1. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli1
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Mini-Project
Extended Education – NCR 9635
Project Title: Setup Time Reduction (Roll)
Prepared by Nick Abbatelli
nabbatel@calpoly.edu – (408) 838-2097
Company: GM Nameplate (San Jose, CA)
August 29th, 2014

2. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Mini-Project was conducted at GM Nameplate in San Jose, CA. GM Nameplate
specializes in roll products. Some of the processes include: flexographic printing, digital printing,
screen printing, laminating and die cutting. The mission was to reduce setup time of certain
production areas in the facility, specifically the flexographic printing areas. Flexographic printing
involves unwinding and feeding material into the machine, a printing section, a drying section and
then feeding it to a re-winder as a finished roll product. The operational tools consist of rollers
(Foundation & Anilox), doctor blades and cylinders (Plate & Impression). Running product
through a machine from raw material to finish product account for 20% of the total process on
average. More than 70% of the time is spent setting up the machine. An order requires a specific
anilox roller, print cylinder and impression cylinder. The impression cylinder is unique to the job
because it has a plate that has a logo or cutout per requirements of the job. The plate is mounted
onto the impression cylinder before the cylinder is installed. GM Nameplate has an inventory of
5,000+ of these rollers and cylinders. One machine accounts for 72% of these tools. Since the
project was on a strict and short timeline, it focused its measurements and analysis on that
machine: Nilpeter Flexo Press. The team found the setup time was a little over 68 minutes on
average. Following the process of the operators we identified a procedure that could be improved
upon. Key tooling are being stored in a separate building on account of storage space in the
production area. Operators have to walk over to the separate building, identify and bring back the
specified tool to the production area before mounting the plate can even begin. The team
recommends improving the identification and planning process so GM Nameplate can reduce the
setup time of its Nilpeter machine, ultimately producing more jobs annually.

3. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli3
DEFINE Tool 1: Project Charter
Why Tool Selected: This document reveals the goals of the project. It can be revised and changed
but must always be referenced to. GM Nameplate created a charter to make sure tasks was laid out
correctly and in a timely matter.
Interpretation: The Project Charter was reviewed weekly by the project Champion. It gave the
team organization to stay on track and keep tasks in proper alignment of each other. Although not
every task was completed on time, the charter kept the team on track to the ultimate goal.

4. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli4
DEFINE Tool 2: Process Flow Chart
Why Tool Selected: A Process Flow Chart (or Process Map) is used to give a visual representation
of the steps in the process. The team wanted to find what processes happen once a job gets placed
in the work-in-progress bin of the Roll Department?
Interpretation: The process flow chart can improve any process improvement project by
increasing the understanding of people involved, flow of information and resources. This chart
shows three key processes that must be done before the job can even be ran: identification of
tooling, pulling of tooling and the setup, which involves mounting of the tooling pulled.

5. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli5
MEASURE Tool 1: Histogram
Why Tool Selected: Gathering data in a spreadsheet can be overwhelming. A Histogram provides a
visual representation of the data. The team took data from 1 production aspect of the Roll
Department to get a gauge upon: Nilpeter Room. What were common setup times of the Nilpeter
machine? [Twenty-five jobs within the month of August 2014 where used]
Interpretation: The graph shows a positively skewed set of data with the most common setup time
between 60 – 80 minutes. [Note: This data only represents 1 machine out of 5 within the Roll
Department. Due to time constraints, this machine was the most viable because it is the only
machine that runs constantly 8-hours/day. ]

6. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli6
MEASURE Tool 2: X and Moving Range Chart
Why Tool Selected: The team wanted to observe the setup times of the Nilpeter machine in the
recent calendar month completed: August 2014. By making an XmR chart, it will produce control
limits for the data. Visually viewing the control limits on the chart, the team can clearly identify
which job should be investigated and ask the question: Is the process stable?
Interpretation: Out of 16 jobs ordered in August 2014, there was an instance where the condition
was ‘out-of-control’ from jobs 6 to 7. These jobs need to be looked at closer in detail and
investigated for procedure fixes and flaws. Also, investigate job 16, where it was not normal and
fell out of the upper control limit.

7. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli7
ANALYZE Tool 1: 5 Why Analysis
Why Tool Selected: The team chose to use the 5-Why’s to find a more specific root cause of why
roll setup is taking a majority of the roll manufacturing process. The technique proclaims that if
you ask “Why?” five times, you can identify an understanding to the ultimate root causes. The team
chose to start the ‘Why’ process at, “Why does setup time take so long?”
 Nilpeter setup averages over 1 hour
o Why does the setup take so long?
 Dies and Tooling are bulky. It takes time to walk over to the next-door building and identify
the die and/or tooling for the specific job
o Why are dies and tooling stored in the next-door building?
 Jobs that require previously used dies are warehoused in the building next door because of
its large storage space. Often operators are over there multiple times a day
o Why multiple trips?
 Job tickets buildup throughout the day. Operators only see jobs that are progressing
throughout the manufacturing process
o Why don’t operators know of future jobs?
 There is no warning system in place to tell operators which dies to pull for future jobs
ahead.
o Why doesn’t Planning Department tell operators the current job schedule?
Interpretation: Root Cause – Planning Department should identify dies & tooling work-in-
progress better with the operators to lower the number of trips throughout the day next-door.

8. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli8
ANALYZE Tool 2: Hypothesis Testing
Why Tool Selected: Operators in the roll department believed setup time takes under an hour.
The Six Sigma team decided to use this common estimate as a Null Hypothesis.
Interpretation: Running the numbers in EngineRoom using the Hypothesis Testing tool, the results
to reject the Null Hypothesis. The mean of ‘Nilpeter Setup Time’ is greater than 60 minutes,

9. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli9
IMPROVE Tool 1: 5S
Why Tool Selected: Taking an outsiders perspective inside the Nilpeter Room, it looks dirty and
cluttered. There are many distractions inside the room and the 5S tool improves visibility of the
process, safety and worker performance.
Scan & Sort – Scan the area and sort through unneeded material, equipment, tooling and trash.
Old Material Supply Cabinet Behind Machine
Set in Order – Tooling and Instruments should be set in place, easy to find at all times.
Supplies Organized Tooling Organized

10. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli10
Shine – A clean workspace improves working conditions and the moral of operators.
Clean Aisles
Standardize – Create Shadow Boards for standard tooling and instruments within each working
station
Sustain – A 6S board was created within the department for department supervisors to sustain
the improvement process. The board also creates friendly departmental competition with audit
grades and scores.
Interpretation: Although the last 2 S’s could not have been completed due to internship length
restrictions, the 5S tool was highly effective within the manufacturing plant. Going through the
process with the operators, common remarks were: “I didn’t know when could throw this away,”
We can take this out?” and “I haven’t seen anyone use that in a decade.” It proved that taking a
simple step back and asking, “Why is this here?” solved many organizational issues.

11. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli11
IMPROVE Tool 2: Pull Scheduling
Why Tool Selected: Pull Scheduling consist of many aspects: balanced production, quick set-ups,
reducing lot size and standardized work to name a few. For this project, the team focused on quick
set-ups. How can the operators decrease setup time?
Interpretation: This photo is of the new WIP area for the Nilpeter room. All job orders are looked
at, at the beginning of the day and the operators collect plates and cylinders for each job. The red
bin is for plates and the bottom shelf is for the cylinders.

12. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli12
CONTROL Tool 1: CHECK Process
Why Tool Selected: How could GM Nameplate keep operators accountable for their workstations?
Interpretation: This form was created after the 5S activity was completed. It allows supervisors
and managers to sustain lean and clean workstations. It also promotes health competition
between the production areas amongst the operators.

13. Nick Abbatelli Cal Poly SLO – Business – Industrial Technology
10/14/14 Mini-Project – Abbatelli13
CONTROL Tool 2: Standardized Work
Why Tool Selected: How does the operator know which job takes priority?
Interpretation: This photo is of the new WIP area for the Nilpeter room. The metallic bins on the
top right of the table consists of 3 staggered bins. The farthest back bin represents job to be
completed within the given month. The middle bin represents the weekly job orders. The first bin
represents job to be done during the day (top priority).