Customer of 21st century is very demanding, in terms of good quality product, reasonable price and on time delivery. This thing has forced manufacturer to adopt such philosophies that can meet customers’ needs challenges.

That’s why, world class organization are trying to invent new theories and principles of process optimization and using old ones in more effective manner. Also this has forced companies to adopt modern manufacturing techniques and to have less focus on human performance.

The companies, who are leader in manufacturing practices, are Toyota Motors, General Electric, Boeing Corporation, Honeywell, Rockwell, NCR, ITT industries and Motorola. These companies have set the trend s for manufacturing quality. Other companies are adopting quality and improvement tools being used by these organizations. The performance level of world-class companies and other companies can be seen in the table.

Performance MeasureWorld Class2nd Class3rd Class
Quality rejection per millionWC-500, 2nd-1000, 3rd-2000
Setup timeWC-10 min, 2nd-20 min, 3rd-30 min
Utilized CapacityWC-90%, 2nd-75%, 3rd-55%
Breakdown LossesWC-1%, 2nd-5%, 3rd-19%
On Schedule productionWC-100%, 2nd-90%, 3rd-80%
Engineering Change Process Response timeWC-1 day, 2nd-5 days, 3rd-10 days

Tools used by these companies for process and system improvement are:

– Six Sigma a statistical tool being widely used by a large number of companies. Companies who gave tremendous results from its implementation are Motorola, GE, Allied Signal, and Kodak etc. All the companies are in pursuit of excellence by using this tool. Major benefits achieved by companies are:

– Cost reduction
– Productivity improvement
– Market share growth
– Customer retention
– Cycle-time reduction
– Defect reduction
– Culture change
– Product/service development

– Lean Manufacturing developed by Japanese is focusing on providing best quality product to the customer, within the minimum possible time, on the targeted place with minimum waste of material, labor, space and time.

– Total Productive Maintenance developed by Japanese is not merely a maintenance tool, but it has unified operator and maintenance person. They both are responsible for safe, cost effective operation of machine or equipment. This concept has given operators more ownership of machine and job satisfaction. This theory has given concept of zero breakdown.

– ISO 9001 A number of companies are applying for ISO 9001 registration. Today, over 950000 ISO 9001:2000 certificates had been issued. But only some companies are getting real benefits out of it. Rests of organizations are only using it as trade mark. The potential benefits that can be obtained by ISO 9001 are many.

– Benchmarking is the process of comparing organization’s practices with the best in class organization. The purpose of this tool is to enhance productivity, Quality, Customer satisfaction and reduction in cycle time or lead time by comparing practices of that best class organization.

– Total Quality Management is a combination of three words, Total, Quality and Management. It means involving every body of the organization for achieving best quality products and services as a whole.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award this award is given to those organizations, which perform best in the following seven categories:

1. Leadership
2. Process Management
3. Customer & Market Focus
4. Strategic Planning
5. Workforce Focus
6. Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management
7. Results

This tool is also a good motivating factor for organization to improve their performance level. Every tool has its own significance and that’s why to become world class organization, these tools must be applied in a sequential and systematic manner.

Author Bio: Oskar Olofsson is a Sweden-based expert with more than 10 years experience in the fields of Lean Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing.

Category: Business Management
Keywords: lean,manufacturing,six,sigma,world,class