Efficiency Improvement of Cosmetic Tube Filling Machine by Applying QC Tools

Abstract

The aim of this research is to study the causes of damage in tubes used for cosmetic products and to improve the cosmetic filling process of the tube filling machine by using quality control tools for increasing manufacturing efficiency. The studies consist of studying the manufacturing processes of the cosmetic product that uses oval-shaped tube using the principles of 3GEN, waste data collection using inspection sheets, prioritization of problems using the Pareto chart, evaluating the causes of problem using the fishbone chart, and proofing the causes via problem analysis techniques of 6 questions (5W1H). A duplicate of full factorial design of three factors (8 experiments) was carried out (total is 16 experiments) to optimize the settings of the machine that yields the least waste. The results showed that the factors involving with filling machine and impacting on the tube are filling speed and the tube support settings. After optimizing the filling machine operation settings, more than 90 percent of the waste was reduced (from 2.14 to 0.09 percent). Both capability indices of the production processes, the index of long-term process potential (Pp) and the index of long-term process performance (Ppk), after the optimization were greater than one indicating the increased capability of the production processes. In Addition, the measured process efficiency value after improvement was dropped from 30.67 to 21.82 hours, a substantial increase of about 71 percent.