Godrej & Boyce: Eliminating jam to reduce compressor defects

In its quest to give its customers better compressors, Godrej & Boyce introduced new process parameters and chemicals, further eliminating field failures, bagging an award at the 22nd Qimpro Convetion.

Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd, a flagship company of the Godrej group has an all India presence with 20 branches and a product range covering home appliances, locks, furniture, defense projects, electrical services, material handling and security equipments. Godrej & Boyce Appliance Division is an ISO 9000 organisation manufacturing and selling home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners with state-of-the art manufacturing facilities at Mohali, Punjan and Shirwal near Satara.

The project titled 'Elimination of Jam' was taken up during July December 2009 to eliminate the jamming of refrigeration compressors, which happens a compressor draws a high current. The systematic study and analysis from the project led to the reduction of compressor failure from 1.2 per cent to 0.08 per cent and recurring annual savings of Rs46 lakhs.

The root cause of the problem was diagnosed using the Six Sigma- DMAIC approach and Shainin DOE Tools, and was identified as the coating grain size and after validation, new specifications for grain size were finalised and validated by BVsC Tools. New process parameters and chemicals were introduced and finally process was validated by Variation Analysis.

Implementing the solution involved modification in coating process parameters and chemicals, change in quality plan for modified process parameter, modification in process audit sheet and SOP and Run Chart to monitor grain size.

Besides the tangible benefits of reduction in field failure and savings intangible benefits from the project included improvement in internal and external customer satisfaction, enhanced belief in team work, motivation boost to team members due to elimination of a long term issue. The initiative also generated new learnings on problem solving tools.

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