Diseño, aplicación y evaluación de un modelo para la mejora de procesos en de un modelo para la mejora de procesos en  sectores industriales sectores industriales maduros maduros. Estudio del caso

Authors

Model, Continuous Improvement, Process Improvement, Six Sigma, Competitiveness, Industrial Sector.

Current organizations must work in changing environments, being one of their major

challenges to improve competitiveness through the continuous improvement of product

quality and the effi ciency of their production processes. To do this, companies use to launch

programs of Continuous Improvement (CI) and/or further initiatives based on isolated

improvement projects applying specifi c methods between which Six Sigma (SS) is frequently

emphasized. The benefi ts of both CI programs, just like the specifi c applications of the

SS methodology are well known: for that reason, they are used by many industries. The

implementation is not easy; there is no a magic wand for their instantaneous and successful

implementation.

This paper presents the development and application of a Process Improvement (PI)

model, in which have joined the basics of CI programs and the SS methodology. The

model developed is used as a management program, which will run CI projects using the

methodology SS.

The methodology designed for this research study has been tested through its application

in four manufacturing companies, suppliers of components for the automotive and home

appliances sectors. The model has been applied during the 2008-2009 and 8 projects have

been addressed through its application: thus, important improvements in various production

areas of these organizations have been achieved.

Specifi cally, from the 8 projects undertaken in four of them the objectives have been fully

achieved, in another one only at a medium level and in the remaining three, the results were

not successful.

The causes that have most affected the implementations have been the involvement of

management, the project types undertaken, the surveillance of the operative process and the

communication of lessons learned. Also one of the organizations where the model has been

applied will be used as a basis for implementing an ongoing program of PI.