Cycle Time Reduction of Queue Hour Calculation

Project Owner: Chetan Patil

Project Sponsor: Shriniwas Chavan

Mentor : Vijay Kumbhar & Sateesha Honganur Veerabhadregowda

Mentor Master Black Belt: Krishnakumar L

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Define

Voice of the Customer

Customer Sample Comments (VOC) CTQs

Offshore Team It takes considerable amount of time to carry Cycle time

Members out the queue hour calculations at work center
level and analyze the calculated queue hours
for a given profit center

Key Questions

• Which group of customers are the primary focus of this project?

Offshore team

• Methodology used to understand customer requirements?

Brainstorming/Pain storming

• Which CTQs will be the primary focus for this project?

Cycle time and Standardization

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 Define Alignment to Business Big Y

Business Big Performance

Performance

Correctness
Correctness &
& Completeness
Completeness
Industry CTQ y1 y2 y3

Project CTQ:
characteristic Cycle
Cycle Time
Time
yA yB yC

Measurable y Calculating
Calculating the
the Queue
Queue hour
hour

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Define

MES Readiness and Class A Project Background

• Queue Hour: The queue hour in production or warehouse operations is a sequence of jobs held in temporary

storage awaiting transmission or processing.

• In JD Edwards (Client ERP system) many SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit) related to a specific work centers were

assigned with inaccurate queue hours.

• As a part of MES readiness and Class A project we are supposed to extract the details (such as Run labor,

Run Machine, Move hour, Time, etc.) required for calculating the accurate queue hour and update the values

in the JDE system, which will help to increase the Plant OTIF(On Time In Full).

• OTIF (on-time and in-full) is a measurement of logistics or delivery performance within a supply chain. Usually

expressed as a percentage, it measures whether the supply chain was able to deliver: the expected product,

quantity ordered by the customer, at the place agreed by the customer, at the time expected by the customer.

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 Define Charter

Business Case (Including High Level Benefit Analysis) In Scope

As a part of the project, queue hours need to be calculated and Calculating and analyzing the queue hours and
analyzed for work centers associated with each profit centers. The plotting the Histogram and Box-Whisker charts for the
work centers associated with the given profit centers.
queue hours calculation for any given profit center has to be
performed multiple times based on updated/latest manufacturing
data in order to assess the current OTIF (On Time In Full) OR MSP
(Manufacturing Scheduling Performance).
Out of Scope
Calculating the queue hours for a particular profit center consumes a
Time required for calculating the parameters other than
considerable amount of time (~8 hours), There are several queue hours such as Move hour, Crew Size, Machine
parameters (such as Time Difference, Time Day Difference, Total Utilization, etc.
Operating Hours, etc.) that are to be evaluated and various charts
such as Histogram and Box & Whisker are to be plotted for all the
associated work centers in order to calculate the queue hour. Specific Goal Statement
If the process is not improved it will considerably increase the efforts Reduction of overall cycle time required for calculating
the queue hours.
of calculating the queue hour manually which will in return increase
the overall execution time. This improvement project is aimed at
reducing the cycle time of the activity and to make the process agile.

Specific Problem Statement

Considerable amount of time is consumed to calculate the queue hours of Work Centers associated with 34
Profit Centers.

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 Define COPIS – Key Elements of the Project

C O P I S
Customer Output Process Input Supplier
Start Stop

After receiving the packets Sending the tabulated form of queue hour
of input from onsite calculation to Onsite team Members
coordinator
Offshore Team Calculated queue Queue
QueueHour
HourCalculation
Calculation Router Extract Onsite
Members hours in tabulated and Work Order Coordinator
form Extract
Receive input files from onsite coordinator

Clean up the data by performing trim operation and

Sorting the data in the required order

Calculate the queue hours and plot Histogram

and Box & Whisker Charts work center level

Share the calculated queue hours to onsite coordinator

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Measure Performance Standards

CTQ Project Y Target Tolerance Unit # of Defect

Metric (Numeri (Numeric (‘Object under opportunity Definition
1. Data to be c Value) Value) Study’ and per unit (USL: Target +
Collected NOT (Number of Tolerance
2. Unit of ‘Unit of possible ways LSL: Target –
Measurement Measurement’) a defect can Tolerance)
occur in the
3. Discrete or
Unit)
Continuous

1) Time taken to
calculate the Time taken to
queue hour calculate queue
Cycle time 40 Min ±5 170 1 hour should not
2) Minutes
exceed by 46
3) Continuous minutes.
data

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Measure Data Collection Plan

Data
Data Collection
Collection Purpose
Purpose

To analyze the time taken to calculate the queue hours of associated work
centers in a particular profit center

What to Measure

Time taken to calculate the queue hour of associated work centers in a

particular profit center.

How to Measure

Measure the time required to calculate, analyze queue hour and plot the
Histogram & Box-Whisker charts.

Sampling Plan (Scheme, Frequency, Size)

Collect the time taken for the process by 2 different offshore team members
for 5 profit centers.
Data Collected

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Measure Measurement Systems Analysis

MSA Worksheet

Continuous Data

Short Form Gage

R&R

MSA Findings

Short form gage R&R was used as we were dealing with continuous data.
The strategy used in the Gage R&R was 2 operators and 5 different profit
centers. The % R&R value came to be 6.13% which implies that the
measurement system is acceptable [As per the standard guidelines, if Gage
R&R (as a percent of tolerance) is <10%, measurement system is
acceptable].

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Analyze As-Is Sub Process Map

Start
Start

11 Onsite
Onsite coordinator
coordinator shares
shares the
the input
input files
files 11 min
min

Clean
Clean the
the data
data by
by performing
performing trimming
trimming operation
operation and
and sort
sort
22 60
60 min
min
the
the data
data in
in the
the required
required order
order manually
manually

33 Calculate
Calculate the
the queue
queue hours
hours for
for all
all the
the SKUs
SKUs present
present in
in the
the profit
profit center
center 174
174 min
min

Calculate
Calculate the
the queue
queue hour
hour at
at work
work center
center level
level and
and plot
plot Histogram
Histogram and
and Box-
Box-
44 235
235 min
min
-Whisker chart to remove outlier (If any)
-Whisker chart to remove outlier (If any)

55 Share
Share the
the calculated
calculated queue
queue hours
hours in
in tabular
tabular form
form 10
10 min
min

Step No. Stop

Stop

Cycle Time

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Analyze Value Stream Map Analysis &
Value Added Ratio

Value Stream Map Analysis

4%

13%

Execution Time (Mins)

Data Gathering & Clean
Value Stream Up Time (Mins)
Mapping and Waste Categories Waiting Time (Mins)

83.8%

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Analyze Waste Analysis

Out of the Seven Waste Categories, mention and explain the specific wastes identified in the
as-is process.

Delay (Waiting) waste is identified as a specific waste which highly contributes in the “As-is”

process out of the seven waste categories. The delay waste is caused because of the considerable

time required to calculate the queue hours of associated work centers in a profit center manually

and to calculate, analyze and plot Histogram chart and Box-Whisker chart for work center level

queue hours. This delay is significantly high as all the calculations are to be carried out manually.

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 Analyze ANOVA – Single Factor (One - way)

Source DF SS MS F P Probability Chart

ANOVA Result
Factor 1 22 22 0.18 0.680

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Analyze Box-Whisker

Box-Plot of stacked data for pre implementation implies that there are no
outliers in the data points

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Analyze Data Display
Baseline Process Capability

Normal Probability Plot

Pr

447 457 467 Data

477 487 497
Normal Data507

P>0.05; data
Normality Test Sigma Calculator
is normal

- 15 -
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Analyze Variation Sources
Ishikawa Diagram

Method 1
Calculating the queue hours at profit center.

2
Manually analyzing and calculating queue hour
and plotting Histogram & Box-Whisker chart at
work center level. Significant time
is required to
calculate queue
hour
2
The data entered by
the resources may
No standard template to collect subject to variation in
1 calculated and analyzed queue format
hour at work center level 1
Human errors while
Calculating the values

Material Man

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Analyze Control Impact Matrix

IMPACT

High Medium Low

1. Calculating the queue hours at 1. Human errors while
profit center level. calculating the values
2. Manually analyzing and 2. No standard template to
C calculating queue hour and collect queue hour
O In plotting Histogram & Box- calculation at work center
Whisker chart at work center level
N Control level. 3. The data entered by the
T resources may subject to
R variation in format
O
L
Out of
Control

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Analyze

Root Causes Implementation Improvements

plan carried out
Calculating the queue hours at Planned to create a template Created an Execution template
profit center level. which will calculate the Queue having pre-defined excel formulae
Human errors while calculating the hours automatically. to calculate the queue hour
values. automatically.

Manually analyzing and Planned to automate the process Created various excel VBA scripts
calculating queue hour and of analyzing, calculating queue which will automatically calculate,
plotting Histogram & Box-Whisker hour and plot the required charts. analyze the queue hour and plot
chart at work center level. the required charts.

No standard template to collect Planned to populate the calculated Created a standard template and
queue hour calculation at work and analyzed queue hours in a an excel VBA script which will
center level. standard template automatically. automatically populate the
calculated and analyzed values of
queue hour in that standard
template.

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Improve Proposed New Process
(New Value Stream Map)
Start
Start

11 Onsite
Onsite coordinator
coordinator shares
shares the
the input
input files
files 11 min
min

Clean
Clean the
the data
data by
by performing
performing trimming
trimming operation
operation and
and sort
sort
22 55 min
min
the
the data
data in
in the
the required
required order
order manually
manually

33 Calculate
Calculate the
the queue
queue hours
hours for
for all
all the
the SKUs
SKUs present
present in
in the
the profit
profit center
center 00 min
min

Calculate
Calculate the
the queue
queue hour
hour at
at work
work center
center level
level and
and plot
plot Histogram
Histogram and
and Box-
Box-
44 25
25 min
min
-Whisker chart to remove outlier (If any)
-Whisker chart to remove outlier (If any)

55 Share
Share the
the calculated
calculated queue
queue hours
hours in
in tabular
tabular form
form 10
10 min
min

Step No. Stop

Stop

Cycle Time

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Improve
Details of Deliverables

Tool name : Queue Hour Calculation

Technology : Excel Macros

Input : Work Order and Router Extracts

Output : Calculated queue hours at work center level

Functionality :

The template is designed in such a way that if we populate the entries from the work order extract and
router extract into designated columns then the template will return the calculated queue hours (profit
center level). Further, the functionalities of the VBA scripts are to calculate the queue hour (work
center level), analyze the calculated queue hours, plot the Histogram and Box-Whisker charts and
populate the queue hours at work center level in a standard format.

Benefits :

• It will drastically reduce the time required to calculate the queue hour at work center level.
• It will save cost of $ 59281.1 in total.
• It will eliminate the time required to analyze the calculated queue hours.
• It will help to capture calculated queue hour (work center level) in a standard template.

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Improve
Tool name : Queue Hour Calculation
BEFORE

All the calculations pertaining to queue hours (Highlighted in Blue) such as New
Router details, Prime Load Code, Future WC, Final Quantity Shipped, Time
Difference, etc. were done manually as shown in the above snapshot.

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Improve
Tool name : Queue Hour Calculation
AFTER

In this template, the columns which were required and created (highlighted in blue)
for calculation purpose were placed after the last column with pre-defined formulae
entered in each cell. Which in return decreased the time required to manually
evaluate the value for each and every column (18 such formulated columns were
needed for calculation purpose).

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Improve
BEFORE

For work center level calculation of queue hour it is required to create separate
worksheets which will consist of the queue hours which were calculated in the previous
file and the analysis pertaining to the calculations depicted from the Histogram and Box-
Whisker charts. This entire process of fetching the data and plotting the various charts
was done manually.

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Improve
AFTER

Now the analysis for the calculated queue hour is done automatically by running a Macro
which will fetch the data (calculated queue hour at work center level), analyze the data
and generate the required charts.

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Improve
AFTER

After the analysis, the calculated queue hours for the individual work
center will be automatically populated/summarized in this worksheet
as shown in the above snapshot.

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Improve

Cost Benefit Analysis

a) Avg. Cycle time before implementation = 488 min
b) Avg. Cycle time after implementation = 49 min
c) Avg. Cycle time saved (a-b) =439 min
d) Number of Profit Centers = 34
e) No. of times calculation is to be done =5
f) Opportunities per annum (d*e) =170
g) Total time saved per annum (c*f) =74630 min
h) Offshore billing rate (2 Resources) = 23 $/Hr.
i) Onsite billing rate (4 Resources) =60 $/Hr.
j) Average billing rate (2 Offshore + 4 Onsite) = 47.66$/Hr.
k) Annual saving (USD) (g*j/60) =59281.1 $
l) Time spent on project completion = 1620 min (27 Hr.)

Annual Saving (time) = 74630 min (1243.83 Hrs.)

Annual Saving ($) = 59281.1 $
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Control

Post Implementation Data Collection

Before and After Implementation data display

PC202216 (B) 39.30 475.30

PC202215 (B) 41.30 480.00

467.50
Profit Center Number (Operator)

PC202214 (B) 44.00

PC202213 (B) 41.20 480.00

PC202212 (B) 40.90 490.40

PC202216 (A) 40.00 490.50

Data collected
487.60 After Implementation
PC202215 (A) 41.20

PC202214 (A) 42.20 460.70

PC202213 (A) 42.70 476.80

PC202212 (A) 39.40 492.50

0.00 100.00 200.00 300.00 400.00 500.00 600.00

Time taken (in minutes)

After Implementation Before Implementation

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Control Value Stream Map Analysis &
Value Added Ratio

Before After
Implementation
Implementation

Value Stream Map Analysis Value Stream Map Analysis

Before Implementation After Implementation
3.7% 5.1%3%
12.5% Execution Time 2% Execution Time
(Mins) (Mins)
Data Gathering &
Clean Up Time Data Gathering
(Mins) & Clean Up
Waiting Time Time (Mins)
(Mins)
83.8% Waiting Time
(Mins)

90% Time Saved

The overall process time is reduced by ~90.0% and the total time in the process is reduced to
49 Min. from 488 Min.

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Control Waste Analysis

The delay in the process was caused as the resources had to calculate the queue hour (Profit
Center level) manually which used to consume significant amount of time (174 Min.) and further
they had to calculate the queue hour at work center level, analyze the calculated queue hours and
plot the Histogram and Box-Whisker charts (235 Min.). These overall tasks increased the execution
time for the process. The delay in the process is reduced by creating a template consisting of pre
defined formulae in the cells for desired output and by developing various VBA scripts which will
automatically calculate the queue hour at work center level, analyze the calculated queue hour and
plot the required charts. By implementing the proposed method the overall average processing time
was reduced from 488 minutes to 49 minutes.(Refer After implementation and before
implementation excel in the previous slide)

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 Control ANOVA – Single Factor (One - way)

Source DF SS MS F P Probability Chart

ANOVA Result
Factor 1 0.14 0.14 0.06 0.813

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Control Box-Whisker

Box-Plot of stacked data for post implementation implies that there are no
outliers in the data points

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Control Data Display
New Baseline Process Capability

Normal Probability Plot

Pr

37 38 39 40 Data 41 42 43
Normal 44
Data 45

P>0.05; data
Normality Test Sigma Calculator is normal

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 Control Summary

Control/Response
Control/ResponsePlan
PlanHighlights
Highlights Benefits
Benefitsof
ofProject
Project&&Customer
CustomerSpeak
Speak
• Reduced the time required to calculate queue • With the new process the time taken to calculate
hours (both profit center and work center level), and analyze the calculated queue hour reduced by
analyze calculated queue hour and plot the 439 min.
required charts. • The total cost benefit is $ 59281.1

Sigma
SigmaLevels/Improvement
Levels/Improvement Communication
Communication&&Translation
Translation
Statistic Before After I had a knowledge transfer session with the onsite
Mean (if continuous) OR
480.13 41.22 and offshore team members, in which I explained
Defects (if Discrete) them how to use the template and the developed
Std. Dev (if continuous) OR
10.510 1.471 VBA scripts to calculate and analyze the
DPMO (if Discrete) calculated queue hour. Also, shared the template
Z st (Short term Sigma) OR with the team.
Yield (if Sigma can’t be - 4.75
calculated)

Z lt (Long term Sigma) OR

(Remove if Sigma not - 3.25
calculated)

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Control Client Approval Mail

RE: Six Sigma

Black Belt presentation for

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DMAIC: Cycle Time Reduction of Queue Hour Calculation
Business case Analyze

As a part of the project, queue hours need to be calculated and analyzed for Root Causes:
work centers associated with each profit centers. The queue hours calculation Brainstorming and Fishbone analysis
• Calculating the queue
for any given profit center has to be performed multiple times based on was carried out to identify root causes hours at profit center
updated/latest manufacturing data in order to assess the current MSP
level.
(Manufacturing Scheduling Performance).
• Human errors while
Calculating the queue hours for a particular profit center consumes a Calculating the value.
considerable amount of time (~8 hours), There are several parameters (such as • Manually analyzing and
Time Difference, Time Day Difference, Total Operating Hours, etc.) that are to be
calculating queue hour
evaluated and various charts such as Histogram and Box & Whisker are to be
plotted for all the associated work centers in order to calculate the queue hour. and plotting Histogram &
Box-Whisker chart at work
If the process is not improved it will considerably increase the efforts of center level.
calculating the queue hour manually which will in return increase the overall
• No standard template to
execution time. This improvement project is aimed at reducing the cycle time of
the activity and to make the process agile. collect queue hour
calculation at work center
Goal level

Reduction of overall cycle time required for calculating the queue

hours by 80% before 31st December, 2018.

Measures of Success Improve

Cycle time to capture an consolidate the execution details after Improvement actions:
implementation reduced significantly • Created an Execution template having pre-defined excel formulae to calculate
the queue hour automatically.
• Created various excel VBA scripts which will automatically calculate, analyze
the queue hour and plot the required charts.
• Created a standard template and an excel VBA script which will automatically
populate the calculated and analyzed values of queue hour in that standard
template.

Control
• Overall Effort Reduction of 90%.
• Cost Benefit per year = $ 59281.1

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Project Re-usability

• The tool consists of Excel formulas and VBA scripts which are project specific.

• The template is specifically designed to calculate the queue hours by using the
information provided by client. Hence, for any other data apart from client provided
data, this template would not produce the desired results for which the Excel formulas
and VBA Scripts have been designed.

• Tool developed can not be reused within TCS because the calculations carried out in
the template is client’s confidential information.

Reusable Excel
Sheet

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Control Communication, Approval & Project Closure

• Chetan Patil of Zimmer Inc. relationship has completed a Six Sigma

project to reduce cycle time for calculating queue hour and analyzing the
calculated queue hours. As part of the project he has developed Queue
Hour Calculation Tool, using Excel macros. The team members has to
populate the cleaned up client provided data in the template in order to
get the calculated queue hour automatically, apart from calculation, the
template also plots the Histogram and Box-Whisker charts, analyzes the
calculated queue hours and automatically puts the analyzed queue
hours in a summarized standard format. The project has a cycle time
reduction of 90%.

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