2006 International Team Excellence Awards Project Summaries

Baxter Healthcare, Dianeal Value Stream Team/Process Improvement - Marion, N.C.
The team was chartered to reduce laboratory chemical testing time of Dianeal solutions. Utilizing a Lean Enterprise philosophy, the team improved performance by 40% while contributing to the addition of $6 million in new business opportunities.

Boeing C17 Program, C-17 NCO Flyable Demo Team/Process Improvement - Long Beach, Calif.
Through a collaborative effort with other Boeing components, and several key suppliers, the team worked to integrate hardware and software for temporary installation on a C17 for customer demonstration and evaluation.

Boeing C17 Program, Cargo Door Jamb Optimization Team - Long Beach, Calif.
The team incorporated lean practices, virtual collaboration, and simulation to identify key areas for improvement for an assembly process that historically failed to meet performance goals. Once implemented, the process improvement netted a savings of $58,000 per airplane.

Boeing C17 Program, Single Line Project Team - Long Beach, Calif.
The largest "lean initiative" on the C17 Program was the Single Line project. The term "single line" refers to the consolidation of numerous build operations – which occupied two production lines – into one "single line." This was achieved through the elimination of product moves, material handling improvements, crew cycling, consolidation of resources, and improved asset utilization.

Boeing C17 Program, Transportation Tracking Team - Long Beach, Calif.
The Transportation Tracking team was given the task of developing a process to visibly track inventory from receiving to production. The team decided to leverage existing technology and implemented bar-coding, a new process that eliminated searches for lost parts, implemented online and real time monitoring, and ensured timely delivery of inventory.

City of Coral Springs, Florida, Citation System Improvement Team (CSI) - Coral Springs, Fla.
This cross-functional municipal government team designed a system that gives police motorcycles all the capabilities of desktop computers. The system produces citations faster (from 15 minutes to 5 minutes), better (from a printer, not handwritten), and at a higher volume (40% more tickets per month). The productivity increase is equivalent to hiring five (5) officers.

DaimlerChrysler, Quality Assurance and Audit Team – QAAT - Auburn Hills, Mich.
Working together with suppliers, the Quality Assurance and Audit Team worked to reduce the volume and frequency of catastrophic problems from the DaimlerChrysler Supply base by 38 percent. These issues have a direct link to customer satisfaction.

DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. A Perfect Circle Quality Improvement Team - Maryville, Tenn. This cross-functional team from a major automotive parts manufacturer used the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) methodology to reduce Molding's window plate scratches and case broken pin in-process defects. The team achieved a 100% reduction of these defects for annual savings of $86,369.00.

Diversified Brands / Berry Plastics Corporation, Partners for Consolidation, Cost Savings/Improved Efficiency Team - Evansville, Ind.
Diversified Brands and its customer, Berry Plastics, teamed together to develop a plan to reduce costs and improve efficiency by consolidating the 900 color options available in the aerosol caps that Berry supplies to Diversified.

Fidelity Investments, One and Done is FUN! Six Sigma Project Team - Merrimack, N.H.
This multi-department, multi-site team analyzed root causes and then implemented solutions to dramatically decrease the number of customer issues generated during the Health and Welfare Annual Enrollment time frame. The result was increased customer and associate satisfaction and reduced operating costs.

Genentech, Inc. Cycle Time Reduction Team - Vacaville, Calif.
The team for this biotechnology/pharmaceutical company sought to identify and address drivers to reduce variability and average cycle time for their pool tank sanitization operation. Implementation of selected improvements resulted in a 28% reduction in mean cycle time and a 62% reduction in standard deviation.

Honda of America Mfg., Inc. The Matrix Assembly Team - Marysville, Ohio
This manufacturing team implemented a production change that resulted in a 50% error reduction in wrong parts being installed on Accords and Acuras.

Housing & Development Board FIREWORKS, Innovation Quality Circle Team - Singapore
This team for Singapore's Public Housing Authority worked to reduce time in checking verticality of buildings during construction by inventing an "L" bracket and an improvised measuring tool. This innovative approach has resulted in cost savings and a fast and accurate solution to the site problems.

Housing & Development Board HO-MART Innovation Quality Circle (IQC) - Singapore
This team from Singapore’s Public Housing Authority developed a device called ‘Gulloon’ to conduct water tests that help to ascertain the cause of the leaks and test effectiveness of the ceiling leakage repair. Unlike the conventional method, this new method has proved to be both practical and reliable.

Housing & Development Board O.U.R. Innovation Quality Circle (IQC) - Singapore
Building from scratch, this team created InnoSpace - a popular spot used by many HDB staff, including senior management.

Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. Light R&D Team - South Korea
This case describes how related factors in enhancing the efficiency of a boiler of a coal-fired power plant are identified through a research and improvement project using Six Sigma methodology. By improving these factors, boiler efficiency increased by 0.54%, reducing power consumption and contributing to an increase of the company's revenues (Savings: $1,071 thousand)

Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. Thinking People R&D Team - South Korea
This electric power supplier team used Six Sigma to analyze, manage, and improve safety and cost-effectiveness of power generation, leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction and increased revenues of $1.3 million.

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division-Measurement Science Department
Navy Instrument Calibration Procedure Team - Corona, Calif.
This team’s goal is to accomplish a 10% decrease in overall cycle time, a 10% reduction in the current defect rate, and a 10% reduction in per unit cost by implementing Lean Six Sigma principles and tools to improve the efficiency of the Instrument Calibration Procedure (ICP) production process.

Reliance Industries Limited India, Hazira Manufacturing Division, Reliance Hazira Polyester Fiberfill Cost Reduction Team - India
This team’s project is to reduce the production cost of polyester fiberfill by controlling high cost items (i.e., oligomer, toners, catalyst, finish), without affecting product properties/process operations by engaging a cross-functional and multi-stakeholder's team to effect maximum waste utilization and benefit rag pickers community.

Shawnee Mission Medical Center Laboratory Lean Team - Shawnee Mission, Kan.
The purpose of this project was to increase the capacity of current laboratory processes to allow more volume without adding space or staff. Goals also included decreased turnaround times for critical testing, increased predictability of results reporting, with reductions in errors (mislabeled specimens) - all to improve care delivery.

Siemens VDO Guadalajara, Mack Trucks Plant Failures Reduction Six Sigma Team - Mexico
The first Six Sigma project executed at Commercial Vehicles Division of Siemens VDO Gudalarjara dramatically improved our quality focused on Mack Trucks Plant Returns.

U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center Lean Dream Team -Japan
Utilizing 5S and Lean thinking tools, the team identified and eliminated waste within the storage, repair, and record-keeping value-streams of the weight handling equipment room.

U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center, Mada-Yatte-Tan-Da!
-Japan
Through a focused 1-week Kaizen Event, a team of veteran and young workers developed a device leading to dramatic improvement in quality, safety, efficiency, and reliability, greatly contributing to the Command Mission.

U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center, Detachment, Sasebo Powder Coaters - Japan
Using a new multi-color powder coating procedure, the team's solution resulted in a tremendous reduction in cycle time, labor, and material cost.

U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center, Detachment, Sasebo Team ABA - Japan
The team created a device to assemble Kevlar Rope Lifeline (used on ships) to prevent marine pollution. The result was reduced costs and workload for the Navy, and increased our motivation and pride at work.

Vedanta Resources plc. De-Te Batch Time Reduction - A TQM Approach - India
This team focused on reducing De-Tellurisation operating cost by reducing the batch time from 48 hrs to 30 hrs, resulting in major cost savings as well as achieving our vision of being the best class copper producers.

Xcel Energy Denver Metro Safety Team (DMST) - Fort Collins, Colo.
This team used problem solving, data analysis, and process improvement to reduce accidents to at-risk Denver area gas and electric employees by 79%.

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