Integrating Lean and Six Sigma in an Aluminum Smelter

Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division
Dates and Times: Sunday, February 13, 2005 ~ 8:30 am-5:00 pm
Advance Fees: Members $475; Non-Members $560. If you register by January 17, 2005 you will save an additional $50.00.

To register for a course, please use the 2005 TMS Annual Meeting Registration form. You may register any time prior to the Annual Meeting and on-site. Course size is limited and a sufficient number of pre-registered attendees are necessary to offer each course, so please register early!

Who Should Attend

This one-day course is intended for managers, engineers, maintenance, and operations personnel who are accountable for daily operations and rapid process improvement. Those seeking an introduction or review of the principles, methods and tools of an integrated Lean and Six Sigma approach with a specific focus on smelter applications, will benefit from this hands-on workshop.

Course Overview: A Hands-on Simulation

In recent years, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma have come to the forefront as models for manufacturing excellence. Six Sigma is driven by the fact that process and product variation is known to be a strong factor affecting manufacturing lead times, product and process costs, process yields, product quality, and ultimately business value. A crucial part of 6S work is to define and measure variation with the intent of discovering its causes and to develop efficient, operational means to control and reduce the variation. The expected outcomes of 6S efforts are faster flow, more efficient and capable manufacturing processes, and more consistent, predictable and capable overall business performance Lean Manufacturing (based on the Toyota Production System) is focused on the elimination of waste in all aspects of the process, leading to reduction in process variability, reduction in system cycle times, creating fast and flexible product flow and creating value in use of the product by the customer.

This hands-on aluminum smelter simulation enables participants to experience first hand the basic principles, methods and tools of both Six Sigma and Lean and how they apply, specifically in a continuous and batch processing environment.

Through running and analyzing the factory simulation, participants will learn how the tools of Lean and Six Sigma can be successfully integrated into a wider framework to deliver sustained business value through, increasing throughput, reducing inventory, improving product quality, reducing cost and improving reliability of supply. The hands-on aluminum smelter simulation is complete with customer orders for varied products, bulk raw materials, “continuous” production lines, post-production processing and batch production centers and introduces the Integrated Lean and Six Sigma Methods and Tools:

Learn the power of integrating Lean and Six Sigma in an aluminum smelter through this hands-on factory simulation, illustrating the full benefits that can be delivered.

About the Presenters

Keith Sinclair is a process improvement consultant with 18 years experience helping businesses achieve measurable improvement through the principles, methods and tools of what today is referred to as Six Sigma integrated with Lean Manufacturing. In addition to his consulting work, Keith’s experience includes engineering, manufacturing management, and applied statistics. He founded Sinclair Associates, Inc. in 1986. Keith has taught hundreds of process improvement practitioners and managers and lead programs and projects with demonstrated and significant ROI. His industrial experience includes industrial and process engineering as well as manufacturing management in a wide range of manufacturing and processing industries including mining, chemicals, steel, automotive supply, electronics, metal processing and assembly. In the past 12 years he has worked extensively in continuous and batch processing industries. His client list includes small, privately held companies to large international firms, with clients in the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and Southern Africa.

Rick Phelps is an industrial engineer with 23 years of experience in applying the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to a wide range of industrial problems both as a practitioner and as a consultant. Trained and experienced in applied industrial statistics as well as the ‘Lean’ toolkit, Rick has helped numerous manufacturing enterprises focus their efforts and improve their critical processes and their bottom lines. Interrupting his industrial career for three years, Rick served as a Habitat for Humanity International Partner in Uganda, where he found plenty of novel applications for his talents at process improvement. For this humanitarian outreach, Rick was honored in 1998 as an Outstanding Young Alumnus by The Georgia Institute of Technology.

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