How Work Truck Fleets Could Benefit from Lean Six Sigma practices:

Often fleets assume that work trucks are outfitted with equipment that meet the standards of the Chassis Manufacturer.  In the case of the truck mounted equipment this may not be totally correct. Although there are some federal standards for lights, brakes, crash worthiness, etc. that the vehicle alterer or final body manufacturer must comply with, often there are little or no standards for equipment that is mounted to the chassis at the final manufacturer. Aftermarket manufacturers and installers vary in sophistication and the depth of their attention to the design, the production, and variation control.

Vehicle specifications should reflect the needs of the user department, fitness for use, conformance to laws, and maintainability. Often vehicles develop breakdowns caused by defects or variations in the manufacturing process effecting reliability of the unit over time. 

If fleets are interested in buying products with high reliability, best quality and are as safe as possible to operate, they should review their purchasing process and the specifications for the mounted equipment. 

Here are two suggestions - using Six Sigma Methodology: 

1) Add DFSS and Lean Six Sigma to the bid specifications:

Choose vendors that use DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) in their product development.  Add DFSS into the equipment specs, the vendor will acknowledge that they either have or have not complied with the process in their design stage.

In other words, give preference to vendors that practice DFSS. It shows that the vendor / equipment manufacturer has approached the design of their product using DFSS methodology.

DFSS enables the manufacturer to prevent defects from occurring. The manufacturer can then produce superior products and offer services that are more stable and should not allow occurrences of “special cause” variation. It’s been described as a “vaccination against variation”.

Design for Six Sigma, DFSS, is a business procedure utilizing Six Sigma methodology. There are several tools and methods to utilize within Six Sigma to assure the process will be running in the correct direction. These DFSS techniques include tools and processes to predict, model and simulate the product delivery system (the processes, the personnel and organization, the training, the facilities, and logistics used to produce the product/service). Many of the tools used by DFSS are often used in the classic DMAIC Six Sigma process to analyze new products and processes.

Remember, all business processes present an opportunity for a variation to occur. These deviations are often associated with human controlled process operations. Each deviation can potentially become a defect; some of these defects may not show up immediately and could potentially cause safety related accidents. It is because of this that the Design for Six Sigma, DFSS is important for every manufacturing business.

2) Use of DMAIC for the manufacturing process:

It would follow that the manufacturing process be designed and controlled by Lean Six Sigma methodology. Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing defects. The process is a collaborative effort using a team made up of a Champion, process owners and others chosen within and often consultants from outside the  organization as well. The LSS methodology follows steps within DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control and relies heavily on data to assure that a correct path is followed and the goals are met.

If six sigma methodologies are followed, the end result will be a higher quality, more reliable product. Defects will be reduced to 3.4 per one million opportunities or less. Therefore, there should be a maximum of 3.4 defects for each one million products produced or service opportunities. Most manufacturers and service providers do not come close to this. 

But as an example, one industry has a mixed record, one to brag about, and yet another that does not come close to meeting Six Sigma. It’s the airline industry, far fewer than 3.4 passengers per million end up not making their destinations because of crashes. However 6200 pieces of luggage do not make it to their destination for every 1 million pieces carried!

Although the manufacturer is not required to have a Lean Six Sigma Black or Green Belt on staff, they should be able to demonstrate that they routinely practice continuous improvement initiatives. These initiatives may also be facilitated by an outside consultant. Lean Six Sigma consultants should have obtained their certification from a credible organization such as the ASQ or Public or Private Universities.

Learn more about workin'trucks at workintrucks.com

By Steve Taylor: Steve is a certified lean six sigma consultant specializing in process improvement. He may be reached at steve@truckarchitect.com His LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevectaylor  Steve has vast experience in the work truck manufacturing field and is an expert author specializing in writing and blogging about work trucks.

 You may find interesting posts on work truck news and truck safety, including NHTSA Recall Notices at http://truckarchitect.blogspot.com/