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Six Sigma: A new practice for reducing water consumption within Coca
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DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCA.2010.034856

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Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 6, Nos. 1/2, 2010 53

Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water

consumption within Coca Cola industry

Tarek Sadraoui*
Department of Quantitative Methods,
Unit of Dynamic Economic and Environmental Research (URDEE),
University of Economics and Management Sfax – Tunisia,
ISGI Sfax route Mharza Km 1.5, BP No. 954 Sfax 3018, Tunisia
and
Institut Supérieur de Gestion Industrielle de Sfax (ISGI),
Route El – Meharza Km 1,5, B.P. No. 954, Sfax 3018, Tunisia
E-mail: tarek_sadraoui@yahoo.fr
E-mail: Tarek.Sadraoui@fsegs.rnu.tn
*Corresponding author

Ayadi Afef and Jallouli Fayza

Institut Supérieur de Gestion Industrielle de Sfax (ISGI),
Route El – Meharza Km 1,5, B.P. No. 954, Sfax 3018, Tunisia
E-mail: ayadi.afef83@yahoo.fr
E-mail: fayza_jallouli@yahoo.fr

Abstract: Six Sigma is a well-known concept who means the perfection: a

process of production to Three Sigma makes 3.4 defaults/million unit, whereas
Six Sigma means for us the perfection. We used it now to mean the type of
specialised training aiming at the attack of very high objectives for processes
improvement. The method Six Sigma is a method of continuous improvement
and elimination of non-quality, passing by six stages or cycle DMAIC: to
define, measure, analyse, innovate and control carried out by a team of project.
In this paper we propose a new practice of Six Sigma for reduction and
optimisation of water consumption for Coca Cola industry.

Keywords: define, measure, analyse, innovate and control; DMAIC; control

charts; Pareto; Six Sigma.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sadraoui, T., Afef, A. and
Fayza, J. (2010) ‘Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption
within Coca Cola industry’, Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage,
Vol. 6, Nos. 1/2, pp.53–76.

Biographical notes: Tarek Sadraoui has a PhD in Quantitative Methods. He is

a member and Researcher at the Unit of Dynamic Economics and
Environmental Research. The research activities deal with studying
international R&D transmission mechanism and relation between R&D
cooperation and growth, dynamic panel data model and testing unit root,
cointegration and causality in many issues using WinRats, Eviews TSP and
STATA software. He is an Assistant at the High Institute of Industrial
Management of Sfax in Tunisia. He is teaching Econometric Analysis,
Statistics and Statistical Process Control.

Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

54 T. Sadraoui et al.

Ayadi Afef is a Student Researcher at Higher Institute of Industrial

Management of Sfax and she is now pursuing her study at the Economic and
Management University Sfax Tunisia. Her studies are concentrated in statistics
and statistical process control and application with Eviews and Minitab
software.

Jallouli Fayza is a Student Researcher at Higher Institute of Industrial

Management of Sfax and she is now pursuing her study at the Economic and
Management University Sfax Tunisia. Her studies are concentrated in statistics
and statistical process control and application with Eviews and Minitab
software.

1 Introduction

This study proposes the define, measure, analyse, improve/implement and control
(DMAIC) Six Sigma methodology (Breyfogle, 1999) to improve the design process in an
engineering design organisation in the SFBT Society. The Coca-Cola firms still rely
heavily on the international firms to shoulder complex design projects while they play a
supporting role and therefore, lose the opportunity to attain a competitive standing and
attain a real market share. This negative status can be rectified and the situation would be
alleviated if best practices are adopted and implemented by these firms. Therefore, the
DMAIC Six Sigma approach is adopted in this study in a meaningful, practical, insightful
and balanced way for reducing water loss. The study illustrates a wide application of such
a model and how engineering organisations can achieve competitive advantages, efficient
decision-making and problem solving.
According to Klefsjo et al (2001), Six Sigma is a broadly accepted methodology that
focuses on improving an organisation’s operational performance, business practices and
systems by identifying and preventing ‘defects’ in manufacturing and service-related
processes.
A careful study on Six Sigma indicates that its success in organisations depends on
the intensive and rapid exchange of knowledge among the stakeholders to reduce the
defects, and also effective usage of efficient statistical process control (SPC) and
scientific tools. Moreover, if the organisation is too large, it is very difficult to facilitate
the meeting of Six Sigma members to exchange and pool knowledge. Conversely, if the
organisation is small, adequate expertise may be lacking to practice the Six Sigma
technique. Furthermore, in the modern work environment, people are finding less time to
meet, discuss and function as a team. It is proposed here that these deficiencies can be
overcome by integrating Six Sigma with IT. This is because IT is very efficient in
exchanging data, information and knowledge within and outside the boundaries of the
organisation (Andersen, 2001; Hedelin and Allwood, 2002), and also because IT can
facilitate teamwork (Dewhurst et al., 2003).
The paper is organised into four sections to tackle these objectives. In Section 2, a
literature review of Six Sigma, quality sustainability and the possible link is provided.
In Section 3, a background description of the case study organisation with a provision
for the methodology is presented. Section 4 draws conclusions on the Design DMAIC
model.
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 55

2 Six Sigma presentation

Six Sigma is a philosophy of quality turned towards the customer satisfaction. First of all,
one includes/understands well that a greater customer’s satisfaction will at the same time
allow all to preserve our customers and to conquer the new ones. This increase in the
losses of market will be concretised by an improvement of profitability. Six Sigma can
reduce variability which is the enemy of quality (Dewhurst et al., 1999; Finster, 2001;
De Mast et al., 2006). When an engineer has just manufactured a product which gives
whole satisfaction, its dream would be of being able the cloner to identical so that each
product preserves same qualities. But it is not unfortunately possible, there will be always
a small respect centre the products considered identical, and these are the small respect
which lead to non-quality. For more details see Figure 1.

Figure 1 Customer satisfaction

Enchanted
More is better
Resigned to reality

Delighters

Content
Neutral
Dissatisfied

Must be

Catches like an asset

Dissatisfied
Goes away Filled
Level of presence of the characteristic

Historically, Six Sigma is a direct descendant of Deming and Juran’s systems for quality
improvement. As in biological evolution, Six Sigma represents the ‘survival of the fittest’
in terms of the methods and approaches. It relies on a highly developed management
system for its deployment. The improvements are carried out through carefully managed
improvement projects. The project selection is typically based on a translation of the
company strategy into operational goals (Snee and Hoerl, 2003). The project teams are
deployed to solve problems of strategic importance. Six Sigma provides an organisational
structure of project leaders and project owners.
The success of the Six Sigma concept in business has motivated many European
companies such as Volvo, Nokia and Siemens to adopt and implement it (Pfeifer et al.,
2004). Six Sigma is a disciplined process which helps companies to focus on developing
and delivering nearly defect free products and services. It is an organised and systematic
56 T. Sadraoui et al.

business performance improvement strategy that relies on statistical and scientific

methods to reduce waste and the number of defects within the Six Sigma level (Banuelas
and Antony, 2003; Antony, 2004, 2002; Linderman et al., 2003). A Six Sigma level
is the benchmarking factor for the ability of the process to fulfil the requirement.
Table 1 illustrates how sigma levels would equate to defect rates and organisational
performances, which are often measured in terms of defect per million opportunities
(DPMO) (Park, 2002, 2003). DPMO is the number of defective opportunities that do not
meet the specification limits out of one million opportunities.
Table 1 Sigma level

Process mean fixed Process mean with 1.5 shift

Sigma level
Non-defect rate (%) DPMO Non-defect rate (%) DPMO
1σ 86.26894 317.311 30.2328 697.672
2σ 95.44998 45.500 69.1230 308.770
3σ 99.73002 2.700 93.3189 66.811
4σ 99.99366 63.4 99.3790 6.210
5σ 99.9999943 0.57 99.97674 233
6σ 99.9999998 0.002 99.99966 3.4

The application of Six Sigma has the ability to reduce the variation of the characteristics
of the product or service from the target by using either continuous improvement or a
design/redesign approach. The first approach follows the phases: define, measure,
analyse, improve and control. This approach is known as DMAIC methodology. The
second approach progresses through the phases: define measure, analyses, design and
verify. This is known as the DMADV methodology (Banuelas and Antony, 2003).
DMAIC is used for improving an existing process, whereas DMADV is employed for the
design of products (Snee, 2004; Banuelas and Antony, 2003). For designing the
framework of the WSS model, the DMAIC methodology is chosen.
The conventional DMAIC concept is explained in a few words below.

Define phase
Through this phase, Six Sigma project is drafted and the process to be improved is
identified. After identifying the process by using suitable techniques, the process is
documented. One such technique that is often used is the flow-charting technique.
Finally, the customer’s requirements are identified, analysed and prioritised. This phase
can be presented as below.

To identify To identify To identify To develop To develop

To border preliminary planning
opportunities or CTQs indicator to
the project entry of the project
variations customer improve
problem

Measure phase
During this phase, data are collected to evaluate the level performance of the process and
provide information for the subsequent phases. The Six Sigma team decides the
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 57

characteristics to be measured, the person doing the measurement, the measuring

instruments, target performance and sampling frequency. Finally, the process capability
is calculated. This measure phase can be resumed as below.

To create the To collect data on To analyse data with

To develop final
detailed cartography defects and tools such as Pareto,
declaration of problem
of process process run, chart, histogram

Analyse phase
In this phase, Six Sigma team analyses the data collected to find the key variables which
cause process variation, and discovers the causes for defects. Alternative ways of
improving the process are also evaluated during this phase. The various tools used in this
phase are root cause analysis, cause and effect diagram, Pareto charts, failure mode and
effects analysis and design of experiments. We can represent this phase by diagram
below.

To identify the To organise the To collect the To quantify the relations

potential major potential major data to check of cause for purpose and
causes causes major causes to confirm the major
causes

Improve phase
Here, the Six Sigma team modifies the process to stay within the maximum permissible
range of the performance of the key variables. The process performance has to be
monitored and measured. If it is satisfactory, it can be institutionalised. Solutions for
process improvement are obtained through process simplification, parallel processing and
bottleneck elimination. To improve is a very important phase which can be presented as it
is indicated in diagram.

To identify To select To analyse To plan To evaluate

potential solutions AMDEC and form the results
solutions

Control phase
This phase has the purpose of sustain the improvements established through the previous
phases. By using control charts, the critical variables related to the performance are
controlled in order to keep an eye on the process performance after improvement. It can
be represented as below.

To develop and To build the process

document the control system
standardised To train the personnel To close the project
management
practices
58 T. Sadraoui et al.

The benefits of Six Sigma in business organisations are: defect reduction, cycle time
reduction, manufacturing cost reduction, market share growth, productivity improvement,
product/service development, customer retention and culture change (McAdam and
Evans, 2004; McAdam and Lafferty, 2004). These benefits can be achieved through the
successful implementation of Six Sigma. The successful implementation depends upon
the training given to individuals of the organisation in the fundamental concepts and tools
involved in the application of Six Sigma. The levels of training given to individuals in
organisations during the execution of Six Sigma projects are categorised into Green belt,
Black belt and Master Black belt (Ingle and Roe, 2001).

2.1 What is Six Sigma?

Mathematically, Six Sigma represents six standard deviations (plus or minus) from the
arithmetic mean. As a measurement of quality Six Sigma means the setting of a
performance level that equates to no more than 3.4 DPMO. Six Sigma is an approach that
takes a whole system approach to improvement of quality and customer service so as to
benefit the ‘bottom line’. The Six Sigma concept matured during the mid ‘80s and grew
out of various quality initiatives at Motorola. Like most quality initiatives, Six Sigma
requires a total culture throughout an organisation whereby everyone at all levels has a
passion for continuous improvement with the ultimate aim of achieving virtual perfection
(McClusky, 2000; McClusky et al., 2002). To know if Six Sigma has been achieved
needs a common language throughout the organisation (at all levels and within each
function) and common uniform measurement techniques of quality. The overall Six
Sigma philosophy has a goal of total customer satisfaction.
Six Sigma is a methodology initiated quality there is a score of year at the great
groups which wished to appreciably improve quality of their products and tend to
excellence by putting the customer at the centre of their concerns. Six Sigma is a
methodology of improvement quality based on processes which makes it possible to
follow measure and increase the company performance. While being based on the
statistical tools to measure the performance of the processes trades, Six Sigma makes it
possible to eliminate the wasting, to reduce the cycle times and to reach results which
tend towards the perfection (De Koning and De Mast, 2006; Coronado and Antony,
2002). The improvement of the processes, made possible by Six Sigma, results in a better
satisfaction customer, a stronger implication of the teams and increased profits (Banuelas
and Antony, 2003). And since Six Sigma is not a step like the others, it does not count
six… but seven advantages on other methodologies of improvement of the performance.
Methodology Six Sigma is used more and more because of the success which it made it
possible to characterise, not only on the level of the improvement of customer quality but
also while making it possible to reduce the costs in a significant way thanks to these
improvements, six sigma is applicable to all types of activities.
Six Sigma is a method of management of particularly effective progress. Exit of a
strongly connoted step quality in the beginning, it is relatively simple in the field of the
principle. To satisfy the customers, it is necessary to deliver products of quality. The
innovation lies rather in the fact that it brings a new philosophy of management to the
level of the company. It is clear that the tools which Six Sigma brings are not new at all.
Six Sigma makes it possible to set up a durable approach to cure it. This philosophy aims
at setting up a culture of directed company customer, and who bases himself on concrete
facts and data for the decision-making.
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 59

A company whose performance is measured to Six Sigma (the reference of the

market) generates only 3.4 DPMO (almost perfection), Tandis Qu, a company with Three
Sigma, i.e., the current standard, must support the cost of 66,800 DPMO.
• implication and engagement of the persons in charge
• alignment of projects with the strategic objectives
• defects identified by customer
• the objective is to repeat the defects and the variation
• rigorous respect of the method stages
• method structured for the profits
• decision-making based on data.

2.2 Benefit and advantages of Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a methodology which helps to:
• increase the performance of the company by the improvement of the quality of its
processes
• prepare your collaborators with advantage of efficiency by eliminating the defects
• get tools to reduce the costs
• provides methods tested to measure precisely and increases the return on investment
• allows undervaluing the financial risks
• Six Sigma is an indicator of performance which describes the aptitude of a produced
process or service, regularly awaited the requirements or waiting customer
• indicate your performance to the regard specifications customer
• the accent puts to the measure of the defects
• is an indicator which facilitates the comparison of performance between product,
service and process
• to imply all the personnel in real activities with the strategic objectives
• developed the statistical analysis of the data
• improve comprehension, the control and the performance of the key processes.

2.3 Why Six Sigma?

All the processes, whatever is their degree of accuracy, are unable to produce the same
product always exactly. There will be always a small variation between the products
considered identical, and these are the variability’s which lead to non quality. Whatever
the studied machine and the characteristic observed, one always notes dispersion in the
distribution of the characteristic (Goh and Xie, 2004; Harry and Schroeder, 2000).
60 T. Sadraoui et al.

These variations come from the whole of the process of production. The analysis of
these processes makes it possible to dissociate five elements source of this dispersion,
one generally indicates them by the ‘5M’ (Liker, 2004).
Then the goal of Six Sigma is to improve quickly, continuously and significant the
processes by eliminating these variability’s. This methodology is used to improve the
processes, the products and the services, to reduce the costs of all kinds and to improve
quality. The objective is simple: to satisfy the customer by having processes without
defect with advanced tools of progress and to reduce variability.
Moreover, Six Sigma is a change of positive and major culture with real financial
results. To have a process Six Sigma means that the difference between the limit of low
specification and the limit of high specification of the customer can contain six times the
standard deviation (or Sigma) of the production curve of the process. Thus, the variations
of a characteristic generally follow a bell-shaped curve: law of Gauss or normal law
(central limit theorem). If the average of the production is centred on the target, it is thus
natural to find values lain between ±3 standard deviations, if values leave these limits,
one has a strong probability that the process is not centred any more on the target, it is
then necessary to identify the causes of variability in order to centre the process.
All the processes have variability, which have causes very few, (20% causes = 80%
of the effects). If one knows these causes one should be able to control them, then, the
designs must give robust processes to the remaining variations that is true for the
processes, the products, the transfers and the services.

3 A Coca Cola Six Sigma case study

3.1 The background of the company

We present in this part our practical study in the company Coca Cola (the filial SFBT in
Tunisia), our study is based on the optimisation and reduction of water consumption, by
applying the tools of the method Six Sigma like Pareto, the histograms, diagram causes
effect (Ishikawa), control charts and AMDEC.
SFBT: refrigerating company and brewery of Tun is: its registered office is located at
Bab Sadoon and it installed another sites of production and sale in various areas.
• SFBT Sfax
• SFBT Mahdia
• SFBT Charguia.
The factory of SFBT is made of three lines of production:
• a line for the family production (1 L) with a capacity of 60,000 bottles per hour (HK)
• a line for the standard production (small size) with a capacity surroundings 24,000
bottles per hour (SIG)
• a line for the production of bottles out of with a capacity of 70,000 bottles per hour
(PET).
The management, therefore, sought a systematic approach to achieve this improvement
goal. This study proposes a model to implement the DMAIC Six Sigma approach and
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 61

demonstrates that not only can the customer benefit, but the organisation may also
improve its business processes by making a performance commitment to Six Sigma
quality.
A review of the customer complaints records determines that too much time has been
spent taking the development of the design deliverables out of engineering. Four problem
areas have been recognised in which the DMAIC Six Sigma approach could effect
improvements if applied to engineering design. The four problems are defined in the
following subsection. A description of the production phases can be indicated by the next
figure.

Figure 2 Production phases of Coca Cola (see online version for colours)

Water overall consumption in Tunisia (2006) is 337.1 mm3.

And the use in food activity: 9.5 mm3.
As well as the quantity of water used in group SFBT (2004) is: 1,956 mm3 = 20.6 %
of the food activity = 6.11 % of the industrial use.
At the beginning of 2007, the fixed objective of SFBT Sfax is the reduction of the
water consumption by the elimination of the losses, the recovery and the recycling of the
water of the various points of consumption. In 2007, the SFBT reached a ratio of
3.75 L\LPF, which is still high. The Six Sigma integration in 2008 can reduce the total
ratio of water consumption lower than 3 L\LPF.
The process of water production treatment can be resumed as:

• entered element: water

• exit element: production water.

The city water will not be directly used, it will undergo treatments. After this treatment,
one obtains the water of softened production and water. In Figure 3 and Figure 4, we
indicated both process of water treatment and the water company circuit.
62 T. Sadraoui et al.

Figure 3 Water process treatment

Reception
water
SONEDE

Basin storage 200 m3

Softening (1 and/or 2)
– VHV < 10°F

Softened water
– VHV < 10°F

Figure 4 The company water circuit (see online version for colours)

3.2 The project planning

3.2.1 The first problem: design deficiency
The engineering design development process was not perfect. The design error rate in the
engineering deliverables was very high. This situation has proved to be very frustrating,
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 63

as the deficiencies should have been detected and rectified during the design review
cycle. The quality department investigates the recurrence level of the different categories
of customer complaints each quarter. The analyses of the collected data reveal that the
rework factor was excessive due to the violation of the standards, miscommunication
with the customers and delays due to the shortage of manpower. This unhealthy state has
cost money, tied up the resources and has given the customers the wrong message. The
quality team’s first objective, therefore, was to find a way to increase design reliability
and accuracy (see Figure 5 below).

Figure 5 Business planning project (see online version for colours)

In Figure 6, we indicate a clear comparison between 2005 and 2007 of consumption

water ratio it is clear that the quantity has been reduced and in many times like the period
of March and April which is around by a circle.

Figure 6 Evolution of the consumption water ratio between 2005 and 2007 (see online version
for colours)

9
8 Révision 2005 2006 2007 Objectif 2008

7
PET
6
Ratio (L/LBF)

5
4
3
2
1
0
N V S IL AI IN IL
L
U
T
PT T V
EC
JA FE AR R M JU JU SE
C O
M AV AO O N D
64 T. Sadraoui et al.

In this project, it is significant to include/understand where and when the process best
starts, where it finishes and its bond with other processes. The suppliers of the congestion
process are the utilities, stocks empties, store MP, direction (production planning) and its
principal customer is Store BG.

3.2.2 The second problem: the customers’ dissatisfaction

In our case, one used Pareto for good to ensure oneself where the problem is of which
there is strong water consumption for the month (December). For more details, see
Figure 7 which indicates the water process treatment and Table 2 for identification of the
consumption points to be followed.

Figure 7 Water process treatment (see online version for colours)

Table 2 Identification of the points of consumption to be followed

Xi Points of consumption
X1 Washing filters has sand
X2 Washing filter has N°1 coal
X3 Washing filters has N°2 coal
X4 Siropery
X5 CIP
X6 Regeneration of the softeners
X8 Washerwoman HK
X9 Washerwoman SIG
X10 Rinceuse FART
X11 Boiler room
X12 Turns of cooling
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 65

Table 3 Consumption quantity definition for the month December by centre of consumption

Quantity of water consumed by

the centres of water consumption
Consumed quantities=
Quantity of consumed general water

Centre of consumption Consumed quantities

Production 3554.74
Cleaning 3225.53
Lav HK 2099.00
Nett F, charbon 3/4 905.60
Lav SIG 793.00
Siroperie 591.00
Nett F, charbon1/2 380.58
CIP 289.50
Nett F, sable 256.05
Chaudière 256.00
Rinça PET 245.00
Tour 2 124.00
Tour 1 104.00

Figure 8 Pareto diagram of centre water consumption (see online version for colours)

diagramme Pareto mois Décembre par Centre

14000
100
12000
Quantitées consommées

10000 80
Percentage

8000 60
6000
40
4000
20
2000

0 0
C1 3 e 4 G ri e 2 P le re r 2 ur 1
M ag HK 3/ SI pe 1/ CI ,sab ie PE
T
n oy v n v on ud ou o
ti o e tt La arbo La siro arb tt F cha inç T T
uc n
ch ,c
h e R
od , F N
pr tt
F
tt
Ne Ne
Count 3555 3226 2099 906 793 591 381 290 256 256 245 124 104
Percent 28 25 16 7 6 5 3 2 2 2 2 1 1
Cum % 28 53 69 76 82 87 90 92 94 96 98 99 100
66 T. Sadraoui et al.

3.3 The working model

This section proposes a structured model applying the philosophy of the DMAIC Six
Sigma approach in the engineering design to improve quality, reduce cost and meet
schedule. According to Nilakantasrinivasan (2005), the DMAIC Six Sigma approach is
an effective problem-solving methodology that has evolved over time as the first cousin
of TQM’s plan-do-check-act cycle. The true value of the DMAIC Six Sigma approach
can be realised only when it is used to identify the root causes for problems and derive
the solutions to overcome the root causes. Engineering design standards can be defined as
a reference of measurement to be used in comparing the work effectiveness against what
is considered to be the preferred method of operation. The model maps the life cycle for
the design package development against the DMAIC Six Sigma quality cycle and then
aligns those cycles against the project management life cycle: initiate, plan, execute,
control and closeout.
The proposed model may provide the engineers with the opportunity to get involved
in the ‘define’ phase of the project and carry out a full alignment with the business
strategy. The improved process allows a cross-functional focus on the customer
requirements from the start of the Six Sigma life cycle to meet or exceed the customer
expectations with every engineering deliverable.

3.3.1 Define
This is the first step in the DMAIC cycle and it maps to the requirements and initiation
(see Figure 9). In this stage, the organisation should define its improvement activity goals
to improve the design process. Improving the customers’ satisfaction should be the
organisation’s strategic objective at the top level. At the operational (engineering) level,
the goal might be to improve the design process and reduce the delivery delays, while at
the human resources level; it is to reduce the turnover rate. Moreover, at the project level,
the organisation’s goal should include reducing the design errors and increasing the
productivity level.
If a project is accepted by the management and launched by the engineering
department, the executive buy-in must be strong. A project manager will be selected as
the project leader and a Six Sigma Quality team with an engineering background shall be
assigned to the project. The project team may consist of individuals who exhibit an
understanding of the scope and enjoy the relevant expertise to take the project to its
successful completion. Once the team is identified, the roles and responsibilities matrix
shall be started. An initial agreement shall be reached on the project parameters, surveys
shall be conducted and information shall be correlated against the customer requirements
and the internal processes that affect the customer.
• Does the process clearly map to the business strategic goals/customer requirements?
• Is this the best project to work on at this time and is it supported by the business
leaders?
• Was a rough estimate used to determine the potential benefits?
• Was a problem statement, which focuses on symptoms and not solutions, completed?
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 67

• Was a gap analysis of what the customer of the design process needs versus what the
process is delivering completed?
• Was a goal statement with measurable targets completed?
• Was a supplier-input-process-output-customer (SIPOC) diagram, which includes the
primary customer and key requirements of the processes, created?
• Was a drill down from a high-level process map to the focus area for the process
completed?

Figure 9 DMAIC cycle

3.3.2 Measure
In this phase, one will begin the measurement of our process with one followed by water
consumption of which the goal to identify the points of consumption which are
characterised by a very high consumed quantity.
With this reason, one installed missing metres on the level of the siropery, room CIP,
turns of cooling 1 and 2 and one changed the metre of washerwoman HK. These actions
require the creation of S forms of followed metres for each service, the survey of the
parameters of consumption of water of the washerwomen (pressure, flow) and of cycle of
operation of the coal filters 1 and 2 and of the sand filter and the measurement of the
68 T. Sadraoui et al.

parameters of quality of water at their exit. Thereafter, results verification of analyses

quality parameters of water by analyses made by an external laboratory.
To apply this phase, one used tools of quality like histogram, Pareto, the curves and
charts of the control.

3.3.2.1 Data analysis with control charts

After the stage of data gathering and the identification of the points of water
consumption, one finds that the stage of analysis of the data which is followed. And for
this last stage, one will analyse the collected data (data of the month December and 11
days of the month January).
The layout of the control chart indicates that the process is under statistical control.
The limits can be regarded as final and one can exploited for the monitoring of the
process in real time. The point corresponding to the sample no. 25 is considered except
limits of control but, this does not indicate the existence of the assignable causes
affecting the product process. Thus, at this stage this point which falls apart from the
limits stipulates the corrective action reflecting the policy quality of the company which
aims at a consumption of cleaning of the weekends.

Figure 10 Control chart I-MR (see online version for colours)

Carte I-MR de laveuse HK (L/B)

UC L=2,652
2,5
Ratio (L/B)

_
2,0 X=1,980

1,5
LC L=1,308
1
1,0
07 07 07 07 07 07 08 08 08
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
2/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 1/ 1/ 1/
4 /1 7 /1 3 /1 6 /1 1 /1 6/1 3/0 /0 /0
0 0 1 1 2 2 0 07 11
date

1
1,2

0,9
Ratio (L/B)

UC L=0,826
0,6
__
0,3 MR=0,253
0,0 LC L=0

07 07 07 07 07 07 08 08 08
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
12/ 1 2/ 1 2/ 1 2/ 1 2/ 1 2/ 0 1/ 0 1/ 0 1/
/ / / / / 6/ 3/ 7/ 1/
04 07 13 16 21 2 0 0 1
date

3.3.2.2 Analyse data with histograms and the curves

After problem identification, we must measure the general water consumption which is
presented as the principal source of consumption as long as it gathers the types of water
(treated water, softened water and raw water). This level, we will measure this water
consumption by the calculation of the ratios compared to the quantity of production.
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 69

Figure 11 Histogram weekly water (see online version for colours)

Histogramme hebdomadaire de l'eau générale

5 4,44
4,5
4 3,73
3,4 3,24
3,5 3,15
3
les Ratios 2,5
2
1,5
1 Ratio eau général
0,5
0
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
Les semaines

Figure 12 Water consumption curve (see online version for colours)

Courbe de consommation d’eau de laveuse HK (L/bouteille)

2,6

2,4

2,2
Ratio ( L/bouteille)

2,0

1,8

1,6

1,4

1,2

07 07 07 07 07 07 08 08 08
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
12/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 01/ 01/ 01/
/ / / / / / / / /
04 07 13 16 21 26 03 07 11
Date

This curve shows us that the water consumption of washerwoman HK by bottle is high.
For this, we go identified as a point in our problem which requires a search for the
solutions.

3.3.2.3 Consumption curve of washerwoman SIG

This curve shows us that the water consumption of washerwoman SIG by bottle is high.
Where it is observed that the ratio for day 17/12/2007 is very significant of value equal to
0.75 L/bouteille. For this, we go identified as a second point of our problem which
requires a search for solution.
70 T. Sadraoui et al.

Figure 13 SIG, washer curve (see online version for colours)

Courbe de laveuse SIG (L/bouteille)

0,75

0,70

0,65
Ratio (L/bouteille)

0,60

0,55

0,50

0,45

0,40
07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
1 2/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 1 2/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 12/ 12/
/ / / / / / / / / /
10 16 17 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Date

This curve shows us that the water consumption is constant for the month December
from 29/01/2008 plus the following weeks, the values of followed are estimated. And
even after this estimate the ratio is of value very significant, one can identify the
washerwoman as centre consumption which requires improvements.

Figure 14 HK, washer curve (see online version for colours)

Courbe de laveuse HK (Cm/H)

13

12
Ratio (Cm/H)

11

10

8
07 00
7 07 07 07 07 08 08 00
8
20 /2 20 20 20 20 20 20 /2
2/ 12 2/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 1/ 1/ 01
/4 1 / /3 1 /6 1 /1 1 /6 1 /3 0 /7 0 /
0 07 1 1 2 2 0 0 11
Date
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 71

3.3.2.4 Brainstorming
To apply the brainstorming method, one used the method by turn which best characterises
by an idea which advances by turn until everyone passes. And the end of the meeting
there is noted these differentials problems which can beings the causes of the problems
for the two Washerwomen (SIG and HK):
• the tubes are clogged
• diameter of the injectors is widened too much
• washerwoman in stop and rinsing functional finale
• high water pressure
• reload baths and renewal
• pump pre-washing or pre-weak rinsing
• water leakage on the level of closings of the baths
• escape on the level circuit of water
• soda concentration is high
• the alviols which passes without bottle
• diameter of the tubes not optimised
• misalignment of break final rinsing and pre final rinsing
• operating time of the tubes of final rinsing not optimised.
For treated water:
• badly functioned frequency
• high water pressure
• time of contacts lav age of the high filters and signal
• cycle washing not optimised
• dysfunction of the gauges level of vat tompon and ferments storage
• water leakage on the level of the valves (led)
• resin damages on the level of the softener
• cip not optimised
• water loss on the level of pile
• calibrations of the flow metres
• too low TDS on the level of adjustment left the ionics
• escape on the level circuit/water valves.
72 T. Sadraoui et al.

A common error that people make when they discuss the DMAIC Six Sigma process is
that they think the process takes too long to accomplish improvements. Kwak and Anbari
(2006) stated that this is far from the truth; often, ‘quick hits’ are established early in the
project and are frequently already implemented by the time the team reaches the
‘analyse’ phase. If the team has not already identified the major improvements, then the
breakthrough often results from the careful process analysis of the data.

Figure 15 The cause-and-effect diagram (see online version for colours)

3.3.3 Improve
The aim of a standardised review and verification process is to eliminate defects while
sharing the best practices among the designers. As more experience is gained, the amount
of time required for thorough review and verification is reduced.
As part of an integration plan, an engineering design development team might set up
the scope document and receive a signoff from all stakeholders. SIPOC is one of the tools
that can be used during the ‘measure’ stage. Standardised review and verification
processes may provide better familiarity for designers with the design they are
developing, solid guidelines for the new team members to refer to for quality standards,
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 73

an enhanced feeling of ownership of the design, an overall improvement in review and

verification skills, less time used on misguided review and verification and improved
customer satisfaction.

3.3.4 Control
This is the fifth step in the DMAIC cycle and it maps to contract review and closeout (see
Figure 1). The previous four stages shall conclude to the new EDDM system that must
lead to the intended improvements. The organisation should set control measures for this
new system through modified design and development procedures, the necessary training
to secure the skills required to implement new policies and by allocating budgets to
deploy the necessary resources. The design team shall ensure that the improvements,
once implemented, hold value and will not revert to the error-riddled baseline. The team
shall maintain a log to allow an effective review for the customers and the design team
and should seek feedback from the stakeholders. If the feedback is negative, corrections
should be taken immediately.
The design team may benefit the following due to these control measures: an increase
in reliability and accuracy, a reduction in customer complaints, cycle time reduction and
a reduction in rework. Graphical charts showing the planned versus the actual project
cost, the expended man hours and the physical work progress can be used as tools during
the ‘control’ stage.

4 Conclusions

For engineering design to stand the test of time and have sponsor support, the engineering
organisation must supply the customers with sound designs and cost-effective packages.
Those basic elements of business survival cannot be present without the right approach to
engineering design quality. The EDDM has been proposed and reviewed in this paper. It
is proposed that by following the steps outlined in this study, it shall result in a greater
advantage for the stakeholders and customers. Furthermore, the implications of this paper
could foster more and better implementations of the structured improvement perspectives
using the DMAIC Six Sigma roadmap for engineering organisations in the Middle East
and for other similar countries.
The effectiveness and efficiency are two paramount factors for a company which
makes it possible to arrive at excellence. These two factors which react on the process by
carrying out the improvement continues require the placement of the various tools of the
quality of which the goal to minimise the wasting and to reduce the cost of non-quality.
In our case, the improvement of our process requests the tools of quality like Pareto, the
histogram, curve, Ishikawa and the control charts to solve our problem which is the
reduction and optimisation of water consumption by applying method DMAIC.
Practically, our work is based on five essential phases which bring us to a good result
according to effective solutions. This improvement specifically enabled us to achieve our
goal which is to reduce the water consumption to a level equalises 3 L/LPF by preserving
same quality.
Six Sigma is a method of management of particularly effective progress. Exit of a
strongly connoted step quality in the beginning, it is relatively simple in the field of the
principle. Six Sigma is founded on an eternal rule which is checked since the night of
74 T. Sadraoui et al.

times in any C have since the man trades. To satisfy the customers, it is necessary to
deliver products of quality.
The drastic reduction in the rejects and the constant satisfaction of the customers are
indeed the best means of improving its profitability. The company is concerned, Six
Sigma thus exceeds the simple step of improvement continues expensive with the
traditional approaches quality. Six Sigma is a true method of management of progress
being registered in the heart even strategic step. The investment can be consequent, in
conformity with the awaited potential results. Six Sigma is in oneself a true
organisational revolution and managerial.
After these presentations of the basic principles, it is by experiment, that the whole of
the processes varies from one day to another and never repeat same manner. What one
notes in the everyday life is true also for the industrial and administrative processes. Until
now, the methods of analysis and the traditional tools used make it possible to reach only
results, in term of availability, quality, about 95% to 98% according to mediums’. To
arrive at a level of result measured in percent, can satisfy some but to progress of a point
does not represent the whole of the efforts to make to arrive at the desired results.
It becomes essential to change vision in order to be interested in the variability of the
processes and their control in order to progress in a notable way towards excellence.
The power of Six Sigma lies in its ‘empirical’ approach, controlled by the data (and
the use of quantitative measurements to check the manner whose system behaves) to
achieve the objective of improvement of the process and the reduction of dispersion. This
takes place by the application of projects known as ‘of improvement Six Sigma’ which,
in their turn follow the series of stages ‘DMAIC of Six Sigma’, to define (which is the
defect, to identify the projects according to the key characteristic), to measure (to
determine which measurement associated with the defect observed), to define an action
plan which helps to identify the sources and the potential causes of the defects, to analyse
(to determine which are the potential causes of the problem which affect the key
characteristics), to improve (to improve the process or the product, to eliminate or control
the sources of variation which affect the key characteristic) and to control (to control the
process the stability and of capability).
These indices enable us to obtain good interpretation and to make the adequate
decisions in the companies and specifically within the company SFBT Sfax, of which the
goal to improve the process by reducing the quantity of water consumption and to
minimise the wasting and the loss of water. This improvement is effective since the same
quality of water was kept and to achieve the goal. To apply this step and to check the
results obtained, we used the tools of quality like Pareto, the histogram, the curves and
the control charts using the software like Sigma XL, Minitab 14 and AMDEC. The
excellent results of this project applied to the reduction of the water consumption led
Coca Cola to apply Six Sigma to other projects such as the reduction of the consumption
of electricity, the improvement of the outputs the lines of production and the reduction in
the raw material losses.
The application of Six Sigma proves the industry is a small step towards an energy
economy. Once Six Sigma finds its rightful place in the energy-intensive process
industry, enormous gains can always be expected from its application. It is found that the
Six Sigma methodology is highly beneficial to improve the performance of any thermal
power plant. A higher consumption of DM water is found to be a big problem in a
thermal power plant. The causes for more DM water consumption are SWAS, problem of
valve passing, vacuum pump overflow, etc. SWAS makes a big impact, having a 33%
 Six Sigma: a new practice for reducing water consumption 75

contribution to DM water consumption. The mean make-up DM water is expected to go

down below 0.5%, which is substantial for any thermal power plant. It is revealed that the
application of the Six Sigma project recommendations brought up the sigma level to 1.63.
The estimated savings from the project after the implementation of all recommendations
are expected to be around 0.8 million dollars per annum. The DM water make-up
consumption is an isolated example of energy conservation measures in a process
industry.

Acknowledgements

The authors are heartily thankful to Ahmed Ghorbel, whose encouragement, guidance
and support from the initial to the final level enabled the authors to develop the subject of
statistical control process. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to
Jeng Nepomuceno-Silo for her supervision and guidance.

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