The Case of the Variable Laminates is given. Design an experiment that will assist the process engineers to use in determining what actions to take to reduce laminate thickness variation. Include an assessment of the variables that may be the cause of sub-optimized output.

How would you evaluate the organization on the concept of “repeatable work?

What recommendations would you have to standardize the manufacturing process?

Why is repeatable work so important in continuous improvement activities?

CASE STUDY 7.1: The Case of the Variable Laminates 02006 Victor E. Sower, Ph.D., C.Q.E. A plywood manufacturer has asked for your assistance in solving a problem in the log-peeling operation. The peeling process consists of soaking de- barked logs in a hot bath, fixing the logs in chucks, and rapidly spinning them while shaving off a continuous thin section called a lamination with charp knife blade. The laminations are then cut into sheets to be laid up, alued, and pressed into plywood sheets. The manufacturer is having difficulty maintaining a controlled thickness when peeling laminations from a log. Discussions with engineering and the process operators indicate that four variables are related to laminate thickness: soak time, soak temperature, knife pressure, and knife setting. The knife setting is pretty straight forward and is not felt to be a source of variation in the process. Specifications call for logs to be soaked for 60 minutes, but no process control for this process is in place. Some logs are peeled after as little as 30 minutes soak time.