DMAIC Project: Reducing Forest Energy Stock Differences by 50%

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Baseline (Define)

For forest energy, significant stock losses were recorded before the project. In practice, the amount harvested along the forest road did not give a very reliable picture of what ended up in the mill. The losses in euro were large.

In the case of warehouses, there was no clear visibility of the process and responsibilities were not defined in a coherent way. This visibility was largely based on the figures reported by the entrepreneurs' own drivers, which were not systematically monitored. There were many corrections. There was awareness of the problem, but no one had visibility of the whole process from harvesting to the factory.

Process performance at the beginning (Measure)

84% of the region's stock differences were outside the target.    

The baseline analysis showed significant differences both between and within companies, by workplace. The errors identified included machine-specific differences in scales, lack of calibration and incorrect procedures.  

Improvement measures (Analyze & Improve)

Concrete improvement actions selected after the analysis phase included revising the guidelines on a role-by-role basis and, in terms of error causes, improving critical processes such as weighing and calibration. Clear guidance was put into practice. Service descriptions were reviewed for each contractor contract. Calibration requirements and monitoring were included in the contracts. Responsibilities, roles and monitoring were clarified throughout the process.

Results (Control)

The improvement measures brought the result up to 23%.

The system development initiated by the project has provided new tools for reporting and monitoring, which have enabled forest entrepreneurs to carry out their own monitoring. The clarification of responsibilities and the integration of monitoring into the operation enabled effective continuous improvement of the process. Improvements can continue as part of day-to-day operational work.  

The project highlighted the importance of clarifying roles and responsibilities, as well as the need to clarify procedures at each stage of the process. It also highlighted the importance of targeting measurement and monitoring at the "right" things.

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This project was one of the exercise projects in the Green Belt training, which the participant completed as part of the training and Green Belt certification.
If you are interested in learning how to improve your processes using Lean and Six Sigma, and obtain Green Belt certification at the same time, check out the training at the link: Green Belt training.