Application of Kaizen Concept with 8 Steps PDCA to Reduce in Line Defect at Pasting Process: A Case Study in Automotive Battery

Abstract

Nowadays in very tight competition age, minimization of defect rate is targeted at all manufacturing production lines including in the process of automotive battery production. The purpose of this study was to reduce the dominant defect rate in the pasting process with Kaizen approach through 8 PDCA cycles. Kaizen implementation involves all parties in the company both management and employees in order to obtain optimal results. The eight cycles performed on Kaizen implementation are (i) Determination of theme, (ii) Targeting, (iii) Analysis of current conditions and problem-causing analysis, (iv) Root cause analysis of the problem, (v) Improvement plan, (vi) Implementation of the improvement, (vii) Evaluate the results, (viii) Standardization. Before Kaizen applied defect rate in the production process automotive batteries of 2.47% with the largest type of defect is plate scrap on the pasting process with a ratio of 2.45%. Kaizen implementation through 8 PDCA cycles implemented during 6 months managed to lower the defect rate to 1.52% or 0.08% better than the target set by the company of 1.60%. Improvements made due to jamming plate interference contributed to a 38 percent reduction in scrap plate in the pasting process.