of diamond
Wrong material is s ued
I nc orrec t diamond
U navailability of material
D iffic ult P roduc tion
S harpening of tools edges
c leaning on s et area
C utting rough edges
P reparation of lakh
D iamond mis s ing from the
Rework
D elay in c as ting
D elay in D ata E ntry
H alf day
N o c ommunic ation
about work
D iverting manpower
to other orders
L azines s /D is trac tions
A bs enteeis m
17.62 %
Prodution
Variation
C rac ked metal/infill
B lunt tool
T ools breakage
T ools not in s toc k
F ailed c as ting
M ac hine maintenanc e
M ac hine breakdown

Methods Machines

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From the production report of the last three months, the probable factors affecting production
were tally to find out the causes which has significant impact on the output.

Dec-09 Jan-10 Feb-10 Total

Machine breakdown 8654 3451 4481 16586
Machine
maintenance 6543 5433 7504 19480
Failed casting 10623 4568 6366 21557
Diverting manpower
to other orders 16452 8564 9835 34851
Absenteeism 71050 63000 61800 195850
Delay in issuing
diamond bagging 7322 4198 5046 16566
Extra metal in piece 36543 25324 32744 94611
Sizing issue 6543 3783 4171 14497
Rework 33342 21546 24090 78978
Delay in Data Entry 12764 9764 11501 34029
Incorrect diamond
requisition 9963 8342 7168 25473
Delay in casting 14321 4856 8998 28175

Factors affectng production(last three months)

600000 100
No of diamonds

500000
80

Percent
400000
60
300000
200000 40
100000 20
0 0
Causes ce k s y g n g e n g r
e ism ie w
or d er ntr stin itio stin anc ow gin the
te p r E a is a n kd bag O
e n al i
n Re r o ata n c qu d c inte ea
s he D i re e r d
t ot y il a b on
A b me o in ela nd Fa e m ine m
t a y D o a
tra er Del am hi
n h
ac g d
i
Ex o w t di ac M in
p c M u
an r re is s
m co in
g In
r tin lay
ve De
Di
Count 195850 9461178978348513402928175254732155719480165861656614497
Percent 33.7 16.3 13.6 6.0 5.9 4.9 4.4 3.7 3.4 2.9 2.9 2.5
Cum % 33.7 50.0 63.6 69.6 75.5 80.3 84.7 88.4 91.8 94.7 97.5100.0

Inference:
From the Pareto Analysis we came to know that absenteeism, extra metal in piece and rework
accounts for 63.6 % of production variation.

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Cause and Effect Matrix

Brainstorming session was arranged between project mentors, production manager and
supervisors to identify the severity of various factors that would or can affect production. This
was done to reaffirm whether causes identified in Pareto Analysis has a high impact on output.

Severity Scale
0=No impact 1= Low impact Severity on
3=Medium impact 9= High impact Production output

Half day 1
No communication about work 3
Men

Diverting manpower to other orders 1

Laziness/Distractions 1
Absenteeism 9
Machine breakdown 3
Machine maintenance 1
Machine

Failed casting 3
Tools not in stock 3
Tools breakage 0
Blunt tool 1
Cracked metal/infill 0
Delay in issuing diamond bagging 1
Extra metal in piece 3
Sizing issue
Material

3
Lost of diamond 1
Wrong material issued 1
Incorrect diamond requisition 1
Unavailability of material 3
Delay in Data Entry 1
Delay in casting 3
Rework 9
Diamond missing from the bag 1
Method

Preparation of lakh 1
Cutting rough edges 0
cleaning on set area 1
Sharpening of tools edges 0
Difficult Production 1

Thus from C&E matrix and Pareto Analysis, we can select absenteeism and rework for data
collection and further analysis. Also we can select extra metal in piece though the points score
is medium. Because from Pareto Chart analysis it was identified that extra metal in piece has
very high impact on production output.

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Data Collection Plan

With the data recording being counting the no of diamonds set or recording the rejection/
rework in terms of pieces, no elaborate analysis was done through MSA approach.

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Data collected during the measure phase from 2nd March to 18th March.

Date Target Actual Variance No of Loss due Extra Rework

Production absentees Absenteeism metal in
piece
2-Mar 42000 35253 6747 5 3500 1585 542
3-Mar 42000 35804 6196 3 2100 1320 824
4-Mar 42000 35254 6746 1 700 2200 1506
5-Mar 42000 34737 7263 2 1400 1320 1427
6-Mar 42000 35643 6357 3 2100 1980 946
8-Mar 42000 36044 5956 4 2800 1100 1001
9-Mar 42000 36270 5730 3 2100 1540 729
10-Mar 42000 37962 4038 2 1400 550 881
11-Mar 42000 34371 7629 3 2100 1500 1152
12-Mar 42000 34899 7101 5 3500 340 1090
13-Mar 42000 35994 6006 3 2100 1100 1234
15-Mar 42000 33152 8848 3 2100 1310 986
16-Mar 42000 34242 7758 5 3500 1760 773
17-Mar 42000 34398 7602 6 4200 1320 765
18-Mar 42000 35838 6162 2 1400 1020 864

Process Capability of existing process

Process Capability of No of diamonds set

LSL Target
P rocess Data Within
LS L 36000 Ov erall
Target 42000
USL * P otential (Within) C apability
S ample M ean 35324.1 Cp *
S ample N 15 C PL -0.24
C PU *
S tDev (Within) 958.354
S tDev (O v erall) 1141.63 C pk -0.24
C C pk 2.09
O v erall C apability
Pp *
P PL -0.20
P PU *
P pk -0.20
C pm 0.29

33600 34800 36000 37200 38400 39600 40800 42000

O bserv ed P erformance E xp. Within P erformance E xp. O v erall P erformance

P P M < LS L 800000.00 PPM < LS L 759690.14 P P M < LS L 723101.15
PPM > USL * PPM > USL * PPM > USL *
P P M Total 800000.00 PPM Total 759690.14 P P M Total 723101.15

Inference: Cpk = -0.24 indicates that the existing process of setting diamonds is not within
specified limit.

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 Analyze Phase
Regression Analysis

Variance in production v/s loss of production due to absenteeism

The regression equation is

Variance = 5744 + 0.399 Loss due Absenteeism

Predictor Coef SE Coef T P

Constant 5744.3 750.4 7.65 0.000
Loss due Absenteeism 0.3993 0.2981 1.34 0.203

S = 1090.93 R-Sq = 12.1% R-Sq(adj) = 5.4%

Analysis of Variance

Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 1 2135101 2135101 1.79 0.203
Residual Error 13 15471644 1190126
Total 14 17606745

Inference

12.1% of variation in actual production is explained by absenteeism.

Absenteeism has significant impact on production

Variance in production v/s extra metal in piece

The regression equation is
Variance = 5722 + 0.717 Extra metal in piece

Predictor Coef SE Coef T P

Constant 5722.1 859.5 6.66 0.000
Extra metal in piece 0.7173 0.6096 1.18 0.260

S = 1106.35 R-Sq = 9.6% R-Sq(adj) = 2.7%

Analysis of Variance

Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 1 1694605 1694605 1.38 0.260
Residual Error 13 15912140 1224011
Total 14 17606745

Inference

9.6 % of variation in actual production is explained by extra metal in piece.

Extra metal in piece has significant impact on production loss.

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Variance in production v/s rework/rejection

The regression equation is

Variance = 6146 + 0.54 Rework

Predictor Coef SE Coef T P

Constant 6146 1185 5.19 0.000
Rework 0.540 1.169 0.46 0.651

S = 1154.31 R-Sq = 1.6% R-Sq(adj) = 0.0%

Analysis of Variance

Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 1 285053 285053 0.21 0.651
Residual Error 13 17321692 1332438
Total 14 17606745

Inference

1.6% of variation in actual production is explained by rework/rejection.

Rework/rejection has significant impact on production loss.

Total Regression Analysis against all three factors

Variance in production output v/s loss due to absenteeism, extra metal in piece and rework.
The regression equation is
Variance = 1576 + 0.798 Loss due Absenteeism + 0.876 Extra metal in piece
+ 2.11 Rework

Predictor Coef SE Coef T P

Constant 1576 1921 0.82 0.429
Loss due Absenteeism 0.7979 0.3247 2.46 0.032
Extra metal in piece 0.8759 0.5363 1.63 0.131
Rework 2.113 1.192 1.77 0.104

S = 960.882 R-Sq = 42.3% R-Sq(adj) = 26.6%

Analysis of Variance

Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 3 7450500 2483500 2.69 0.098
Residual Error 11 10156245 923295
Total 14 17606745

Inference

42.3% of variation in actual production is explained by absenteeism, extra metal in

piece and rework/rejection.
All the three causes have significant impact on production loss. Rework/Rejection has
maximum impact on production.

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5 Whys Analysis

For Absenteeism

1. Why there is high number of absenteeism among workers?

Ans. Workers are tired, exhausted and sick

2. Why workers are tired, exhausted and sick?

Ans: Due to overtime and work on Sunday

3. Why workers work too much overtime and work on Sunday?

Ans: Productions are planned for overtime and Sundays

4. Why productions are planned for overtime and Sundays?

Ans: Due to capacity constraints

5. Why there are capacity constraints?

Conclusion
Marketing department is booking more orders than capacity of the plant. There is no capacity
constraint plan which is to be followed.

For extra metal in pieces

1. Why there are extra metal in gold piece?

Ans: As extra metals are not removed fully from grinding

2. Why the extra metals are not removed fully from grinding?
Ans: Pieces are not cut from specified length

3. Why the pieces are not cut from the specified length?
Ans: Length of the wax tree branches is too short

4. Why the length of the wax tree branches is too short?

Ans: Stem of the wax mould is short

5. Why stem of the wax moulds are short?

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Conclusion
There should be enough length on wax pieces so that the gold pieces can be cut from the wax
tree after casting. Enough length would ensure that gold pieces are cut with ease and at
optimum length. This would also ensure saving of gold.

For rework/rejection

1. Why rejection of rings and pendants occur at Final QC?

Ans: Diamonds fall from gold pieces

2. Why diamonds fall from the gold pieces?

Ans: Prongs dont hold the diamond firmly

3. Why prongs dont hold the diamond firmly?

Ans: Workers miss some prongs that hold diamond

4. Why workers missed out some prongs that hold the diamond?
Ans: Micropave prongs dont have pre-cut edges

5. Why the micropave prongs dont have pre-cut edges?

Conclusions

The diamond prongs for micropave gold pieces are minute. To hold the diamonds the prongs
have to be split into two edges. Since all prongs have to be split, there are instances where
workers dont split the prong and just set the diamonds. This results in diamond falling from
the prong in subsequent processes.

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Cause and Effect Diagram

Using 5 Why analysis absenteeism, rework /rejection and extra metal in piece were grilled
down to find their core root causes. The fishbone diagram shows the pictorial representation
of the core root causes.

Root Cause Analysis for Factors affecting production

Material Personnel
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W O ion co
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Extra metal Absenteeism 17.58%

Production
Variation
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Rework
Methods

Findings and Suggestions for improvement

From the analysis phase the root causes of absenteeism, extra metal in piece and rework were
identified. Suggestions for reducing or eliminating them are listed individually below.

Absenteeism:

Absenteeism was mainly due to overtime and work on Sundays. Due to capacity constraints
productions are planned for overtime. Workload on workers can be reduced by keeping
holidays on Sundays. Even the target per worker is planned including overtime. Frequent
overtime not only creates fatigue to workers but there is an extra cost involve. From
interactions with workers absenteeism was due to fatigue or for some personal work like
going to banks. As there are no holidays across the month, they take leave on working days to
carry out their work. Thus to reduce absenteeism the management can planned for one holiday
on working day to compensate for work on Sundays. In case of heavy orders the company can
outsource some orders to decrease the excess workload.

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Extra metal in pieces:

The root cause for extra metal in piece is due to short stem length of the mould. The wax
injected into the mould take the form of the design. The wax tree is used for gold casting.
Once the casting is completed, the gold pieces are cut from the gold tree. But due to short
branches the workers find difficult to cut the piece at the optimum length. As a result there is
an extra metal left on gold pieces. This extra gold piece would result in extra grinding and loss
of high amount of gold. The grinders dont fully grind the extra metal and this result in
rejection in the setting stage. Thus due to this rejections the output from setting department is
affected.

The stem length of the mould should be increase to allow workers to cut the pieces at ease.
This would ensure that the pieces are cut at the right length. The gold left can be used again
for further casting. This would result in higher gold recovery too.

Rework

Reworks were found mainly due to diamonds missing from the ornaments. Diamonds have to
be set on the ornaments using the prong. But since the micropave prongs are small and almost
invisible to naked eye, diamonds are set under the microscope. The reasons for diamond
falling off from the rings are due to loose prongs. The prongs come in solid form from casting.
The workers had to cut against the prong to grip the diamonds. But since the prongs are
minute and hard, workers often miss out the prongs or dont press firmly. So when the gold
pieces are taken for further processing the diamonds fall of from the pieces.

The wax pieces should be designed in such a way, the prongs are given a grove. Since the
prongs are pre cut, the workers can just press the prongs without having to cut through. This
would ensure that diamonds are held firmly against the prongs.

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Bibliography

1. Six Sigma DMAIC docket

2. Six Sigma for small business-Greg Brue
3. www.isixsigma.com

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