Lean, seis sigma y herramientas cuantitativas: Una experiencia real en el mejoramiento productivo de procesos de la industria gráfica en Colombia

The levels of competitiveness that globalization imposes on companies, requires them to use tools to continuously improve the levels of productivity and efficiency in their production processes. Within the classification of waste that affect productivity, highlights the time as one of the most incidents, being the response time, since the customer places the order until the company delivers it physically, a differentiating factor between a supplier and another, as customers value timely delivery as a priority criterion. In companies that work on demand and use a pull system, the time of change of references is a factor that directly affects the time of the cycle, so improving the time of the enlistment of the machines will directly affect the level of service. Among the most frequent causes that generate delays are labor and work methods, and their impacts can be reduced with the participation of operators in the decision-making process. This paper shows a model that combines Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing tools, with discrete simulation and prioritization of activities according to participatory processes supported by multicriterial methods, and shows the results of its application in a real case to reduce times of reference changes in a key process of a graphic arts company.