Implementation of the Lean Six Sigma Methodology in a chemical industry

Abstract

Due to the changes occurred in the industrial environment and the increase in competitiveness among companies, there has been a search for improvements in the management models used for  production of products. Among the methodologies used, Lean Six Sigma stands out. It is implemented in different factory environments, aiming variability reduction and defects elimination, which consequently create positive results in relation to customer satisfaction and productivity increase, besides revenue increase. In this context, the present work aims at conducting a study on the implementation of the Lean Six Sigma methodology in an industry of the chemical sector, thus, being characterized as a case study. In order to achieve this purpose, the DMAIC methodology was used, incorporating quality and Six Sigma tools to identify and propose improvements in those parts of the productive process that had shown failures. Overproduction in the organizational context was the kind of wastage studied by this work, and it totalled 285,16 kg of finished product within 2 months of analysis, which corresponds to R$ 905,75 in financial terms. Therefore, the annual cost of the leftovers is equivalent to R$ 5.434,50. The solutions provided for the problem were organized with the support of the 5W2H tool and they are mostly related to the correct measuring of the production supplies and water used in the process.