Past Presentations

Adecco

Operations Audit and Quality Team
Melville, NY, USA

Our improvement journey explored how to improve the efficiency and value offered through an internally mandated audit program. In our DMAIC approach we utilized standard work combinations, time studies, process flows, and more in order to reduce cycle times, drive knowledge transfer, increase visibility, and mitigate risk. While we continue to “make the road by walking,” we exceeded our goals! We reduced the audit preparation cycle by approximately one-third and reduced field postage costs by 55 percent.

Anheuser-Busch InBev

Global Lean Deployment Initiative
St. Louis, MO, USA

Across the globe, the beer landscape is changing from mass production to mass customization.This project’s objective was to study and understand how to improve the flexibility of production lines to handle multiple products, create more capacity, and improve customer delivery! The team used Six Sigma and lean through kaizen and full-scale projects. This project changed the way AB InBev thinks about what is possible. Project savings were more than $1.5 million initially, scaled over $100 million.

Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.

BaSIC
Istanbul, Turkey

This project aimed to improve the BSC/RNC rollout process. BSCs and RNCs are the central units that link base stations to the core GSM network. Using DMAIC methodology and the Lean Six Sigma approach, the team employed quality tools like Pareto, boxplot, fishbone, multivoting, and cause and effect diagram. With the implementation, the process was improved at the rate of about 75 percent. The project brought an annual OPEX savings of $547,000 by minimizing deviations and standardizing the rollout period.

Firstsource Transaction Services, LLC

RMO- Reducing Cost of Paper & Shipping
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

This project involved reducing shipment and paper consumption costs for Firstsource Transaction Services, LLC. This team used the DMAIC approach and various Six Sigma tools such as FMEA, fishbone, and process maps to improve CTQ measures for the shipment of letters to members and providers by avoiding printing documents. By executing this project, the client saved US$400,000.

Genpact

End to End Lean Workout in Mortgage
Richardson, TX, USA

Faced with increasing competition in the U.S. mortgage industry, Genpact enabled its client, a leading originator, to reduce origination turnaround time by 41 percent, which increased origination cycles by 3.9 per year and generated $150.2 million in business impact for the client. A diverse team utilized Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools to discover root causes, identify corresponding solutions, and implement improvements that were recognized by the client as delivering revenue-generating capability.

Genpact

Transforming Order to Cash Process
Johannesburg, South Africa

The team successfully carried out an order-to-cash process transformation project for a multinational beverage company by analyzing people, process, and technology levers across the organizational cross-functions using Lean Six Sigma methodology, a robust change management framework, and strong project management methods. The project improved weighted-days-to-collect from 59.9 days to 49.4 days, positively impacting cash flow by $19.6 million and recovering potential bad debt of $6.4 million. It also helped create efficiency and effectiveness as well as establish controls to sustain performance.

Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Team Blitz
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

This project focused on improving the payment processing cycle at a branch office. Using PDCA methodology and various tools such as cause and effect diagram, 5 Whys, and multivoting, the team managed to reduce the payment cycle time by more than 50 percent. The results included improved employee morale and increased personnel marketability from experiences gained throughout the project duration.

Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Team Katwalk
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

To ensure a sustainable and safe working environment, the company has institutionalized a culture of “going down to the ground”, focusing on office facilities and maintenance matters. Using quality tools such as Ishikawa diagram and Pareto chart, the team designed an innovative mobile application that automates the entire process which enables systematic recording, tracking, reporting and closures on findings. This led to 99.6% reduction in processing time and cost efficiency savings of USD 68K annually.”

Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Proactive Retention Team
Gurgaon, Haryana, India

This project addresses the progression of company-customer relationships and demystifies why customers let go of their precious investments and simply walk away. The project impacted each and every stakeholder of Maxlife. Generating revenue of more than US$77 million and additional renewal premium income of US$100 million, this is a fascinating story of combining the systematic data-based understanding of the customer’s world and translating that into business benefits.

Movistar

Movistar Express
Buenos Aires, Argentina

This project focused on improving the customer selection process of Movistar Express products. Goals were achieved using Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. The project team achieved savings of US$9.8 million per year by reducing the customer transference process error rate from 14 percent to 1.5 percent. Additionally, this process improvement allowed Movistar Express product development, increasing the customer base by 400,000 and achieving US$115 million per year in extra income.

Movistar/tgestiona

Belong, Grow, and Remain
Buenos Aires, Argentina

This project focused on reducing turnover of customer service agents in Movistar's 57 stores. Goals were achieved by using Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. The project team achieved savings of US$132,000 per year by reducing premature turnover from 38 percent to 13.7 percent, and maintaining the working environment.

Nokia HERE

Inspection Process Redesign (AQuA)
Chicago, IL, USA

This project focused on reducing the manual inspection costs associated with a map creation process. Using the DMADV methodology, the team employed measurement system analysis, quality function deployment, DoE, Pareto chart, affinity diagram, multivoting, and a number of other valuable tools for designing the final improvement recommendations. The improvement provided the potential for a 2.5 million euros in cost reduction by creating a qualification and inspection process across the organization.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

TCS FORE™ Power
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

This project is aimed at enhancing vendor satisfaction for a regulated utility customer. Using FORE™ methodology, a combination of internal/external benchmarking, and a set of leading practices along with quality tools of Pareto, cause and effect, and 5 Whys analysis for root cause and solution identification. This resulted in improving vendor satisfaction from 78 percent to 94 percent with the annual savings of $1 million, thereby enabling the organization to sustain the market leadership.

Tetra Pak Packaging Solutions

Science and Engineering Capability Team
Lund, Skane, Sweden

This project focused on developing engineering capabilities within Tetra Pak. A capability is the integration of people’s competences and their processes, methods, and tools. Following change management principles and the steps of a business transformation process, the team shared knowledge and experiences across units, built on existing capabilities, and developed new ones. The project resulted in a 30 percent increased score in measurements of engineering capabilities and a visible change in the way the team works.

tgestiona

Matter of Time
Buenos Aires, Argentina

This project addressed the process for handling the addition, deletion, or modification of customer access to the company’s systems. It affects more than 20,000 users of 256 systems and handles more than 500 requests per week. With Six Sigma methodology, the team increased punctuality from 36 percent to 95.2 percent, reduced error rate from 10 percent to 0.05 percent and reduced processing time from 26 to less than three days while achieving an annual economic benefit of US$346,500

The Coca-Cola Company

Iberia Business Unit

The project focused on advancing the company’s quality culture by improving food safety management in its fountain business. Applying FMEA, SIPOC, process mapping, and DMAIC as the main methodologies, supported by other valuable tools such as brainstorming and cost/benefit analysis, the team identified a list of improvement opportunities. The implemented action reached outstanding results: reduced customer complaints by 75 percent, improved the quality index from 91 percent to 92 percent, and increased the equipment renewal by 3 percent..

The Nielsen Company

NSO Cycle Time Reduction Team
Oldsmar, FL, USA

The goal of this project was to create a stable production cycle while building a scalable model for global deployment. Quality and cycle time issues were identified using the DMAIC methodology, and the team was able to achieve a 50 percent cycle time reduction and soft savings of nearly $1 million. Business intelligence software and data visualization played a major part in overcoming adoption issues, as the team addressed geographical and cultural challenges to implement sustainable process improvements.

Wipro Limited

Improving Delivery Health Index
New Delhi, India

Our improvement journey explored how to improve the efficiency and value offered through an internally mandated audit program. In our DMAIC approach we utilized standard work It is often difficult for business leaders to evaluate the health of operations having multiple and diverse SLAs. Wipro measures operational health by composite health index comparing similar/diverse lines of business, and striving toward holistic delivery improvement. This project involved extensive DMAIC-based analytics and development of differentiated IT solutions transforming the client healthcare processes, superseding the defined MBO of business. The improved process realized $6 million in financial benefits for a client transforming its E2E business model.

Airbus Helicopters, Inc.

Lean Six Sigma-DCR
Grand Prairie, TX, USA

This project focused on reducing the cycle time for repair, maintenance, and overhaul activities. Applying the driver methodology, the team utilized tools including value stream maps and CTC metrics in addition to Ishikawa diagrams and cost/benefit analyses to understand the root causes and instigate final improvement recommendations. The improvements delivered a US$707,000 per year savings and a 21 percent cycle time reduction by creating visual management tools and using in-house software for facilitating final inspections.

Dubai Aluminium

DUBAL Green Team
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The project aimed to reduce perfluorocarbons—greenhouse gases emitted during a process disturbance while producing aluminum. This team applied Six Sigma methodology and appropriate tools such as fishbone diagram, why-why analysis, etc., to identify and screen possible root causes, which were validated through trials using statistical tests. Developed solutions were validated using pilot runs and hypothesis testing, then cascaded across the plant—achieving 40 percent reduction in perfluorocarbons within four years and improved performance against world benchmarks.

Dubai Aluminium

DUBAL Stub Repair Reduction Team
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

DUBAL Rodding incurred a high cost of $2.6 million for stub repairs in 2009. A project was initiated to reduce repair costs by reducing the stub damage rate from 6 percent to 4 percent. The Lean Six Sigma approach and DMAIC methodology were adopted, including prioritization matrix, gage R&R, Pareto, fishbone diagram, hypothesis testing, regression, and control charts. The damage rate was reduced by 3 percent, leading to annual savings of $1.3 million. The success of this project inspired many similar projects.

Ford Motor Company

Instrument Panel Scrap Reduction Team
Dearborn, MI, USA

“The Great Escape From Foam Defects” features the story of the transition from petroleum-based foam to environmentally friendly castor oil foam for the 2013 Ford Escape’s instrument panel. Suffering from a 30 percent scrap rate, the team—from Ford, Faurecia (instrument panel suppler), and BASF (foam supplier)—used the physics of foam formation and sensitivity-based designed experiments to scientifically determine root cause and develop improvement actions. Actions resulted in a sustained scrap rate of 0.1 percent.

Fresnillo plc

Minera Saucito
Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico

The objective of this project was to improve silver recovery without affecting gold recovery or the quality conditions of the concentrates by using the DMAIC approach, process mapping, linear regression, DoE, automation, and statistical control. The effort was supported by teamwork and stakeholders. The increase in efficiency and effectiveness in the recovery enabled revenue generation of US$20 million per year.

Nexteer Automotive

Ball Nut 1 Rev
El Marques, Queretaro, México

This project focused on eliminating a failure mode called ball nut 1/rev by using the fast x methodology. The team utilized statistical tools such as correlation plots, part swap, multivary, two-sample t-test, and DoE to get statistically based conclusions. The project results included an improved scrap cost of $12.5/piece, 95 percent production compliance to schedule, and US$400,000 in annual savings.

Samarco Mining

L6S Maintenance Team
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This team used DMAIC methodology to reduce maintenance downtime in conveyor belts due to misalignment and roller changes in the loading system. SIPOC, Pareto, 5 Whys, RCA, process map, prioritization, and effort-impact matrices resulted in the system operating at maximum capacity with an increase in revenues of US$2.6 million. The result was supported by reduction of downtime from 13.4 to 2.03 hours per month, reduction of corrective maintenance up to 90 percent, and improvement in contractors’ SLAs to 93 percent.

Samarco Mining

High Performance Team
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The project focused on a benchmark reduction of iron ore pellet production costs, providing a fuel savings of US$4 million per year. Based on DMAIC methodology, a multiskilled team employed multivariate analyses, correlations, and Pareto charts in order to detect root cause. Additionally, a valuable quality tools box was used to recommend improvements and new SOPs to the complex set of furnace fans. An industrial DoE helped guarantee the pellet quality optimized.

Samarco Mining

Reliable Asset Team
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The project goal was to design an asset’s performance measurement process that would enable easy identification of low-performance assets and reduce time waste, especially in handling data to support the decision process. Using the DMADV methodology the team applied SIPOC, QFD matrix, gemba walking, attribute agreement analysis, Pugh's matrix, CAP model, and risk diagram. The improvement provided a 29 percent potential reduction in the time waste and enabled the low performance asset failure mode's identification easy.

Shanghai Johnson Controls Yanfeng Seating Mechanisms Co., Ltd.

JCYM Continuous Improvement Team
Shanghai, China

This project focused on improving a flatness-testing system. Utilizing the DMAIC, Kepner Tregoe, and TRIZ methodologies, the team employed affinity diagram, Ishikawa diagram, I&D matrix, hypothesis test, DoE, and a number of other valuable tools for root cause identification and final improvement recommendations. The improvement provided the potential for a US$2.5 million cost reduction by optimizing the flatness-testing process and adjusting the fixture that guarantees accuracy of result.

Tenneco

Litchfield Tube Mill Team
Litchfield, MI, USA

This project focused on reducing scrap by 50 percent from a stainless-steel, tube-forming process. The team followed a Six Sigma DMAIC approach to achieve an annual cost savings of $220,000 and utilized tools such as Pareto charts, YX diagrams, process mapping, gage R&R, statistical test of proportions, ANOVA, ROI, and others for solution identification and final improvement recommendations. The project impacted the organization's procedures for product testing, tracking, and setup.

Volkswagen Argentina – Córdoba Plant

Contact Zone
Córdoba, Argentina

This problem-solving project dealt with a transmission failure detected during road tests before the launch of a new VW light commercial vehicle (Saveiro). This team applied the 8D methodology, using DoE, Ishikawa diagram, priority matrix, finite elements analysis, simulations, and FMEA among other tools. As a result, the failure was solved and the launch date was met, avoiding 100 million euros in potential corporate losses, 7 million euros in potential warranty claims, and 3 million euros in machinery investment.

Baxter BioScience

Los Angeles Operational Excellence Team
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Baxter BioScience’s residual filter aid DMAIC problem-solving team reduced production delays from 340 hours to zero hours, eliminated the impact on product fulfillment, and eliminated the generation of events related to residual filter aid from 34 to zero. The results of this project are expected to lead to a cost avoidance of $3.4 million. The team engaged employees to improve processes and solve multiple problems in team-based approaches using Lean Six Sigma methodology.

Bayer de México, Santa Clara Site BHC-PS-AH

Asuntol Liquid
Ecatepec, Estado de México, MéxicoA

This project addressed lump generation observed during Asuntol liquid production. Complaints and returns occurred, resulting in rework, reprocessed batches, and lost sales. Utilizing the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to find solutions, this team employed VoC, SIPOC analysis, process mapping, 5 Whys, RACI, cause and effect matrix, FMEA, value stream mapping, seven wastes, fishbone diagram, DoE, and stability testing. The results included achieving goals, no complaints, no devolutions, savings of 5.3 thousand euros per year, avoiding lost sales of 400,000 euros, and team motivation.

Humana Pharmacy Solutions – RightSource

Process Engineering
Louisville, KY, USA

Humana Pharmacy Solutions – RightSource (RS) is rapidly growing and is competing with ever changing markets by raising standards with quality concepts and new technologies. RightSource Process Engineering team incorporated integrated model of lean, six sigma and PDCA to streamline the process and system gaps. Project utilized wide range of quality tools including 5 Whys, Pareto, FMEA, and Box Plots to identify process improvement opportunities. Rapid Process Improvement initiatives exceeded the baseline goal that resulted in 32 % improvement in productivity and considerable reduction in costs”.

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals

Gd Haze
St. Louis, MO, USA

Gadoversetamide is an MRI contrast agent, manufactured by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Turbidity in the final product solution was investigated from several perspectives over the course of a 10-year period. In 2012, a multidisciplinary Six Sigma team was formed to determine the root cause. It was traced to an impurity in the raw material, which could be reduced by doubling the reaction time. The next 12 batches passed the turbidity specification, yielding $250,000 in annual cost avoidance.

Stryker Neurovascular

Stryker Assembly Core Team
West Valley City, UT, USA

This team began its lean journey with a recently formed core team. The initial focus was consolidation of a manufacturing area into a smaller space to bring in new product lines. The team also wanted to improve its core metrics, which included improving labor efficiency, yield, lead time, and increased output. Results included floor space reduced by 60 percent, new product lines brought in, and all goals met or exceeded beyond highest expectations.

Housing and Development Board

RQuest4
Singapore

This project focused on eliminating water wastage from washing activities in public housing. Using PDCA to identify and validate areas for improvement, the team succeeded in reusing 100 percent of the drained-off water, resulting in zero water wastage and enhanced water management. This allowed the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to meet the target in the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, shaping Singapore into a more sustainable living environment. HDB estates also achieved a Green Mark Award for sustainability in the built environment.

PTT Public Company Limited

PTT Oil BU Team
Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand

This project focused on improving the ordering and payment process by introducing a payment method called “direct approve.” By following PDCA, cost of quality was utilized for project selection, whereas process flow analysis, kaizen, Pareto diagram, pros and cons analysis, and ECRS were applied to identify root causes and final solution. As a result, direct approve increased customer satisfaction, eliminated credit risk, reduced processing time, and potentially saved up to US$2 million per year.

Republic of Singapore Navy

Selamat Hull
Singapore, Singapored

This project tackles propeller cone defects for Singapore Navy frigates. The team used the PDCA approach to solve the problem while aligning to its organizational goals. Methods and tools like Gantt chart, Pareto analysis, cause and effect analysis, decision matrix, SCAMPER, and tree diagram were used to uncover root causes and generate solutions. The problem was overcome and the team achieved its organizational goal of logistic support to ships. A cost savings of approximately $1.6 million was generated.