Team Swirly Presents Whirlpool’s Dishwasher Rack’s Clips and Coating: Maintaining Quality Though ISO9000 and Six Sigma

Swirly is… Gary Juhasz - Group Leader Betsy Schwab – Assistant Leader Kent CragoLucas Dearth Zachary CordonnierCaleb Miller David SellardsMatthew Keener …and featuring John Sinn as “Dr. Sinn”

Process/Problem Description The current process: After the racks are dipped in a plastic rust-retardant coating, bumper clips are pressed on to the rack and hold themselves on around the coated wire The current problem: Some of the bumper clips used to prevent the rack from damaging the door are falling off during use and creating a choking hazard

Plan of attack Obtain information Plot data as normal distribution Evaluate scope of problem occurrence including loss of revenue and cost to fix Evaluate findings Brainstorm for possible solutions Evaluate suggestions Implement suggested corrective procedure

Toolkit Evaluation Process RCA forms - Research procedures in the reading to gain application knowledge - Assign individual tasks to help drive the group towards a solution SDA forms - Apply toolkit lessons to our project - Evaluate results to determine current position and plan next course of action

Whirlpool Data Having tested a sample of N = 60, we developed the following normal distribution

Toolkit 15 Highlights Data collection is the basis for all ISO 9000 and Six Sigma improvement Charts and graphs derived from the data collected will identify problem areas Quality can be maintained and improved by anticipating problems by identifying trends in the data

How it applies to our project Before funds are directed toward correcting the problem, the extent of the problem must be discovered through data collection Since limits for acceptable products have already been established, we can discover the rate failures are produced through Normal Distribution.

Toolkit 16 Highlights Statistical data is not the only governing criteria for determining failures, physical data or Attribute data, plays a roll as well

How it relates to our project Factors other than measurement data can cause a failed part. This must also be taken into consideration

Toolkit 17 Highlights Attribute data must be charted as well Sample sizes must be proportional to the entire population of parts to present an accurate model Once the practices are implemented, constant charting becomes less necessary

How it relates to our project Although a “nice looking” product is desired, physical appearance doesn’t affect much As long as the piece functions as designed, weight, color and slight variations of size aren’t heavily weighted factors Color is probably the most important visual factor to maintain the scheme

Evaluation of Findings Cost considerations - Rework, repair or redesign Cost to Fix - Additional testing - New tooling Cost to leave as is - Lawsuits - Loss of customers

Cost to fix New materials = New tooling = Additional time for processing = Additional inspection =

Possible Solutions: Leave as is Over-coat and trim Redesign the clip so it is not dependant on the coating Use a physical adhesive on the clip after coating Incorporate the clip into the rack design, thereby eliminating the part all together Incorporate the clip’s function into another part of the washer

Recommended Solution By evaluating the data procured, and analyzing it using Six Sigma and ISO 9000 theory, we can conclude the best course of action is to… Change the style of clip. This will eliminate the concern of too large or too little coating which may cause the existing clip to come loose. It also happens to be extremely cost effective as little new tooling is required.

Statistical Justification The following graphs show the process is in need of correction to reduce the scrape rate of parts A 31.6% failure rate was recorded in the samples taken After implementing suggestions, this failure rate should fall dramatically

Statistical Justification Cont…

Projected Statistical Outcome After redesigning the clip, scrape rate was reduced 50% Upper control limits, lower control limits, and the median were also updated according to the new statistics This created a tighter controlled process

Projected Statistical Outcome Cont…

Projected Savings 200 dishwashing racks are produced daily at Whirlpool. Since at 31.6% scrap rate was recorded, 63.2 racks are discarded each day. With the redesign of the clip 31.6 racks are saved each day The cost of each rack is $2.00. Savings per day is $ Yearly, that comes to over $23,000.

Thank You