Lean Manufacturing for Tsukiden Electronics Philippines, Inc. : a Six Sigma Approach

To remain competitive, manufacturing organizations like Tsukiden Electronics Philippines, Inc. (TEPI) has addressed productivity and efficiency goals through manufacturing waste elimination. In this case-experimental research for TEPI the paper proposes a process improvement technique for inventory management. Six Sigma methodology using Lean manufacturing tools were used to address the problem of TEPI in inventory management. Current state analysis and first level Pareto analysis revealed the highest contributor to the total loss of TEPI. Second level Pareto analysis showed that among the factors that contributed to losses, it was the missing/ uncounted parts that contributed the highest to the total losses. The Ishikawa diagram and why-why analysis revealed that almost all the problems that arise in TEPI’s inventory activities were caused by the inability of the operator to do multitasking, lack of visual display and parts’ sensitivity. Potential problems were identified using PFMEA and a control plan was made for inventory control using counter checker with proximity sensor and visual display to ensure the smooth flow of the processes.