Hartman Industries: organizational structure and operations

Hartmann Industries

For Hartmann, the objective is to reduce defects in the production of the polymers used in the injection molding function. The company operates using the Six Sigma philosophy, so that will guide the implementation plan. The Six Sigma implementation process consists of eight steps -- recognize, define, measure, analyze, improve, control, standardize and integrate (Long, n.d.).

The first in the implementation plan then is to recognize the errors that are being made. Hartmann currently has a low rate of error, but occasionally errors do appear in the production of the polymers. These errors need to be defined. For Hartmann, this means analyzing the factor inputs to ensure that they are consistent in quality, and then analyzing the process to ensure that those processes are geared towards consistency of results.

This can be done by setting up new measurements for the process. These new measurements should provide information with respect to the different parts of the process that are suspected of contributing to the defects. For the Hartmann case, one measure should be the chemical composition of the inputs. Such testing is costly, but it will help to identify if the quality level of the inputs is the source of the defects. Concurrently, Hartmann should implement more measures of the process that are not currently measured. Measuring outputs is not sufficient -- there ideally needs to be measures at different steps along the process, to help identify the areas in the process where the defects occur.

The next step is to analyze. With the new measures in place, that data must then be analyzed in order to determine the source (s) of the defect. Following that, improvements must be made. The company will need to brainstorm ways to ensure that the problems that have been identified are addressed.

Once methods for improving the process have been identified, the next step is to control the process. The measures that were developed earlier in the process are used during this step to monitor the impacts of the improvements that have been made. If the improvements prove successful, then the next step is to standardize them. Hartmann has four different facilities and each should operate the same way, using the same measures and controls, in order to achieve company-wide standardization. The improvements are then integrated into the polymer production process across the entire organization.

Further to the integration process will be to adopt these new methodologies even during the process of developing new polymer creation techniques. As technologies evolve, the solutions that have been developed should be adapted to those new technologies, to ensure that the company remains consistent over time and through multiple process improvements.