Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Defect analysis and lean six sigma implementation experience in an

automotive assembly line
S. Krishna Priya a, V. Jayakumar a,b,⇑, S. Suresh Kumar a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai 602 105, Tamil Nadu, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Chennai, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents a case study on implementation of lean six sigma in an automotive assembly plant
Received 13 October 2019 in order to reduce/eliminate non-value added processes in the assembly line. A thorough defect anal-
Accepted 11 November 2019 ysis is carried out in the automotive assembly plant to examine, measure and reduce sources of flaws
Available online 9 December 2019
in an operational process in question, to optimize the defect occurrence, improve and sustain perfor-
mance throughout the automotive assembly process. In the automotive assembly division considered
Keywords: for study, three non-value added activities and 12 crucial defects were identified and the potential
Lean manufacturing
solutions were provided using lean six sigma strategies like DMAIC (Define–Measure-Analyze-Impro
Lean six sigma
Defect analysis
ve-Control) & RCA (Root Cause Analysis) tools and techniques. The implementation of proposed solu-
Root cause analysis tions have resulted in drastic reduction of non-value added processes and defect ratio in the assembly
Case study line.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International
Conference on Materials Engineering and Characterization 2019.

1. Introduction continuous improvement and health and safety in a harvester

assembly line of a plant in Brazil. Chen-Yang Cheng and Pu-Yuan
The fast changing productive necessities like customer demand Chang [3] have employed lean 6r tools and principles to increase
for high-grade quality product, product variety, and worldwide the productivity of resource management in a physical disabilities
challenges and lesser takt time, etc. has a major effect on manufac- services. Using DMAIC methodology they decreased 70% non-
turing industries. Firstly, lean manufacturing is a precise technique value-added processes. Inderpreet Singh Ahuja [4] reported that
for reducing wasteful activities inside an assembly shop without practicing TQM principles results in effectiveness of the organiza-
giving up efficiency. Secondly, defect ratio reduction is important tional competitiveness by virtue of intensify quality, productivity,
especially in downturn days, when every company focuses on eco- assure customer requirements and realization of remarkable
nomical production reducing the loss due to quality issues. Lean reduction of process defects. Hemendra Nath Roy et al [5]
manufacturing and defect reduction put up together evolves as improved productivity of a fan manufacturing sector by using
lean six sigma that enables systematic improvement of perfor- DMAIC approach; a six-sigma methodology. Existing six sigma
mance towards achieving quality standards of product and process. value was determined, current production shop layout was anal-
Many works based on implementation of lean six sigma and defect ysed and existing problem was resolved by cause and effect dia-
analysis techniques are done in various industries that form the gram. Sukhwinder Singh Jolly [6] has reviewed the role of lean
basis for this case study. DMAIC are the 5 phases that can increase manufacturing for various organizations, lean manufacturing tech-
the efficiency of production of automobile manufacturers [1]. Tar- niques and the advantages achieved through lean practices. Magar
cisio Abreu Saurin and Cleber Fabricio Ferreira [2] have made an and Shinde [7] provided an easy introduction of 7 QC tools and to
assessment of the impact of LPS (Lean Production System) on improve the quality of manufacturing systems by applying it.
working conditions by grouping the data collected, work methods, Other interesting works based on this field of lean manufacturing
and its implementations can be found in [8–16]. In this work, expe-
riences of implementing lean six sigma in an automobile assembly
⇑ Corresponding author. sector are discussed.
E-mail address: [email protected] (V. Jayakumar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.11.139
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials Engineering and Characterization 2019.
 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958 949

2. Methodology Table 2
List of defects.

This work is executed in an automotive assembly plant located S. Top ‘‘12” defects Occurrences % defect
at Oragadam, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) where the semi-finished auto- No. contribution
motive is processed from one workstation to next workstation 1 Under body coating poor. 3 5.5
wherein interchangeable parts are assembled in sequence until 2 Front facia lock not locking 3 5.5
3 Poor workmanship on BB logo 3 5.5
the final finished product is produced. This work presents a stan-
surroundings of front fascia
dardized quality management system in which levels called as 4 Floor mat paste spill over emergency 2 3.7
loops are established for quality check of product from the prelim- door frame @ bottom.
inary stage (design) as Quality Feedback Loop-0 until the product 5 Front bulkhead and cant rail join 2 3.7
acceptance in the market and customer feedback as Quality Feed- finisher putty cracked.
6 Scratch & cut mark on steering column 1 1.9
back Loop-5. Any issue during the assembly process belonging to
cover.
the respective Feedback Loop allows flow back of issue to its con- 7 Sealant damage near cab area 1 1.9
cerned loop where solution or alterations can be executed to elim- 8 Driver door aperture frame rubber 1 1.9
inate the issue. The intention of this work focuses on the Quality beading improper fitting
9 Dash board top layer chip off 1 1.9
Feedback Loop-4 called as Product Audit where the fully assembled
10 Paint over spray on Ad Blue tank. 1 1.9
automobile is evaluated with quality standards from the cus- 11 Passenger door opened during dynamic 1 1.9
tomer’s perspective and issues are reported for analysis in the con- test
cerned department and feedback loops. This is the final quality 12 Floor mat damage-cuts & dents 1 1.9
standard check of the product before it reaches the customer’s Total 20 37.2%
hand and hence it is a critical phase of Quality Management
System.
3. Results and discussion

2.1. Case study background In this section, Analyze and Improve phase of DMAIC is elabo-
rated in which the action plans of non-value added activities and
From the Quality Feedback Loop-4 (Product Audit), a complete Root Cause Analysis of defects are discussed in detail.
data of defects reported during 3 months’ time period were col-
lected and categorised based on their occurrences and severity. iii) Analyze: Under this Analyze phase of DMAIC, investigation of
Out of 46 issues collected and categorised, 12 major issues were issues and defects are carried out to analyze the root cause
selected for this case study with 3, 2 and 1 occurrences. According and action plans to it.
to the data collected, the top 12 issues as in Table 2 contribute
37.2% defect ratio and elimination of these issues would solve
3.1. Issue 1: Side frame riveting (unwanted motion reduction)
recurring defects and improve productivity. Furthermore, 3 Non-
Value Added wastes were observed in the assembly line. Proposal
The skeleton frame of the vehicle along its length is pre-
of new/altered action plans would reduce the process time and
assembled and attached on the chassis and side frame is fastened
eliminate wastes that are unproductive. Hence, the coming sec- with 30 rivets each side. This side frame riveting process consists
tions focus on elimination of non-value added activities and anal-
of 4 steps as evidenced in Fig. 1.
ysis for the root cause for defects and achieve implementation of Steps 3 and 4 in Fig. 1 are repeated until process is completed. It
lean techniques.
takes 30 min for an operator to complete the side frame riveting on
both the sides. Here, the person moving to collect the rivet from
2.2. DMAIC methodology bin (Step 3) is time wasted. Instead, according to ‘Just in Time’
strategy if the bin is reachable to the operator, the unwanted
A methodology adopted to approach this case study is DMAIC movement can be eliminated. Hence, a hanging bin is fabricated
(Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control). This work is with waste materials for rivet storage such that it can be hanged
preceded along with the phases of DMAIC in the following on the frame wherever the operator moves. The improved process
sections. with hanging bin is showed in Fig. 2.
In the above Fig. 2 the process time for part pick is eliminated
i) Define: Reduction/elimination of lean wastes (Unwanted by introducing a hanging bin for Revit. By implementing this action
Motion, Unwanted Process & Defects) by identifying non- plan, the process time for side frame riveting has been reduced
value added activities and RCA (root cause analysis) of recur- from 30 min to 21 min and the unwanted motion is eliminated.
ring defects recorded during product audit.
ii) Measure: 3 Non-value added activities were observed during 3.2. Issue 2: Front & rear wind shield fitment (unwanted motion
assembly process and 12 crucial recurring defects were reduction)
selected based on their occurrence and resolvability. The
clear data of collected issues and defects are listed below In this activity, fitment of front & rear windshield on the vehicle
in Tables 1 and 2. is done in which an operator drills and applies sealant and other 2

Table 1
Processes in which non-value added wastes are found.

S.No. Lean waste Process Occurrences Actual process time

1 Unwanted motion Side frame riveting All units 30 min
2 Windshield fitment All units 10 min
3 Unwanted process Front dome bracket drilling All units 10 min
950 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

Fig. 1. Side frame riveting – Actual process.

Fig. 2. Side frame riveting – Improved process.

Fig. 3. Windshield fitments - Actual process.

persons carry the windshield from rack and holds it until fitment is 3.3. Issue 3: Front dome bracket fitment (unwanted process
done. This activity consists of 4 steps as evidenced in Fig. 3. elimination)
In step 3, the operator has to bend to pick the washer from
table. If the same ‘Just in Time’ is implemented here, the operator Front dome is fixed to the skeleton of the vehicle with a bracket
does not have to bend down for picking clamp and the time for the that is in the shape of a boomerang. This bracket comes with 4 pre-
same can be eliminated and operator ergonomics is improved. drilled holes from the supplier that is bolted with the dome to hold
Hence, a rolling table is introduced with handle and stands for on to the frame. Furthermore additional hole is drilled in the mid-
clamp storage such that the operator can pick it without bending dle for clamping wires as seen in Fig. 5.
as illustrated in Fig. 4. If the hole drilled at centre is also acquired from the supplier,
As Fig. 4 shows, introducing a table with clamp holder, the time the unwanted process (step 3) can be eliminated as seen in Fig. 6
taken for part pick is eliminated and the total process time is below and the process time for drilling at centre can be reduced.
reduced from 10 to 4 min and the unwanted motion of operator Implementation of the action plan of acquiring pre-drilled
(bending) is eliminated thus, the ergonomics is improved. centre hole from the supplier has reduced the process time from
 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958 951

Fig. 4. Windshield fitments - Improved process.

Fig. 5. Front dome bracket drilling – Actual process.

Fig. 6. Front dome bracket drilling – Improved process.

10 to 6 min and the unwanted process done during assembly is From the above analysis and inspection in the under body coat-
eliminated. ing station, it is clear that visibility of under body is poor indeed
presence of additional lightings because, the fixed lights doesn’t
3.4. Analysis of defects reach the destination and the luminous flux level for the activity
is low. Hence, the root cause is low flux level at under body coating
In this section, the defects reported during the product audit are area that causes poor visibility of under body portions. As perma-
analysed for their root causes to develop an action plan that erad- nent containment action, portable light source is installed such
icates the recurrence of the defect. that the operator can move and acquire better visibility during
under body coating.
3.5. Defect 01: Under body coating poor (fishbone analysis)
3.6. Defect 02: Front facia/service set lock not locking (why – why
The vehicle is coated with black paint in the bottom side of analysis)
vehicle to prevent rusting due to exposure to water. While inspect-
ing during audit, some vehicles were reported for poor under body Front facia/service set are a part that is designed as a removable
coating. The root cause is analysed by fishbone analysis technique part for service and inspection purposes. This part is handled with
as given in Fig. 7. an Allen key by which the lock cylinder/arm mounts on the lock
952 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

Fig. 7. Fishbone analysis for poor under body coating.

bracket. Some cases have reported for its improper locking and
analysis for its cause is done below in Fig. 8.
As demonstrated, the 5 Why Analysis done the cause is; in
drawing, the lock cylinder mounting position is not specified. As
interim action lock arm is reworked in appropriate position &
proper locking is ensured whereas as permanent action lock
bracket design should be incorporated in drawing.

3.7. Defect 03: Poor workmanship on logo surroundings of front fascia

(Why - Why Analysis)

On the front facia of the vehicle, the brand logo is bonded on its
given profile. Defect was recorded on the surrounding profile as
improper finishing. During the logo fitment, the profile is buffered
and painted. Analysis of this defect is done by why - why analysis
as noted in Fig. 9.
As the above analysis denotes, new logo design was updated
whereas, the profile for logo on the front facia was not updated
in design. Hence, due to difference in dimension of the new logo
and the profile, a gap exists between them while fitting. This was
the root cause for the defect. This gap is filled with sealant and
painted to counterpart the profile & logo as an interim contain-
ment action. And recommendation to update the profile dimension
of logo on the front facia according to the new logo and procure
Fig. 9. Why-Why analysis for poor finishing.
corrected parts from supplier is the permanent action.

3.8. Defect 04: Floor mat paste spill over emergency door frame at
bottom
As per the above problem tree analysis, the exact root cause is
that during pasting, due to rolling or pressing floor mat, excessive
The base of the vehicle floor is plywood that is buffered and
glue oozes out in corners and sides. Hence as interim and perma-
glued for pasting vinyl floor mat over it. Over this flooring, passen-
nent containment action, during the activity floor mat pasting,
ger seats are fitted further. During product audit, floor mat paste
the emergency door frame is covered with masking tape to avoid
spill over were reported near the emergency door frame. Analysis
excess floor mat paste to spill over the frame.
for reason of glue spill over is studied (Fig. 10).

Fig. 8. Why - Why analysis of poor locking.

 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958 953

Fig. 10. Problem tree analysis for glue spillage.

3.9. Defect 05: Front bulkhead and cant rail join finisher putty cracked
(why-why analysis)

In the interior part of the vehicle, a putty crack is noted in the

location where the cantrail of the vehicle (frame structure along
its length) and the front bulkhead is joined. Analysis of the root
cause for this putty crack is studied in detail in Fig. 11.
The analysis of the putty crack has led us to the initial stage of
pre-assembly of cantrail where fixtures are used for assembling
parts where the root cause lies. An 80 mm bracket missing in fix-
ture creates pillar misalignment; due to which gap appears
between front bulkhead and cantrail. This gap is filled with putty. Fig. 12. (a) Scratch marks observed; (b) shield cover.
Hence, as interim containment action operators are informed and
instructed to maintain minimum gap. And as permanent action
the 80 mm bracket should be added in cantrail pre-assembly fix- part is covered with a steering boot cover to avoid damage of such
ture and period calibration and validation of fixtures must be parts. The boot cover is reported with scratches and cut marks as
ensured. evident in Fig. 12(a). The observations of the scratch mark indicates
it has been damaged due to some fastening operations (like dril-
3.10. Defect 06: Scratch & cut mark on steering column cover ling, buffering) that were done nearby.
Investigations of boot cover fitment process and the nearby pro-
The steering column is the lengthy part that connects the steer- cesses was carried out and found that no other nearby activity can
ing wheel and steering mechanism along with wiring. Hence this cause damage over the steering column cover. But, after installing

Fig. 11. Why–Why analysis for putty crack.

954 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

boot cover, it is drilled with the plywood floor. During this drilling 3.12. Defect 08: Driver door aperture frame rubber beading improper
operation, the driller fouls with the boot cover damaging it. To fitting
avoid this fouling, orientation of drilling operation was experi-
mented which failed to satisfy the perfection of drilling activity. In the driver door frame, corners are fitted with rubber beading.
Hence, to prevent the boot cover from damaging a sheet cover is An improper fitting of rubber beading has been reported with the
provided to avoid the contact between steering column and driller evidence of gap in the corners of the door frame where beading
as demonstrated in Fig. 12(b). has not been fitted properly. A problem tree analysis has been done
in the Fig. 14 to study the causes of defects.
3.11. Defect 07: Sealant damage near cab area (why-why analysis) As the above analysis shows, the root cause for improper fitting
is analysed and we have come down to the fact that corners being
Sealant is a substance used to block air or fluid leakage through sharp edges rubber beading cannot cover the sharp corners since
the small slits or gaps between joints. In the vehicle interiors, min- its flexible to curvy frames but cannot cover 90sharp turn. Hence,
ute gaps and joints are sealed air-tight with sealants. Damage in awareness given to operators to maintain minimum gap and as a
such sealant works might cause leak of air, dust and may be water. permanent solution door apertures must be designed with a curve.
Root causes to such damages are studied below Fig. 13.
As analysed, since sealant application and cab area activities are 3.13. Defect 09: Dash board top layer chip off
done at same workstation, movement of operators is frequent who
would’ve been unaware of the uncured sealant and damage may In the front cab area of the vehicle, dash boards with scratch
happen. Reworking of such damaged sealant part is of waste of marks are reported and the defect is precisely noted that the dash
time and material. Hence, as an interim containment action, the board top layer has been scraped off by some fastening tool. Hence
applied sealant is covered to leave it undisturbed by the other the dash board fitting and nearby activities are studied as in below
operators. But, this would increase an activity for the operators Fig. 15.
to maintain and reassure sealant covering. And as permanent As studied in the above problem tree analysis, during plywood
action, preceding the sealant application activity to the one before fitment activity drilling of plywood with its base frame is done
previous workstation would increase the time for it to cure before near dash board. While drilling the plywood, the drill machine
the cab area activities start. fouls with the dashboard and fast rotating drill chuck scrapes off

Fig. 13. Why–Why analysis for sealant damage.

Fig. 14. Problem tree analysis for improper fitting of beading.

 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958 955

Fig. 15. Problem tree analysis for dash board damage.

as in Fig. 18(b) which resulted in withdrawal during hard road test

due to vibrations.
Hence, to maintain the gap a template was designed as stated in
Fig. 19 and given to the operators in door assembly station to uti-
lise the template to maintain proper gap between door and frame
during door assembly that would resolve the process issue causing
lock rod retraction.

3.16. Defect 12: Floor mat damage-cuts (fishbone analysis)

Fig. 16. Mask cover for ad blue tank. Damages in floor mat were observed not only during product
audit but also in the previous Quality Gates. Rework of floor mat
damages consume a lot of time to rework, material wastage since
the dash board layer. Hence a wooden piece is placed between
pasted part replaced with another piece of mat which may affect
dashboard & driller to avoid fouling & damage as interim and per-
the finishing look of the floor mat. Analysis of various causes for
manent containment action.
floor mat damage is done as depicted in Fig. 20.
From the fishbone analysis it is clear that other activities are the
3.14. Defect 10: Paint over spray on ad blue tank causes for floor mat damage because the entire floor mat fitment
procedures are quality assured while inspected. Now, a detailed
During under body coating/painting, the ad blue tank cover get analysis of how other interior activities affect the door mat is stud-
over sprayed. Though this doesn’t cause any functional drawback, ied in Fig. 21.
it is an aesthetic concern. To avoid over paint spray on the ad blue Inspection of activities and the above problem tree analysis
tank cover, the tank cover should be concealed from exposing to breaks down the cause for floor mat damage clearly that slip or
paint. So, the ad blue cover was masked with masking tape and misemploy of tools and equipment is the reason for damage and
removed after painting was done. But masking is not recyclable cut marks. It was observed that some operators doesn’t use tool
and masking activity is a waste of time and material while covering bins during interior works and it is advised to use tool bins for pro-
it for every unit. Hence, a masking cover is designed as seen in duct safety and human safety. Other than that, slip of tool during
Fig. 16 & provided to mask the ad blue tank cover which can be activity causes damage in floor mat. Hence, a cover mat is put over
reused and overs praying can be prevented. this entire floor as shown in Fig. 22 to protect it against any dam-
age due to other interior works and operators.
3.15. Defect 11: Passenger door opened during dynamic test (why –
why analysis)
3.17. Improve
During product audit, the vehicle is tested on different roads at
different speeds to check the functioning of every system installed. In this case study, 3 processes in which non-value added activ-
During such dynamic testing, the passenger door opened automat- ities were observed and action plans were worked out to reduce
ically and sensor alarm rung. The door is a separate part assembled these non-value added activities in terms of unwanted motion
to the vehicle with sensors and other electrical connections. Hence, and unwanted process. List of processes and their results after
analysis of root cause was done to figure out the cause for this implementing action plans are given below Table 3.
issue as in below Fig. 17. In this case study, defects reported were collected during pro-
As per the analysis for this particular vehicle, the gap between duct audit and categorised them according to their occurrence
door and vehicle frame was not maintained. As specified in design, and severity, from which 12 major defects were selected for root
18 mm gap should be maintained between door and frame so that cause analysis and we provided action plans to the root causes
the lock rod will fully get into the aperture hole for complete lock- and recommended implementations that would rectify the issue
ing as you can see in Fig. 18(a). In the actual case since the gap is completely and reduce the total defect contribution. Detailed
only 16 mm the lock rod could not completely lock in its position defect information is given in Table 4.
956 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

Fig. 17. Why–Why analysis for passenger door retraction.

Fig. 18. (a) Specified gaps; (b) actual gaps.

Fig. 19. Template used in assembly process.

 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958 957

Fig. 20. Fishbone analysis for floor mat damage.

Fig. 21. Problem tree analysis for causes due to other activities.

4. Conclusion

In this case study, lean six sigma techniques were successfully

executed in the automotive assembly division where three non-
value added activities and 12 crucial defects were identified and
the potential solutions were provided. The implementation of pro-
posed solutions have resulted in drastic reduction of unproductive
activities expending 19 min work time and 37.2% defect ratio
respectively by using strategies like six sigma DMAIC and RCA
techniques & tools like fishbone analysis, problem tree analysis,
why-why analysis & process study. Therefore, from this case study
Fig. 22. Sheet to prevent floor mat damage.
it is very evident that execution of lean tools & techniques reduces
wastes and resolves defects systematically that enhances the qual-
ity of the product, process and prevent the recurrence of defects in
Table 3
the manufacturing sector.
Results of improved NVA activities.

Lean waste Process Before After Unwanted

(min) (min) process time Declaration of Competing Interest
reduced
(min) The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
Unwanted Side frame riveting 30 21 9 cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
Motion Windshield fitment 10 4 6 to influence the work reported in this paper.
Unwanted Front dome bracket 10 6 4
Process drilling
References

[1] Adan Valles, Salvador Noriega, Berenice Gómez Nuñez, Jaime Sanchez.
Implementation of six sigma in a manufacturing process: a case study, Int. J.
Table 4 Ind. Eng. 16 (2009) 171–181.
Percentage defect contribution details. [2] Tarcisio Abreu Saurin, Clé ber Fabricio Ferreira, The impacts of lean production
on working conditions: a case study of a harvester assembly line in Brazil, Int. J.
Total defects Occurrences % Contribution Ind. Ergonom. 39 (2009) 403–412.
[3] Chen-Yang Cheng, Pu-Yuan Chang, Implementation of the lean six sigma
Defect data collected 46 54 100%
framework in non-profit organisations: a case study, Total Qual. Manag. Bus.
Defects resolved 12 20 37.2%
23 (2012) 3–4.
958 S. Krishna Priya et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 22 (2020) 948–958

[4] Inderpreet Singh Ahuja, Total quality management implementation for [11] V. Raja Sreedharan, R. Raju, G. Srinivasan, Defect analysis in a ballast
reducing per cent process defects in a manufacturing organisation, Int. J. Bus. manufacturing industry using quality tools, Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res. 10 (2015)
Perform. Manag. 13 (2012) 1–17. 7997–8004.
[5] Hemendra Nath Roy, Sufal Chandra Goldar, Sudipta Saha, Tarapada Bhowmick, [12] Md. Monir Hossain, K. Kamal Uddin, A case study to reduce the manufacturing
Productivity improvement of a fan manufacturing company by using DMAIC waste prior to improve the productivity factors of a litchi juice production
approach: a six-sigma practice, Global J. Res. Eng. Ind. Eng. 13 (2013) 1–7. plant by using value stream map and six sigma scale, Int. J. Scientific Eng. Res.
[6] Sukhwinder Singh Jolly, A review on lean manufacturing: a feasible solution to 6 (2015) 1895–1905.
industrial objectives, Int. J. Eng. Manage. Res. 3 (2013) 13–16. [13] Marco Aurisicchioa, Rob Bracewellb, Becky L. Hooey, Rationale mapping and
[7] Varsha M. Magar, Vilas B. Shinde, Application of 7 quality control (7 QC) tools functional modelling enhanced root cause analysis, Saf. Sci. 85 (2016) 241–257.
for continuous improvement of manufacturing processes, Int. J. Eng. Res. [14] Sushil Kumar, Application of six sigma in automobile industry, Int. J.
General Sci. 2 (2014) 364–371. Exploration Eng. Technol. 2 (2016) 39–44.
[8] Valter R. Morais, Sérgio D. Sousa, Isabel Lopes. Implementation of a lean six [15] Raveen Rathilall, Shalini Singh, A lean six sigma framework to enhance the
sigma project in a production line. WCE London, U.K., 2015. competitiveness in selected automotive component manufacturing
[9] Mayur Patil, Six sigma implementation on engine assembly line in analysing organisations, South African J. Econ. Manage. Sci. 21 (2017) 1–13.
and improving the defects, Int. J. Mech. Ind. Technol. 3 (2015) 190–196. [16] V. Jayakumar, P. Arunagiri, G. Bharathiraja, V. Velmurugan, Reduction of
[10] A. Ashwini, K. Avinash, Rejection analysis in piston manufacturing unit, Int. J. operator’s loading and unloading time using lean systems for productivity
Innov. Res. Sci. Eng. Technol. 4 (2015) 1157–1163. improvement, Int, J. Mech. Eng. Technol. 8 (10) (2017) 207–216.