Time Cycle Reduction of the Scrap Process in a Medical Device Company

Abstract

As part of an assessment performed for continuous improvement it was identified that the Nonconformance (NC) Timeline metric shows 23% over the goal of 30 days closure. From the list of NC Reports (NCR) impacting this metric, 31% were classified with scrap disposition. This project focused in the improvement of the overall SCRAP process. This process include product under an NCR which disposition is SCRAP and for material to be SCRAPPED for any other reason. The main objective of the project was to reduce the cycle time for product to be SCRAPPED. Improvements considered eliminating those non-value added activities that were being performed and that were impacting the timeline of the NC Process and the SCRAP process. This project reduced the NC timeline by 56.75% in average for NCRs with SCRAP disposition. In addition this project brought a labor cost reduction of 74%. Key Terms - Methodology DMAIC, Nonconformance, Timeliness metric