Quality Improvement of a Paint and Restoration Process in the Remanufacturing Industry

Abstract

In a remanufacturing operation it was required to improve the first pass yield of a Paint and Restoration process that handles plastic and metallic parts. The raw material for the process is recovered from used household electronic equipment; all parts present scratches and/or dents. The process, Paint and Restoration, was able to recover 78% of the parts, and it was generating around $90K of scrap; it was also possible to loss the customer ($1.4MM annual sales) if overall recovery rate was not improved. The Seven Step problem solving approach and Six Sigma tools were used in order to systematically increase the first pass yield of the Paint and Restoration process. The process was improved and it was demonstrated via 2 Sample t Test at a significance level of 0.05; the first pass yield was improved to from 78% to 92%. This project demonstrated that improvement actions can be taken at low cost by going back to basic process definition and control, many times underestimated in mature processes. Key Terms ⎯ Paint and Restoration, Remanufacturing Operation, Seven Step Problem Solving and Six Sigma.