Making the Case for Quality

November 2017

Minimizing Startup Process

Variation to Improve Yield
by Matthew Mateos

At a Glance . . .
• A polypropylene extrusion
facility had 13 extrusion
lines, each with varying
output levels. The largest
line accounted for almost
30% of the plant’s total
production output. It
was also the biggest
contributor of scrap
material, accounting for
almost 740,000 pounds
of scrap material—close
to 30% of the total scrap
material produced by the
facility—in one year.
• A Six Sigma project
team was assembled to
implement a solution that
would reduce the scrap
ratio from an average
of 1.19% to 0.60%.
• The team reduced the total
scrap produced on the
main extrusion line by 55%,
resulting in an annual cost
savings of over $300,000.
Summary
This case study details a Six Sigma project that occurred at a polypropylene extrusion facility. The
facility had a strong emphasis on maximizing overall plant yield; however, the largest extrusion line
generated an unacceptable quantity of scrap. The project aimed to streamline operations and reduce the
scrap ratio from an average of 1.19% to .60%.
Case Study
Matthew Mateos worked at a polypropylene extrusion facility that placed a strong emphasis on maxi-
mizing the overall plant yield. During his tenure, there were 13 extrusion lines in the plant, each with
varying output levels.
Each of the extrusion lines generated scrap material every time the extruder was deactivated and
restarted due to a product changeover or a process disturbance. Twelve out of the 13 extruders could
be activated at the required operating output or a rate that was slightly below the operating output.
These 12 extruders were less than 50% the output of the largest machine. They had significantly lower
horsepower and torque levels. As a result, they could be activated at the desired rate without ramping
up. The 13th extruder, which had to be ramped up in stages, was the plant’s largest unit and a critical
component of daily operations.
During Mateos’ tenure, this line accounted for almost 30% of the plant’s total production output.
It was also the biggest contributor of scrap material. In one fiscal year, it accounted for almost
740,000 pounds of scrap material; close to 30% of the total scrap material produced by the facility.
Due to the high output levels, its original startup process consisted of several stages that required the
production operators to manually increase the extruder screw speed and output. The length of time
spent at each stage affected the amount of scrap material produced during startup.

The plant’s engineering department specified how much time was to be spent at each stage of the
startup process for the largest extruder; however, under the manual startup process the operators were
required to manually type in the extruder speed, output, and formulation percentages. While doing this
they also had to monitor the feeder deviations, feeder motor speeds, extruder screw speed, and extruder
torque levels.

ASQ www.asq.org Page 1 of 4

The raw materials are fed into the extruder through an automatic
feeding system. Inside the extruder barrel the polymers are
heated, smashed, mixed, and conveyed. At the end of the barrel
the material goes through a die face, which separates it into thin
strands. Almost immediately after going through the die face,
the strands are sliced into tiny pellets by the pelletizer.
Prior to closing the pelletizer, operators were required to purge
through the die face of the extruder with the actual material that
was being processed. This was done to ensure that the material
was properly mixed, visually confirm uniform color, and ensure
no burnt residue from the barrel or die face was present. After
the die face was purged, the material would be briefly diverted
to the purge chute and the die face would then be quickly
cleaned with a scrapper to prevent plugging. After the scrapper
cleaning, the pelletizer would be closed and the material would
be redirected to flow through the die face.
Due to the various activities involved, activating the largest
extruder required three operators, and despite this it is was still
practically impossible for the operators to increase the extruder
speed and output as quickly as directed by the engineering
department. As a result, on average 572 pounds of scrap per
startup over a period of 8.48 minutes was produced. In addition,
there was also a risk of user error, such as operators accidentally
programming the material formulation set points incorrectly.
This would cause out-of-specification material to be produced
or specifying the wrong extruder screw speed, which could
over-torque the machine.
The excessive amount of scrap being produced during the man-
ual startup process was frequently a major topic of discussion
for management and engineering staff. Some points of concern
were the length of time the process took and the variation in
procedure between each of the operators. Despite the growing
desire to find a way to standardize and shorten the startup time,
there appeared to be some reluctance to implement changes.
Mateos surmised this hesitation to experiment with shortening
the startup times was caused by fear of inadvertently causing
damage to the line. (Based on observations he had made during
his tenure, it appeared that the larger extrusion lines seemed to
be more sensitive and vulnerable to damage if subjected to low
temperatures and excessive extruder loads.)
From a mechanical engineering perspective, it is not advisable
to start a high output and high torque extruder at top speed
immediately. It’s best to gradually ramp them up in multiple
stages from a low output to the desired production output level.
While the production operators understood this, they were not
provided with an efficient, standardized procedure on how to
activate the extruder quickly enough to minimize the startup
scrap, yet safe enough that it will not damage the unit. The sheer
power and torque of the larger extrusion lines were ironically
ASQ www.asq.org Page 2 of 4
their downfall if exposed to special cause variations. The power
and displacement of the largest extrusion line was nothing short
of awesome. When this machine was activated, you not only
heard it, but you felt it.
Despite all the risks, allowing the plant’s largest extrusion line
to continue to generate such a large quantity of scrap was unac-
ceptable. As a result, a Six Sigma project team, led by Mateos,
was assembled to implement a solution that would reduce the
scrap ratio from an average of 1.19% to 0.60%. The scrap ratio
was defined as:
 Scrap material produced (lbs.) 
Scrap ratio (%) = ___________________________
Finished goods produced (lbs.)
Mateos was assigned as the project leader. Working with him
was a controls engineer from the organization’s software ven-
dor, production crew leaders from each of the plant’s four shifts,
and a quality technician. The organization’s senior manager of
maintenance and engineering was the project champion and the
production manager was the process owner.
Fortunately for Mateos and the Six Sigma team, the plant
had excellent systems in place for data collection. To start
the project, the team pulled startup data on all the grades that
were being extruded through that line at the time and exam-
ined the information.
As most know, there are two types of variation: common cause
and special cause. Manually starting the process resulted in sig-
nificant variation in the extruder load. On average, the load was
88.80% with a standard deviation of 5.57%. Looking at indi-
vidual data points, there were many instances in which the load
would reach as high as 99%.
In reviewing the data, the team saw that there was no visible
mathematical trend and consistency was all but non-existent.
Every production campaign produced its own unique erratic
load pattern. Even when comparing production runs with other
campaigns that were run by the same crew and produced the
same product, the extruder load (when graphed) would dem-
onstrate unique, erratic patterns. An example from one of the
material grades is shown on p. 3.
Mateos and the Six Sigma team determined if the startup pro-
cess were to be improved, it would have to be done in a manner
that practically eliminated special cause variations in extruder
loads. Failure to do so could result in severe damage to the
extruder screws and motor.
In order to eliminate human error and operator-to-operator vari-
ation, the team decided that the startup process would have to be
automated via the extrusion line’s programmable logic control-
ler (PLC), which would continuously monitor the state of input
 Manual start torque level (percentage) Startup data from each material grade
110 that was being processed at the extru-
105
100 sion line was evaluated. Once each
95 stage was determined, they were
90
85 implemented into the auto start pro-
80 cess in a manner that was consistent
Torque level (percentage)

75
70 with a natural logarithmic pattern.
65 Mathematically, the rate of change of
60
55 natural logarithmic functions will rise
50 and then stabilize with respect to the
45
40 y-axis over time. As the logarithmic
35 function stabilizes, the rate of change
30
25 will decrease. This can be observed by
20
15
calculating the derivative of the equa-
10 tion. The derivative of the equation
5
0
can then be used to predict the rate of
change with respect to time.

devices and control the state of output devices, The derivative of a natural logarithmic equation can be derived through the fol-
based on custom programming. lowing method:

Several grades of product were compounded I df(x) f(x + h) − f(x) aLn(x + h) + b − aLn(x) − b
f (x) = = Limith➝0 = Limith➝0
through the largest extrusion line. Each prod- dx h h
uct had a distinct temperature profile that must
be adhered to in order to avoid inadvertently I a[Ln(x + h) − 1n(x)] a[Ln((x + h) / (x)]
f (x) = Limith➝0 = Limith➝0
h h
degrading the product. Since the startup and
operating temperature profiles must be treated
I aLn(1 + (h / x))
as a monument with respect to the auto start f (x) = Limith➝0 = Limith➝0 aLn(1 + (h/x))1/h
h
project, the extruder load would have to be gov-
erned by the ratio of the mass flow rate (m) and At this point the following substitution should be made: u = h/x. Through this
extruder screw speed (ώ). identity, the following relationship can be derived: h = ux. By applying the pre-
ceding identities, the following equation can be derived:
m/ ώ
I a 1 a
A sequence of multiple stages, with each stage f (x) = aLimitu➝0 Ln(1 + u)1/ux = Ln[Limitu➝0 ] = *Ln(e)
x (1 + u)u x
being a specified ratio of mass flow rate to
extruder screw speed, would be used to ramp After simplification, the final equation for the derivative is generated:
up the extrusion line in a safe, efficient, and
I d a
controlled manner. Taking advantage of the f (x) = =
dx x
excellent data collection system that was already
in place, Mateos and the team were able to iden- This type of a mathematical system is illustrated below:
tify mass flow rate (m) to extruder screw speed
(ώ) ratios that appeared to be acceptable.

To ensure that each stage in the startup process

Extruder load (percentage)

adhered to the upper specification limit of 95%

extruder load, an upper capability analysis was
conducted at each step. The upper process per-
formance capability (PPU) is calculated through
the following equation:
–
USL − X
PPU = –––––––
6σ
USL = Upper specification limit = 95%
–
X = Average
σ = Standard deviation
Mass flow rate (lbs./hr.)

ASQ www.asq.org Page 3 of 4

With the concept designed, the team’s
next step was to modify the system soft-
ware. On the “Production Startup” screen
of the human machine interface (HMI),
operators would have access to both a
“Manual Start” button and an “Auto
Start” button. (Some may argue that the
operators should only have access to the
“Auto Start” button and that the “Manual
Start” should be disabled to eliminate the
chances of user error. However, in many
industrial settings it is not at all uncom-
mon to experience server difficulties that
can interfere with PLC functionality. For
this reason, the “Manual Start” function
was left as a backup.)
The production operators were required
to use the auto start program unless
otherwise directed by management and/
or the engineering department. If the
manual start button were to be pressed, a
pop-up box asking the operator to verify
the desire to utilize the manual start
would appear on the HMI screen as a
double-check measure.
To successfully activate the extruder,
it was necessary to initiate startup at
extruder barrel temperatures that are
higher than the actual operating tempera-
tures. After the extruder had successfully
reached the desired output and extruder
screw speed, the startup temperatures
would then be lowered to the operat-
ing temperatures. The “Production
Startup” screen was equipped with a
“Set Operating Conditions” button that
would automatically specify the desired
startup temperatures once it was pressed.
These temperature settings would
be used throughout the entire startup
sequence. The auto start program will
then automatically implement the desired
operating temperatures once the final
operating conditions were reached.
Torque (percentage)
On the new auto start screen, operators
specify the material grade that is about
to be produced. When initially activating
the extruder after a product changeover,
the production operators are required to
purge through the die face prior to pellet-
izing. Once the production operators have
ASQ www.asq.org Page 4 of 4
determined that the die face is clean and
the color of the material is acceptable,
they close the pelletizer. When activating
the extruder due to a process disruption,
they are not required to purge through
the die face. In these situations, they are
permitted to close the pelletizer as soon as
the green light starts flashing. Pelletizing
will not begin until the pelletizer is closed.
Once the pelletizer is closed, clamped,
and its speed reaches the desired set point,
the auto start process will continue until
the operating conditions are reached. The
system will then automatically input the
material grade formulation.
While the auto start program was being
implemented, standard operating pro-
cedures (SOPs) and work instructions
were being drafted. Once the test runs
were deemed successful, the new SOPs
and work instructions were routed for
approval. All operators and production
supervisors were formally trained by the
project leader on how to properly utilize
the auto start program.
After the auto start program was imple-
mented, the results were very positive.
There were significant improvements in
regard to extruder loads during the startup
process (as shown in the table below):
Manual start
Average
Standard deviation
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Auto start torque level (percentage)
90
80 y = 34.319 ln(x) − 254.947
R2 = 0.923
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
An example of an actual production
startup through the auto start program is
shown below:
The average scrap per startup was
down to 92 pounds over the course of
2.93 minutes. Most of the remaining
scrap generated was due to purging the
extrusion line when switching colors
between production campaigns. Overall,
Mateos’ Six Sigma project reduced the
total scrap produced on the main extru-
sion line by 55%, resulting in an annual
cost savings of over $300,000.
About the Author
Matthew Mateos has held engineer-
ing positions in quality, production, and
continuous improvement/Six Sigma for
various organizations. He is an ASQ
Certified Quality Improvement Associate
(CQIA), Quality Inspector (CQI), Quality
Technician (CQT), Calibration Technician
(CCT), Quality Process Analyst (CQPA),
HACCP Auditor (CHA), Biomedical
Auditor (CBA), Six Sigma Green Belt
(CSSGB), and Six Sigma Black Belt
(CSSBB). He has a bachelor of science
degree in chemical engineering and a
master of business administration degree
from The University of Toledo.
Auto start
88.80% 79.10%
 5.57%  4.18%
83.00% 73.00%
99.00% 86.00%
16.00% 13.00%