This case study analyzed defects in a rubber glove manufacturing process. It identified the main defect types as leaks, dirty gloves, and miscellaneous issues. To address these, it created a process flow diagram and cause-and-effect diagram to understand root causes. Experiments were conducted varying temperature and conveyor speed in the process. The results showed setting the temperature to 230°C and conveyor speed to 650 RPM significantly reduced leaks, lowering the defects per million from 195,095 to 83,750 and improving the sigma level from 2.4 to 2.9.

1. A Case Study
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Defects Reduction in a Rubber Gloves
Manufacturing Process
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2. Rubber Gloves Manufacturing Process
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Table 1: Defects summary (before the improvement)

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 leak defect was defined as those gloves that had one
or more holes and thus presented a water/air leak
when subjected to quality testing
 The dirty gloves defect, it was defined as the gloves
not being clean (i.e. having one or more stain
marks).
 The miscellaneous category consisted of other types
of defects such as misshaped, sticky gloves, etc.

5. Process Flow Diagram
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6. Cause and Effect Diagram
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9. Results
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 230°C temperature and conveyor speed of 650
R.P.M. provided the lowest amount of leaking
gloves.
 This resulted in a reduction of DPMO from
195,095 to 83,750 and a Sigma level improvement
from 2.4 to 2.9