APPLICATION OF DMAIC APPROACH FOR REDUCTION OF CUTTING OIL CONSUMPTION

Industries involved in the manufacturing of metal products generate many types of wastes. Wastes tend to increase consumption of resources. Increasing consumption increases the production cost. There is a constantly increasing pressure on the industries to bring down the production cost. This internally gives scope for continual improvements to reduce waste. The primary purpose of this project was to reduce the amount of cutting oil consumed while manufacturing fuel injection pumps housing in a manufacturing line. DMAIC approach was adopted in this project. It involved Defining project charter, measuring past data about consumption of oil and production quantity, analysing possible causes through co-relating and prioritizing through process FMEA, Improving the prioritized activities and to Control the variation and sustain the improvements observed. The case shows DMAIC as an effective approach for the machining industries to improve the stability of their processes and increase profitability through driving down manufacturing costs. Result showed significant reduction in cutting oil consumption measured as oil consumed per product manufactured. Cutting oil consumption reduced by 40% thereby saving of 3 lakhs per annum. Modification in the process resulted in to elimination of non value added activities and significant reduction in cycle time.