Operations Management Principles Ip 3

Group project Q1 How is DFSS applicable to various areas in your organization? Where do you see DFSS making the biggest impact?

Group project Q2: How would DFSS be applied to your supply chain operations?

IP: Write a 1 page recommendation to succinctly propose a plan for implementing DFSS within your supply chain organization.

The first stage in the supply chain is procurement of inputs from suppliers. There are two important parameters that need to be controlled. One is delay in deliveries, which results in the stalling of the production process or necessitates the keeping of higher inventory, both of which are undesirable. The first will lead to a delay in effecting the delivery of finished products and the second will add to the cost. The DFSS will include the following options: Weeding out suppliers who consistently fail the Six Sigma criterion and carrying out stage wise inspection at the suppliers' manufacturing facilities. The best long-term solution is convincing the supplier to install a DFSS system so that the quality of his products and services automatically improves.

The processing at our plant consists of a number of sequential operations performed on different equipment. Different products require different times on each equipment. The demand for each product is market driven with significant random variation. This is creating scheduling problems with frequent idle capacities or backlogs on the various equipment. This is the major problem in meeting delivery targets. The DFSS should target the idle capacities or backlogs as defects and appropriate tools should be used to design production schedules. One option that can be considered is planning for average forecasted demands. The inventory carried over from lean periods can be kept aside for periods of sudden high demands. Another option can be to lower production levels during lean periods and outsource during periods of high demand. Careful evaluation of both options is required.

The basic process design also needs to be evaluated for reducing to the extent possible the number of steps. Reducing the number of steps will have two advantages. It will reduce the process cycle time and the manufacturing cost. It will also decrease the variability in the products. Controlling product variability is an important objective of the DFSS. The process improvement cycle should be employed