Lean Manufacturing and Process Improvement

INDE 8900-34
Winter 2022

Assignment 2

“Application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in thermal

power plants: A case study”

Prepared by:
Hariprasath Thangavelu – 110006151

Submitted to:
Prof. Sardar Asif Khan

Date:
April 07, 2022
Lean Manufacturing and Process Improvement Hariprasath Thangavelu - 110006151
Assignment II

1. Abstract and Problem Description

This paper elucidates the application of Six Sigma methodology by considering a specific case of
a thermal plant in a process industry. Thermal power plants have an expensive input material which
is the DM (de-mineralised) water which is necessary to tally the losses that happen during the
evaporation of water steam cycle, blow downs, valve passing, venting and start-shut down. There
is an increase in the cost by 132,000 dollars per year if there is a rise in DM water consumption by
0.1%. This also constitutes the cost of extra water, chemical consumption, and cost of heat.
Therefore, the Critical to Quality (CTQ) aim in a thermal power plant is to reduce the DM water
consumption. In this paper, firstly, the process was studied, and Six Sigma was applied based on
project recommendation and improvement action plans minimizing the mean of make-up of water
from 0.90% to 0.54% of the Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR) which results in the saving of
up to 490,000 dollars.
In places like thermal power plants, conveniences such as necessary measurements and analysis is
not available since, water is the primary working fluid, steam in these industries are not visible
and the measuring of its quality is done by various hardware. There is a significant cost benefit on
applying Six Sigma in these types of industries but patience along with logical reasoning is
required to approach as we can implement only gradual and continuous improvement.
Tools can be applied to sub-processes that directly affects the economy of power generation and
places where cost implications are major. One of such process is the optimization of make-up cycle
of DM water consumption. DM water resource is a costly resource because of the rising water
charges by the water department and the cost involving for the conversion of raw water to DM
water for any power plant. Based on these statements, any considerable saving in DM water
utilization is a significant cost saving for the industry. Therefore, for this paper, Six Sigma
technique is applied on the optimization of make-up DM water in the thermal power plant industry.

2. Methodology
In thermal power plants, for steam generation, DM water is used, and its make-up is required to
compensate the water losses due to factors such as start up and shut down venting, evaporation,
blow downs and valve passing. The flow of DM water is measured using a flowmeter and it is
calculated that there is a cost of 132,000 dollars for 0.1% increase in cycle make-up including extra
water, heat loss and chemical consumption.
To prevent any problem that might arise later in accordance with not solving with a comprehensive
method, firstly a chart with process flow is prepared to present the entire methodology in Fig 1.
Before implementing any method, six months data was collected to investigate all possible
variations of water consumption in a power plant. To make a meaningful data that is collected
from other power plants as well, a unit has been used to convert water consumption in terms of
percentage of Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR) of the feed water flow. The method adopted
for improvement is DMAIC (or Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) to show a
significant cost saving and by reducing the DM water usage.

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3. Implementation of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology

Fig 1. Flow diagram of methodology adopted.

3.1 Define
The problem and the customer requirement are defined. Problem definition is the primary task of
any Six Sigma project, and it is the backbone of any Six Sigma project.
To identify the requirements of the customer and the project goals, a SIPOC diagram was drawn
to illustrate DM water consumption. SIPOC diagram is the Supplier, Input, Process, Output,
Customer diagram.

Supplier Input Process Output Customer

DM Plant DM Water Operation and Reduction in Thermal Power

Consumption Maintenance DM water Management
Data Practices Consumption

Fig 2. SIPOC Diagram for DM Water Consumption

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3.2 Measure
Here, a measurement system analysis (MSA) with Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility
(Gauge R&R) is performed to ensure the measurement is calculatable. The process variation in
order with measurement system variation can be determined using the Gauge R&R but this cannot
be checked at every stage, and it is not possible to take it to the laboratory. Since the process
industry is a continuous process, it does not have any discrete outputs within that can be measured
individually as it cannot have the same measurement twice. Therefore, another device must be
used for measuring to test accuracy before the Gauge R&R study.
A flowmeter is used to measure the DM water flow and to perform Gauge R&R study, a tested
accuracy flowmeter is placed with the installed flowmeter. Two readings in sample size ten making
in total of 40 readings were taken by two people, in this case the operators on shift. The flowmeter
was correct as the repeatability and reproducibility were 2.75% and 0.00%, which is less than 10%.

3.3 Analyze
Here, the measured data are analyzed and existing causes for any problems are identified. Various
tools are used in analyzing the flowmeter data.
3.3.1 Run Chart
It is quintessential step in analyzing data as without a run chart other tools can lead to a
wrong conclusion. Two types of variations are recorded in this process namely, ‘common-
cause variation’ and ‘special causes’ that comes in recognisable patterns or trends. This
chart shows if the special causes affect the process.
The data were plotted and observed using Minitab. No obvious pattern was found from the
run chart (Fig 3). The results from the Minitab were higher than 0.05, which was the
significance level and so, it does not show any unique cause of variation.

Fig 3. Run Chart of DM water before DMAIC

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3.3.2 Histogram
It is used define large and data which were difficult to interpret and to find mean to the
specification requirements of the customer. It expresses if the process is focused on the
target value or if it meets the specifications. From the histogram of six months data of 182
sample size, figure 4 shows that data were not centered and mean exceeds the upper
specified limit, 0.7 (USL) and the target 0.5.

Figure 4. Histogram of DM water before DMAIC

3.3.3 Process Capability Analysis

To find the actual state of the process, this was performed. Using Minitab, the data from
the flowmeter in the thermal plant process capability analysis was performed (Fig 5).

Fig 5. Process Capability Analysis of DM water before DMAIC

It can be observed that a lot of opportunities for improvement exist in the process from the
analysis since, Z-bench sigma of the process was -0.75 and present Defects Per Million
Opportunities (DPMO) was very high of 774,435.70.

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3.3.4 Fish-bone Diagram

To find the causes that resulted in increased usage of DM water, a fish-bone analysis was
drawn (Fig 6). This helped in finding the causes and effects of increased consumption of
DM water.

Fig 6. Fish-bone Diagram

3.3.5 Bar Chart

After finding the possible causes of the problem, the bar chart (Fig 7) was drawn to show
the impact of components with measurements from different points. The chart shows the
causes with percentage contributions and the ones having huge impact on DM water
consumption.

Fig 7. Bar chart of the causes to the problem

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4. Improve
The solutions are determined in this stage to reduce mean and variation. The benefits from this
phase are instant and corrective. In this stage, specific problems found during analysis are also
addressed. Here:
• Brainstorming and action workouts.
• Optimizing the process and confirming experiments.
• Extracting few factors by screening.
• Understanding the impact of vital few factors.
Action plans to approach problems in the steam water analysis system such as communication gap,
periodic awareness, training of lab analysts was prepared. (Table 1).
5. Control
In this final stage of implementing Six Sigma, controlling the process guarantees that recurring of
defects is not possible so that the gains from improve phase are kept hold. Any new process
changes are registered into documents and implemented permanently since this phase is preventive
in nature. Causes oof identified problems from analysis phase are dealt in control phase and
mentioned in Table 1. For monitoring the process and corrective action, this phase defines the
control plans and provides systematic re-allocation of resources to ensure continuity of process
with new changes of optimisation.

Table 1. Action plans for improve and control phase.

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6. Results
After implementing Six Sigma DMAIC for optimisation of DM water consumption, the
consumption was 0.9% MCR (Maximum Continuous Rating) which cost around 1,200,000 dollars
per annum. This project increased the sigma level to 1.63 with DPMO level of 51,389.16 and mean
is brought down to 0.540066% (Fig 8) which results in saving 490,000 dollars.
During the plant shutdown, further approved recommendations are still to be implemented. When
all the recommendations are implemented, this Six Sigma project is expected to achieve a saving
around 531,000 dollars with the mean DM water being reduced below 0.5 which is meaningful for
any organization.

Figure 8. Process Capability Analysis of DM water after DMAIC.

By the implementation of Gauge R&R study, the total was 2.75% which is less than 10% that
proves the water flow is perfect. Water being a natural resource, must be saved for future
generations and this project resulted in saving DM water for industry. Saving water of any kind is
a service to mankind. On the other hand, application of Six Sigma projects in power plants is a
small step towards energy economy.
In power plants and other process industries, there are sub-processes which run at negative sigma
level. Implementing six sigma projects in place like that could result in rich dividends. Also, by
combining Six Sigma methods with lean concepts, achieving better results at a faster rate is
possible.

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Assignment II

7. If I were the person leading the process improvement

If I were the person leading the process improvement, I would like to implement to use lean and
six sigma tools to eliminate any kind of problems in all sub-processes including over consumption
of DM water in this project. I would use a two-step method in which Kaizen will be performed
first and then I would implement Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.
Firstly, I would perform a kaizen test for collection of the data and organize it well. This is mainly
to get a clear idea about the sub-processes and to ensure that the employees and resources are used
to their full potential. In this case, the productivity is improved. Also, it is wise for the plant to
follow any process the employers are familiar because this would eliminate any new training that
may be required.
Secondly, I would implement the FMEA six sigma tool, which is Failure Modes and Effects
Analysis. This is used to analyze any problem deeply associated with any sub-processes and can
identify why the extra consumption of DM water is happening to find a proper solution for fixing
the issue. Implementing this tool in the process would really benefit by increasing the DM water
saving which results in profit for the power plant.