The use of Six Sigma has saved GW Plastics tens of thousands of dollars, and the company expects current projects to yield even larger savings, company officials report. The company started several Six Sigma projects 14 months ago with the goal of increasing weigh-count throughput and in-process inspection effectiveness, and reducing cycle time and scrap. It’s trained 20 Green Belts and eight more employees will complete the training this month. The first few projects took four to six months to complete and averaged $20,000 in annual savings per project.

“We believe in this disciplined method,” says Sumanesh Agrawal, GW Plastics corporate director of quality and continuous improvement. “Six Sigma gives employees a methodical and structured approach to follow.”

With the objective of “driving Six Sigma to permeate the company’s culture,” GW Plastics’ Green Belts represent a cross section of employees from hourly to salaried, including participants from different functions such as accounting, quality, production, materials, engineering and molding. The company’s Six Sigma program is driven by a steering committee comprised of plant managers and top executives, including its president and CEO, Brenan Riehl.

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