Process improvement through capability analysis: a case study in an engine valve manufacturing company

Several approaches are adopted in manufacturing companies to enhance productivity. Most of these approaches involve expensive technologies which are seldom affordable for implementation. However, economical approaches are rarely applied in manufacturing organisations to enhance productivity while producing products and offering services. One among those approaches is process capability analysis. This paper reports a case study in which process capability analysis was employed to reduce the cycle time of manufacturing valves by removing one of the machines from the production line. The process carried out in this machine had to be transferred to another two machines by improving their capabilities. By carrying out mathematical calculations and conducting process capability analysis under the improved conditions, the values of the parameters of these two machines were reset to improve their capabilities. On the whole, the conduct of this case study revealed that, process improvement could be achieved economically by employing process capability analysis.