Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

Improvement Proposal To Reduce Lead Time in

Plastic Injection Using Lean Six Sigma Method
in PT. X
Fildza Rossianti ST., M. Iqbal, ST., MM., and Andri Suryabrata, ST., Msc.

Abstract Company X is plastic part manufacturing company

with plastic injection product line as their main product line. One
type of its products with the highest production and is always
produced every month is FB 7084 with an average number of 441
102 units per month of production. However, company cannot
reach the planned production target for this type of product FB
7084 with high levels of production planning in several periods.
Therefore, improvement efforts planning are needed to identify
and eliminate waste dominant occurring during the process flow
using Lean Six Sigma approach. The object of this research is
focused on the process of making the product FB 7084 plastic
injection production floor. The research is started by making a
current state map to find out the current value stream. Through
the value stream mapping it is identified that lead time process is
5130.45 seconds with respective activity percentage are as
follows: delay 37.35%, non value added operation 2.74%,
transportation 0.03%, and value added activity 59.87%. To
identify waste dominant occurring during the process waste
checklist is used and it is identified that the waste dominant is
waste waiting or delay that increase lead time. An improvement
proposal planning is made to overcome waste dominant that
occurred by implementing pull system, as well as conducting
operation method improvement so that material flow can flow
faster. The improvement proposal is indicated shorter process
lead time that is 3529.44 seconds. From the overall process,
activity with the highest percentage after the improvement is
value added operation activity with percentage of 94.244, while
another activity percentage : delay 5.27%, transportation 0.05%,
and non value added operation 0.44%. Proposal work system
application is expected the company can reach production target
planned especially for the FB 7084 product.
Index TermsLead Time, Lean Six Sigma, Plastic Injection,
Value Stream Mapping, Waste

I. INTRODUCTION

OW days, customers awareness of the importance of

quality is increasing. This is exactly what makes the
quality of both product quality and delivery quality, being one
of the important aspects that must be considered by the
company to run its business, especially for PT. X. PT. X is a
manufacturing company engaged in the manufacture of plastic
parts for motor vehicles and other plastic products. The main
product line of PT. X is a plastic injection line that donates the
largest profit contribution compared to other production lines.

The profit contribution percentage for each production line in

PT. X can be seen in Figure 1.

MACHI
NING
3,47 %

WIRING
20,08 %

PLASTIC
INJECTI
ON
76,45 %
Fig. 1 : Profit Contribution Percentage for Each Production Line
(Resource : PT. X Historical Data, 2013)

Product, in plastic injection production line, with the

highest production number is FB 7084 with an average
demand 441,102 unit every month.
TABLE I
The Highest Demand Average for Plastic Injection
in January 2013 November 2013
(Resource: PT. X Historical Data, 2013)

Produk
FB 7084
604402-VL
32413-KGH-9000
32412-MV4-0000

Rata-Rata Demand
319,364
282,906
74,105
66,103

PT. X is faced with some problems during the production of

FB 7084 product. The problems are the failure in achieving
production targets and the high rate of rejection during
process. The problem of the high rate of rejection will be
discussed by researchers partner, Ratri Mayra Maherani, on
her research entitled "Proposed Improvements to Improve
Product Quality Plastic Injection to Lean Six Sigma Methods
in PT. X ". While the issues to be discussed in this final
project is the failure in achieving production targets.

Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

II. THEORETICAL BASIS

Fig. 2: Production Planning and Production Result of FB 7084

in January 2013 March 2013
(Resource: PT. X Historical Data, 2013)

Based on figure 2, PT. X cannot achieve the planned

production target for FB 7084 product on some periods with
high levels of production planning. The failure to achieve
production target can causes a decreased quality of delivery
because it allows delay in delivery of products to customers.
The problem of failure to fulfill production targets is exactly
what prompted the authors to develop improvements strategy
in production of FB 7084, which is a product from PT. X, by
reduce wasteful activities, facilitate the flow of material,
distinguish between value added and non-value added
activities, as well as create value added to flow smoothly and
efficiently throughout the value stream process so that the lead
time can be reduced.
A. Problem Formulation
The formulation of the problem to be addressed in this final
project is as follows:
1. What is the dominant waste during the process?
2. How to formulated the improvement of the
production process to eliminate waste dominant in
order to reduce lead time process?
B. Purpose of the Research
The objectives of this research are:
1. Finding the dominant waste in every activity on the
production of plastic injection.
2. Formulate the improvement of the production process
to eliminate waste dominant in order to reduce lead
time process.
C. Limitation of the Research
The limitations In this research are as follows:
1. Process flow analyzed in this research is only FB
7084 production process.
2. Any kind of costs are not calculated in this
research.

A. Quality
Quality
is
conformance
to
requirements
or
specifications, (Montgomery, 2009:6). Quality is very
important to be considered during the production process by
companies.
There are some dimensions of quality:
1. Performance
2. Reliability
3. Durability
4. Serviceability
5. Aesthetic
6. Features
7. Perceived quality
8. Conformance to Standards
Every dimension define the rate of quality, either delivery
quality or product quality.
B. Six Sigma Approach
Six sigma is a systematic methodology that focuses on
controlling the performance of a process. According to
Gaspersz and Fontana (2011:37), in Six Sigma terminology,
there are several unit types of measurement used to measure
the quality of a process or product. Some of them are defect
rate, ppm, DPU (Defect per Unit), DPMO, and sigma value.
The higher sigma values define the lower reject rate of a
process.
Calculation of sigma value:
=

= 10!
Sigma Value =

1000000
+ 1,5
1000000

C. Lean Approach
According to Gaspersz and Fontana (2011:1), Lean can be
defined as a sustained effort to eliminate waste (waste) and
increase the value-added that provide value to customers
(customer value).
Lean Principles:
According to Hines and Taylor (2000:5) in the implementation
of Lean concepts based on five principles:
1. Specify value
Identify the value of the product from the
customer's viewpoint and set the value of the
product specifications desired by the customer
appropriately.

Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

2.

Value stream analysis

Identify the necessary steps, started from the
design process, ordering and manufacturing of
products based on the entire value stream to find
waste that do not add value to the process.

3.

Flow
Activities during the process that add value are set
to flow unimpeded from one process to another.

4.

Pull System
Pull system is a production processes that are
based on customer demand. The objectives of pull
system are to make material and information flow
during the value stream became more fluently and
efficient.

D. Lean Six Sigma Approach

Lean six sigma method synergizes the advantages of two
existing method of quality improvement, that are Lean and Six
sigma approach. With the integration of Lean and Six Sigma
method, called Lean Six Sigma, will improve the performance
of the business and industry through the increased speed (short
cycle time) and better accuracy (zero defect). Lean approach
will expose the non-value added and value added activity and
then create value added flows smoothly along the value stream
process, while Six Sigma approach will reduce the variation in
the value added (Gaspersz and Fontana, 2011:93).

There are seven types of waste:

1. Transportation
2. Inventories
3. Motions
4. Waiting/Delay
5. Over Production
6. Over Processing
7. Defect
F. Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
Value stream mapping (VSM) is a method to describe the
flow of material and information. VSM is a mapping process
that shows the detail of the material flow, operational
parameters lead time, yield, uptime, frequency of delivery,
number of man power, the size of the batch, the amount of
inventory, setup time, process time, the efficiency of the
overall process, etc.
There are some steps in VSM design process:
1. Determine the product or product family
2. Design current state mapping
3. Design future state mapping
4. Design the improvement plan
G. Plastic Injection Process
Plastic injection process is a formation process of plastic
resins into a particular plastic shape following the pattern of
the mold (molding). Principles of this process are heating
plastic resins into the molten plastic, injecting the molten
plastic into a mold that is cooled by water to harden, and then
picking up the formed plastic part.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Conceptual Model

Fig. 3: Key to Lean Six Sigma

(Resource: George, 2004:8)

E. Waste
Waste can be interpreted as non value added activities.
Waste must be eliminated so that the company system can run
more efficiently. According to Taiichi Ohno, there are 7 types
of waste that commonly found in a company (Gasperz and
Fontana,2011:9).
Fig. 4: The Research Conceptual Model

Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

B. Systematic Problem Solving

TABLE II
Standard Time Calculation

B. Current State Value Stream Mapping (VSM)

Current state VSM of FB 7084 in PT.X, which is used to
map the existing value stream occurs during the production,
can be seen on Figure IV.8 of the final project. According to
the current state VSM, lead-time process for FB 7084 is
5,130.45 second with 37.5% delay activities, and 2.74%
transportation activities, while value added time of the process
is 3,071.65 second (57.89 %).

Fig. 5: Systematic Problem Solving

IV. DATA PROCESSING

A. Standard Time Calculation
Cycle time data for each process is collected using
stopwatch method and the results are examined using
normality test and uniformity test. After the collected cycle
times are stated as valid, the cycle time data for each process
is added with performance rating and allowance so the
standard time is obtained. The standard time of each process is
needed to determine the appropriate time for operators to
completing their works normally within the best working
system. The test results of normality and uniformity data from
each measurement cycle time of each process can be seen in
attachment B of final project.

C. Waste Identification
Waste identification during the production process of
FB7084 is done using waste checklist tool. The identification
result can be seen on Table IV.9 of the final project. The result
shows that waiting is the dominant waste during the
production process, so that the research will be focused on
minimizing waiting waste.
Waiting activities during the production process of FB 7084
can be seen below:
1. Waiting process of raw material in the mixing area
2. Waiting process of WIP material around the heating
area
3. Waiting process of FB 7084 product in the finishing
area
V. DATA ANALYSIS
A. Improvement Design
The root causes of waiting waste, which is found during the
waste identification process, is identified using 5 whys
method. The questions that occurs due to the use of 5 whys
method is answered through observation and discussion with
the companies. Once the root cause is identified, then
improvement proposal is designed to address it. From the
developed alternatives for each root cause, the best one is
chose using scoring method. The developing and choosing
process of the alternatives for each root cause can be seen on
chapter V.2 of the final project.

Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

The improvements design proposed is listed as follows:
1. Replace existing common sacks for raw material with
roped sacks that have core stopper so the sealing
process will became easier and faster (In the existing
condition, the sacks are sealed by sewing method).

3.

Use the counting scale to measure product batch so

the counting process will became faster and the
amount of waiting product in finishing area will
decrease.

Fig. 9: Counting Scale

Fig. 6: Core stopper

2.

Design a pull system, from mixing to heating area,

with production cards and a mixing request board to
reduce stacking WIP material around the heating
area. For detail information of the designed pull
system with cards and a mixing request board can be
seen on chapter V.2.2.1 of the final report.

B. Future State VSM

The application results of the proposed improvement are
mapped into a future state VSM of product FB 7084 which
can be seen on figure V.17 of the final project. Based on the
future state VSM that has been made, it is known that leadtime of the process is reduced became 3,259.44 second from
the origin is 5,130.45 second.
C. Comparative Analysis of the Current State and Future
state
Once the future state VSM have been defined, the
comparison is done between the lead-time in the current state
with the lead-time in the future state.
TABLE III
Comparison Between Lead Times in
Current State and Future State

Fig. 7: Production Card

TABLE IV
Activity Percentages Based on VSM

Fig. 8: Mixing Request Board

According to table III and table IV, lead-time process in the

future state can be reduced about 1871.01 second by
minimizing and eliminating dominant waste so the delay time
(waiting time) during the process is reduced from 1916.47

Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

second to 171.80 second and the non value added activity time
can be reduced from 140.7 second to 14.36 second.

2.

In further studies, cost and other aspects are

should be considered to get better improvement
strategies.

VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3.

Further studies can be done to eliminate other

waste during the production process of FB 7084.

A. Conclusions
The research results can be concluded as follows:
1. Based on the identification results using the current
state VSM and waste checklist, dominant wastes that
occur in the production of FB 7084 is waste waiting.
Total priority value of waste waiting on waste
checklist is 9 and delay percentage is 37.35% from
the lead-time process. Current state lead time process
is 5130.45 second consisted of 0.11% WIP material
waiting in mixing area, 10.05% waiting in heating
area, and 27.20% waiting in the finishing and batch
measurement area. While the other processes in
current state are transportation by 0.03%, non-value
added operations by 2.74%, and the value added
activity by 59.87% from the lead-time process.
2.

3.

There are three-improvement proposal submitted to

eliminate dominant waste in order to reduce leadtime process, listed below:
a. Replacement temporary sealing method from
sewing to sealing with rope that has a core
stopper
b. Application of the pull system on the mixing
process scheduling with cards and mixing board
tools.
c. Replacement of batch measurement method from
manual to use counting scale
Implementation of the proposed improvements, can
reduce the lead-time process became 3259.44
seconds, consisted of 5.27% delay activities, 0.05%
transportation activities, 94.24% value-added
operations, and 0.44% non-value added operations.

B. Suggestion
Suggestion for PT. X:
1. The company should give more attention and support
to continuous improvement process with 5S that have
been implemented by the company.
2.

The company should undertake the implementation

of the proposed improvement.

3.

The company should undertake trial and error process

before implementing the proposed improvements, so
that the implementation process can run efficiently

Suggestion for further studies:

1. In further studies, further researches about lean six
sigma are should be conducted in the entire
production floor at PT. X.

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Final Project Journal | Industrial Engineering Faculty

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