Cost Reduction Strategies: Assembly Industries

Course Overview

Cost Reduction Strategies: Assembly Industries is a hands-on, workflow-based course. It covers key fundamentals, reinforced with sports equipment, aerospace/automotive sub-assembly, consumer goods and other assembly-related case studies, error-proofed workflows and hands-on practice.

People with intermediate-level experience with statistical methods should consider a more detailed alternative: the Pyzdek Measurement Systems Validation & Management, Statistical Process Control and Design of Experiments courses, in that order.

Course attendees will learn to approach tough assembly challenges with a sequential, error-proofed method designed to avoid unnecessary expense, avoid common pitfalls and improve processes in a cost-effective manner. At the end of the course, attendees will have the ability to gather the process insight needed to make good technical and business decisions. Certificates will be issued to attendees that regularly attend and demonstrate a good understanding of the course content.

Topics covered include:

• Lean Process and Statistical mindset
• Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
• Analysis of data from customers and Subject Matter Experts
• Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA)
• Process Behavior Studies and Capability Analysis (SPC/PCA)
• Predictive Analytics
• Design of Experiments (DOE)

Pre-requisites

The course can be taught with either Minitab or JMP statistical software. In either case, attendees should have a good understanding of software fundamentals including navigation, menu structure, data integrity, annotations and graphing. For those without statistical software experience, please inquire about our (free) Introduction to Minitab or Introduction to JMP short courses.

To get the most out of the course, attendees should have their own PC, a valid Minitab license (Version 19 or higher) or JMP license (Version 12 or higher), a 2-way headset and a webcam. Two monitors are highly recommended.

Designed for:

This course is designed for Engineers, Scientists, Six Sigma Belts, Supervisors, Managers and Technicians who need to solve difficult assembly & packaging problems, optimize existing processes or set up new processes.

Benefits to attendees

• Use error-proofed workflows to improve processes, gain new process knowledge, increase corporate profits, and avoid common DOE pitfalls
• Minimize the cost of data-centric process improvement work
• Analyze data and interpret results in group discussion
• Multiply the effectiveness of Lean-based process improvement
• Learn many useful statistical principles
• Improve return on statistical software and past/future training investment
• Two hours of free course content support after the completion of class

Course structure

Specific topics covered

• The statistical mindset and The Great Mathematical Quandary
• EDA tools: variability chart, scatter plots & matrices, Principal Component Analysis, etc.
• Understanding the customer: analysis of survey and Subject Matter Expert data
• AIAG Gage R&R (Minitab) or Wheeler’s EMP method (JMP)
• IMR, XBar-R and Short Run charts for Process Behavior Studies, Capability indices
• CART® Classification & Regression (Minitab) or Partition Analysis (JMP)
• Fundamentals of Factorial, Response Surface & Definitive Screening experiment design

Schedule options

• Ten 4-hour segments spread over 4-5 weeks is recommended
• Other scheduling based on customer need