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Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the lean six sigma implementation process and its
quantified benefits for the recycling industry. Specifically, the goals of the project were to improve the
processes and increase capacity for a government operated material recovery facility (MRF) in Toledo,
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Ohio, USA.
Design/methodology/approach The six sigma DMAIC methodology was utilized for this study.
This included aligning and optimizing processes and the removal of process-generated defects and errors.
Findings After comparison of the current and future states of the MRF, it is found that by reducing
non-value added activities, productivity was increased by 7.3 percent for paper bales, 12.8 percent for
commingled bales and 1.6 percent for old corrugated container (OCC) bales. The project generated over
$65,000 in annual savings for the facility.
Research limitations/implications The findings are limited due to the focused nature of the
case study and further cost-benefit analysis can be carried out.
Practical implications This paper may be useful to researchers and practitioners for
understanding lean six sigma implementations and its derived benefits for the recycling industry
and government operated processing facilities.
Originality/value The paper is a real case study showing lean six sigma implementation and its
benefits for the recycling industry; a field that has not been explored to a high degree.
Keywords United States of America, Six sigma, Recycling, Process improvement,
Material recovery facility, Materials management, DMAIC cycle, Waste recovery
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
The purpose of this recycling research was to study the application of lean Six Sigma
principles in government controlled operations for municipal recycling collection and
processing. Lean Six Sigma has not been used in the solid waste reduction or
environmental protection fields to the extent that it has been applied in manufacturing
and in other sectors (Banuelas et al., 2005). Lean Six Sigma has been applied to a variety
of industries including pharmaceutical (Goodman, 2012), assembly automation
(Lee-Mortimer, 2006), developing countries (Malik and Blumenfeld, 2012), and
telecommunications (Psychogios et al., 2012). A review of recent literature indicated
increased research activities in the application of lean Six Sigma to non-manufacturing
fields such as health care operations (Van den Heuvel et al., 2004) and to call centers
(Laureani et al., 2010), but few detailed case studies related recycling. The objective of
this research was to investigate the application and benefits of lean Six Sigma for this International Journal of Lean Six
industry. Specifically, the objective of the project was to improve the processes and Sigma
Vol. 4 No. 3, 2013
operations for a material recovery facility (MRF) located in Toledo, Ohio, USA that was pp. 251-264
operated by the local government. This included aligning and optimizing processes and q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2040-4166
removal of process generated defects and errors. These improvements primarily focused DOI 10.1108/IJLSS-05-2013-0026
IJLSS on the reduction of municipal solid waste (MSW) entering local landfills; optimization
4,3 cycle times for the MRF; enhancement end-user/customer satisfaction; efficiency
improvements; cost reduction; and the elimination of errors/defects. The intent of these
objectives were two fold; first to demonstrate that lean Six Sigma techniques can be
successful applied in the material recovery industry and second that these techniques
can be successfully applied in a government controlled operations. Sub-objectives
252 included developing process standards to eliminate bottlenecks and redundancies. Lean
Six Sigma was selected for this study to address both cost and quality issues that the
facility was experiencing. Due to lower tax revenues, the government operated facility
was faced with cost reductions to meet budget targets at the time of the study.
Additionally, recycling mills that and processors that received the end product from the
facility were dissatisfied with the level of contamination in paper and plastic bales. This
project was chosen to address these issues by lowering operating costs and enhancing
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customer satisfaction by reduction defects. At the time of this study, the MRF
administration team was preparing to add additional equipment to process additional
recyclable materials collected from nearby cities and towns. The MRF administration
team established a goal to become more productive and efficient to better utilize tax
dollars and serve the public. From the MRF administration point of view, this research
aided in enhancing the understanding of the current operations, established a sigma
level for the processes, identified improvement opportunities, identified cost reduction,
and solutions to reduce defects per million opportunities (DPMO). From a research and
originality standpoint, this study provides a resource for those involved in the areas of
recycling and government as related to lean Six Sigma; an area that has not been as fully
studied as manufacturing operations.
This case study follows the five step methodology used in the Six Sigma process,
the DMAIC cycle. DMAIC stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control
(Pande et al., 2000). The define step is outlined in Section 2. In Section 2 the problem is
identified and specific goals are determined. The measure step focuses on gathering
raw data from the process. This is described in detail in Section 3.1. The third step,
analyzing the data will be shown in Section 3. This is an analysis of the gathered data
and how it is meaningful for the MRF. In Section 4, the suggestions for the company
are explained in more detail. Several improvement opportunities give possible methods
to improve the printing processes and fulfill the fourth step in the Six Sigma process.
Finally, the methods for sustaining the changes, (Step 5) are discussed.
Figure 1.
Flowchart for a basic
clean MRF operation
IJLSS
4,3
254
Plate 1.
Sorting operation for the
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In terms of process efficiency, the MRF operations were not reaching its full potential.
Large variations in daily processing rates were observed in conjunction with large
inventories of unprocessed materials. The principles of lean and Six Sigma are useful
to the manufacturing process in order to maximize the production output while
reducing the costs associated with defective parts (Henderson and Evans, 2000).
Additional benefits include increased utilization of equipment and labor, improved
safety, maximization of floor space utilization, and reduced inventory. These benefits
will allow the MRF to increase efficiencies by allowing them to reach their projected
production volume to best utilize tax dollars. In addition, efficiency enhancements and
variability reduction will allow the MFR to increase its capacity with minimal
additional capital expenditure. This was a critical need for the MRF, since plans were
being developed to begin the processing of an additional 5,000 annual tons of
recyclable materials from a local communitys curbside collection program. The
following sections will discuss the baseline measures, including the DPMO, analysis,
improvements, and control strategies.
the Pareto chart, the most collected material at the MRF was ONP, MOP and then OCC
and aluminum cans.
3.2.2 Time studies. Time studies are the continuous surveillance of a job/process, using
a timekeeping device (stopwatch used in this project) to record the time taken for
accomplishing a job. After recording the time, the workers performance time (level) is
recorded and then data is used to make the standard time for the task/process. Standard
times (minutes/cycle) for the baler was calculated from data observations for each material.
A sample of the data collected for the cycle time to bale a load of MOP is displayed in Table I.
Table I displays the average standard time taken for a bale of paper to process
through the baler. The average time to process and bale the MOP was 6.2 minutes with a
standard deviation of 0.95. The average time to process a bale of OCC was 6.7 minutes
with a standard deviation of 1.10. The variation in the system was due to breakdowns of
cable system that cover the bale, removal of unwanted glass particles coming out from
baler, and other continuous maintenance operations. Time studies were also conducted
to determine transportation cycle times to transport the bales from the baler to the
warehouse staging area. The average cycle time to transport the bales was observed to
be 1.8 minutes.
Figure 2.
Pareto analysis
IJLSS
Time taken for a bale of paper to process
4,3 through the baler
Time in Time out Total time for process (mins)
3.3 Analysis
To begin the analysis phase, a fish bone diagram was created to better understand
sources of variation and delay in the processes as shown in Figure 3. As shown in
Figure 3, material, machinery, methods and staff were the main factors for variation and
delay. From a methods standpoint, employee surveys and interviews were used to
collect data. These surveys revealed that the manual sorting method used could be
improved to reduce the overall defects. Other comments included issues regarding
complexity of the process, limited quality control, and lack of standard operating
procedures.
The primary issue with the staff was related to unscheduled work absences, if a
scheduled operator was not present it became very difficult for another operator to
cover the shift, due to lack of standards and contingency plans. The staff did appear to
require additional training regarding the defects in the process.
As shown in Figure 3, raw material caused significant variability in the system. The
main reason was related to broken glasses as it can contaminate the end products. OCC
is also one of the major defects in the raw material stream based on condition and
quality. Shredded paper is also one of the main defects because it is difficult to bale.
Figure 3.
Fishbone diagram
Another source of variation in the process was related to machine breakdown and Lean six sigma
improper resource utilization. For example, a single baler was used for all materials at MRF
types. Due to improper maintenance and extensive use of baler, the cable system that
wraps the bale tended to break and malfunction frequently. There was a large amount
of non-value added time lost in fixing the cable wiring system.
3.3.1 Machine utilization analysis. To better understand the equipment usage, the
equipment requirements were determined via a three on-site data collection audit. 257
The amount of equipment required for a process is referred to as the equipment fraction.
The equipment fraction can be determined for a process by dividing the total time required
to perform the process by the time available to complete the process. The total time
required to complete the process is product of the standard time for the process and the
number of times the operation/process is to be performed (Tompkins and White, 1984).
Standard time was then calculated by using time studies and other statistical tools:
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1
F S * Q*
H *E *R
where:
F number of machines required per shift to perform the task.
S standard time (minutes) per unit produced.
Q number of units to be produced per shift.
H amount of time available per machine.
E actual performance, expressed as a percentage of standard time.
R reliability of machine, expressed as percent up time.
Additionally, equipment requirements are a function of the factors such number of shifts
per day, set up time, degree of flexibility, layout type and maintenance. Standard cycle
times were measured for current baler per material to determine resource utilization. As
shown in Table II, the baler was used to process 12,000 bales per year. The baler was
estimated to be 85 percent reliable based on the machine utilization audit. The efficiency
in terms of standard cycle time was measured to be 90 percent which means that
Average SD Bales
cycle of Annual Pounds per Available Machine Machine
time cycle tons to be per year time per reliability Efficiency fraction
Material (min.) time processed bale (Q) year (H) (R) (E) (F)
ONP 6.2 0.95 3,759 1,630 4,612 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.31
OCC 6.7 1.10 3,410 1,700 4,012 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.29
MOP 6.2 0.80 1,356 1,630 1,664 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.11
Plastic 7.1 1.10 793 1,200 1,322 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.1
Steel can 7.1 0.99 275 1,830 301 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.02
Aluminum Table II.
can 7.1 0.95 82 1,830 90 120,000 85.00% 90.00% 0.01 Equipment requirement
Total 9,675 9,820 12,000 0.85 by material for the baler
IJLSS machine is processing at 10 percent less than its standard. Based on standard cycle times
4,3 and 250 working days of 8 hours shift a day, the baler was utilized 85 percent.
3.3.2 DPMO. DPMO are a measure of process performance or non-conformities
per million opportunities. A defect is also known as a non-conformance of quality
characteristic to its requirement and specification. For this study, defects were defined
as tons of material by category that were received at the MRF that could not be
258 recycled due to improper condition or contamination. Defects for the processes
are shown in Table III with the annual weights of defects. As displayed in Table III, the
main defects of the process are glass particles which amounted to 85 tons per year.
Based on this analysis, DPMO for the process was calculated as 2,788 DPMO which
correspond to a sigma level of 4.3 in terms of weight.
3.3.3 Cost analysis. The annual utility/maintenance expenses for the MRF were
calculated and estimated to be $95,000 and annual labor expenses of $820,000.
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A revenue analysis and an average dollar amount per ton for each recyclable material
were also calculated and are displayed in Table IV. The total annual revenue generated
from the sale of recyclables based on the average commodity rates was $1,012,807.
This cost analysis served as an initial baseline for process improvements based on lean
Six Sigma concepts.
3.4 Improve
The next phase of the study involved improving the system to reduce variability and cost
by removing major bottlenecks and sources of defects (Park, 2002). Value added and
Component Tons per year Percent of total Tons recycled Tons not recycled
Material Dollar per baled ton Annual tons to be processed Annual revenue
The five sources of waste that were identified and analyzed for this study, were
adapted from previous literature (Kwak and Anbari, 2006) and included:
(1) Defects defects are due to various reasons starting from material, inadequate
training, labor, sorting or deficient maintenance. For the MRF operation, defects
were mainly due to baler breakdowns, defects in raw materials, and incomplete
engineering specifications. At the MRF, the time studies indicated that
29 percent of the non-value added time is due to repairs for the cable wire
system which wraps the final baled products.
(2) Transportation unwanted movement of materials within the facility makes it
a waste or non-value added activity from the customers viewpoint. Several
examples observed at the facility included multiple movements of MOP or OCC
to several staging areas near the baler. A single movement from the unloading
zone to the baler would reduce this form of waste.
Material Tons per year Dollar per baled ton Annual dollars lost ($)
3.5 Control
The purpose of the control phase is to monitor and maintain improvements. Control
charts, documentation, and communication are the critical components of this phase.
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To verify that improvements were achieved, a statistical analysis between the previous
and improved system states was analyzed. To be statistically confident that the mean
cycle time after the recommendations were implemented were lower than the baseline
means cycle times, a hypothesis test was performed. A t-test was conducted with the
following hypothesis for the mean cycle time of plastic bales:
H0 (null hypothesis).
m # 6.5, new mean cycle time is less than or equal to 6.5.
H1 (alternate hypothesis).
m . 6.5, new mean cycle time is greater than 6.5.
The sample size was 20 cycles for the each scenario (before and after
recommendations). The normality assumption for the t-test was validated using a
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for each sample set. The F-test was used to validate the
equal variance assumption between the two populations. The samples were assumed
independent as they were taken before and after process changes. The test statistic for
this test was calculated to be 0.559. At a 5 percent significance level, the critical t-value
(ta) is 2.776.The t-test indicates that we do not reject H0. In other words it indicates
Number of Total time for processing the Pounds per Tons per hour
bales (Nx) Material (x) material (Px)-(mins) bale (Wx) processed (Tx)
Number of Total time for processing the Pounds per Tons per hour
bales (Nx) Material (x) material (Px)-(mins) bale (Wx) processed (Tx)
measurement for the leadership team at the MRF to monitor production rates and
identify delays quickly. For example, in Figure 4, the final sample is out of control due
to a baler wire jam. Special causes of variation were addressed by a team consisting of
the operator, maintenance team member, and the shift supervisor.
3.5.2 Process capability. The capability of the improved process was calculated by
measuring the tons processed per hour for each material. The final capability is
displayed in Table VIII and it indicated the before and improved levels. Costs related to
poor quality were also a significant. In terms of lost revenue, the costs of poor quality
were approximately $1,000 per year as displayed previously in Table V. The
preventative costs to remove these defects (broken glass mixed in MOP of OCC) were
minimal and addressed by proper handling and separation of glass materials.
Figure 4.
Control chart showing
time taken to process
the OCC bale
bottlenecks and barriers to the operations of MRF. DPMO and sigma level calculations
for the current process were calculated to identify potential economic and environmental
benefits. By reducing non-value added activities, productivity was increased by
7.3 percent for paper bales, 12.8 percent for commingled bales and 1.6 percent for OCC
bales. The case study also enhanced employee participation in process improvement, the
use of statistical tools to solve problems, increased process knowledge, and it motivated
the MRF leadership team towards Six Sigma approach.
Key lessons learned from this study relate to identifying, implementing, and
maintaining efficiency improvements. By improving efficiency by 7-12 percent, the
$65,000 annual cost savings could be achieved. Consistent and accurate data collection
(process observations and time studies) over several days were necessary. Other
lessons learned related to the need to involve all team members (operators, managers,
and maintenance employees) in the decision and improvement process to foster buy-in.
From this data, improvement opportunities were analyzed and action plans
were created to help implement those plans. Standardized methods were developed
to ensure that the process would be sustainable. If the MRF leadership team is able
to successfully carry out the proposed suggestions, they will be able to increase
capacity and process additional recyclables from nearby communities. This will better
utilize tax dollars and prevent the need to purchase capital equipment to increase
capacity.
In terms of the DMAIC methodology, several modifications and specific tools were
utilized for this novel application related to recycling and MRF operations. Specifically,
a machine fraction requirement for the baler was determined before and after
recommendations. This machine fraction calculation offered insights regarding the
utilization of the single baler unit at the facility and aided the team in determining if
one baler was adequate to process current and future workloads. Additionally,
analyzing a single baler that processes multiple materials (OCC, MOP and mixed
containers for this case study) presented challenges in terms of allocating machine
usage, but was alleviated by use of the machine fraction calculation.
Limitations from this study relate to the geographical location and operational
characteristics of the facility. Although the results could apply to similar facilitates, the
case study used commodity market data from Chicago, Illinois and the facility size was
on the small to medium range (annual processing of 10,000 tons of material). Larger
facilities or facilities with more automation may yield different results.
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Corresponding author
Matthew Franchetti can be contacted at: matthew.franchetti@utoledo.edu
1. Marcus Assarlind, Lise Aaboen. 2014. Forces affecting one Lean Six Sigma adoption process. International
Journal of Lean Six Sigma 5:3, 324-340. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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