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To cite this article: Nicole C. Anderson & Jamison V. Kovach (2014) Reducing Welding Defects in Turnaround Projects: A Lean
Six Sigma Case Study, Quality Engineering, 26:2, 168-181, DOI: 10.1080/08982112.2013.801492
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Quality Engineering, 26:168–181, 2014
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0898-2112 print/1532-4222 online
DOI: 10.1080/08982112.2013.801492
one specialty construction company used the Lean Six Sigma methodology
Houston, Texas
to reduce welding defects in turnaround projects. As a result, they improved
project performance and identified solutions that were implemented
company-wide. From a broader perspective, this research demonstrates
how Lean Six Sigma can be applied in service-based environments such
as turnaround projects. It also provides evidence of the tangible benefits
that can be achieved within specialty construction operations using process
improvement strategies.
INTRODUCTION
Because customer expectations are constantly changing and evolving,
organizations must continuously improve their products/services to remain
competitive (Flynn et al. 1995; Reed et al. 2000). Reducing or eliminating
defects or errors associated with products or services is one way that
organizations can set themselves apart from their competitors (Hinckley and
Barkan 1996; National Institute of Standards and Technology 2011). In the
construction industry, successful project completion leads to high customer
satisfaction. Achieving this, however, requires cooperation between clients
and contractors to deter budget overruns and/or schedule delays. To avoid
schedule delays, construction companies need to implement structured
project planning/management methods early in the project life cycle and
Address correspondence to
Jamison V. Kovach, Department clarify their understanding about the project environment, scope, and
of Information and Logistics requirements (Casinelli 2005). For example, industrial process plants,
Technology, 312 Technology
Building, University of Houston,
such as petrochemical plants and refineries, require occasional scheduled
Houston, TX 77204. E-mail: shutdowns for inspection, repair, and/or maintenance (Bertolini et al.
jvkovach@uh.edu 2009). These events, or turnarounds, require services provided by specialty
Color versions of one or more of piping and welding construction companies to safely return process plants
the figures in the article can be
found online at
to normal operation. Due to the high opportunity cost of these plants being
www.tandfonline.com/lqen. out of service for extended periods of time, avoiding schedule delays is a
168
priority in turnaround projects (Megow et al. as turnaround projects. The next section provides
2011). further background on welding defects and describes
Schedule delays caused by unexpected downtime some of their potential causes. Then, a brief
in turnaround projects can result in significant discussion about the Lean Six Sigma methodology
financial losses due to the loss of production is presented. The subsequent sections describe the
capability or rework/repair costs (Lenahan 2006). For work conducted as part of this study, including a
example, the daily revenue loss for downtime at a discussion of the project results. The final section
refinery, such as a crude oil distillation unit with a suggests how the success of the project benefits the
capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, is approximately company where this project was conducted, as well
$2.47 million (Almazrouee et al. 2010). Direct as the turnaround industry as a whole, now and in
shutdown and turnaround costs include the labor of the future.
pipe fitters and inspectors, along with the additional
material costs associated with repairing welds and BACKGROUND
replacing defective pipes (Megow et al. 2011). Welding is commonly used to connect sections
Though welding repair costs are relatively minor in of pipeline during initial construction and later
comparison to the loss of revenue associated with repair work for turnaround projects. Because welded
Downloaded by [University of New Mexico] at 00:36 24 November 2014
extended schedule delays for turnaround projects, connections, also called ‘‘butt welds,’’ serve as
a tremendous amount of pressure is placed on a critical point of failure in pressurized pipeline
the company performing the turnaround work to systems, much time is spent on the process of
deliver a high-quality service and stay on schedule. welding sections of pipeline together. This work is
Downtime due to repairing defective welds may done to ensure that stress concentrations on the
cause schedule delays and indirectly affect future welds do not result in connection failures (Lotsberg
business for welding construction companies. Factors 2009). Butt welds are commonly inspected for
such as decreased customer satisfaction, loss of internal defects through the use of a nondestructive
company reputation, and/or inability to bid on future form of examination known as radiographic testing.
projects may contribute to a loss of revenue for these In this type of test, the quality of each weld is
companies (Chatterjee et al. 2002). To retain current determined through the visual review of X-rays of
customers and gain new business, such organizations welds by an expert (Qingming et al. 2010).
use performance and delivery guarantees to prove Some types of welding defects that are typically
their reputation among their competitors (Chatterjee observed include lack of fusion and porosity. Lack
et al. 2002; Kumar et al. 2007). of fusion occurs when the weld metal does not
This research specifically addresses the need to come into full contact with the base metal, such
reduce welding defects in turnaround projects. Using as the beveled edge surface of a carbon steel pipe
an action research approach (Reason and Bradbury (Souza et al. 2009). Porosity occurs in gas tungsten
2008), researchers worked closely with a specialty arc welding when gas that is captured during the
construction company located near Houston, Texas, welding process creates small internal voids in a weld
to address an increase in the number of weld (Nandhitha et al. 2009). For example, cross-air (i.e.,
repairs that occurred during turnaround projects wind) disturbances affect the gas shielding of the
completed in 2011. To investigate this problem, the weld, increasing the chance of porosity occurring.
improvement project team used the Lean Six Sigma This type of weld imperfection affects the quality
methodology, a well-known, structured problem- of the weld, which may lead to connection failures
solving approach that helps to improve existing once a turnaround project is complete (Zhiyong et al.
process performance and capability (George 2002; 2009).
Kumar et al. 2007). Little documented research Additional causes of defects for butt welds include
exists on the use of this methodology in the issues related to welder performance, such as
turnaround industry; hence, this research attempts inadequate training, poor execution of the required
to fill this gap in the literature by providing a welding procedure, and poor eyesight/eye injury.
case study that demonstrates how Lean Six Sigma To allocate welders to jobs by skill level, many
can be applied in service-based environments such organizations initially test and rank their welders by
have only recently started being used in the is measured and compared against the baseline
construction industry (Ferng and Price 2005). For established in the Measure phase to determine the
example, Pheng and Hui (2004) described how degree of improvement achieved through the project
to apply Six Sigma in construction, specifically (Kumar et al. 2007). The goal of the Control phase is
for building projects, and Stewart and Spencer to hold the gains made in the improved process. This
(2006) discussed a case study that improves the includes developing a control/process management
construction of concrete beams for a raised railway plan that documents, monitors, and controls the
station. More recently, it has been suggested that Six improved process (Rasis et al. 2002). The specific
Sigma methods can be used in construction projects details regarding how this methodology was applied,
to reduce workflow variability and provide more using an action research approach, to reduce welding
concrete measures of project performance (Han et al. defects for one specialty construction company is
2008). discussed in the following section.
Lean encompasses practices for streamlining
processes to create high-quality products/services CASE STUDY
with little or no waste (Shah and Ward 2003).
Company Background
The goal of Six Sigma is to ‘‘reduce variation in
organizational processes by using improvement JV Industrial Companies (JVIC), Ltd., is an
specialists, a structured method, and performance industry-leading turnaround, construction, and
metrics with the aim of achieving strategic objectives’’ fabrication services organization headquartered near
(Schroeder et al. 2008, p. 540). Since their inception, Houston, Texas. This company provides complete
these approaches have evolved from manufacturing construction solutions for industrial clients across
process improvement techniques into overall business the United States. The company's core values
strategies. Today, for companies to invest their time include superior safety, quality, service, integrity,
in implementing these methodologies, quantifiable personal responsibility, and personal accountability.
long-term payoffs must be evident (Hahn et al. 2000). JVIC's services for process plant turnaround projects
Used together, these methods help to streamline include piping and specialty welding, tower revamp
business processes by reducing/eliminating defects and reconfigurations, bolted connections for process
and waste, which effectively increases production equipment assembly, automated weld overlay, and
capacity (Nonthaleerak and Hendry 2006). customized fabrication facilities. The company-wide
The Lean Six Sigma methodology follows a five- goal for the average weld repair rate (i.e., the
phase approach, known as DMAIC (define, measure, total number of rejected butt welds divided by the
analyze, improve, and control). The purpose of the total number of butt welds inspected by X-ray) on
Define phase is to identify the project goals and turnaround projects is 2% or less. When the weld
and welding material vendors, equipment vendors, be set up before the process can proceed. Once a
and design engineers. In addition to the completed weld has been completed, an inspection process will
welded system, other outputs for turnaround projects determine whether repairs are needed. Inspection
are inspection reports and detailed weld logs used for documentation is completed when all welds have
FIGURE 2 Detailed view of the pipe welding process (boxes in gray denote process steps associated with the root causes identified
in Figure 10).
FIGURE 3 Measurement system flowchart (with improvements noted by dotted line boxes).
high butt weld repair rate for La Porte projects that detect whether a problem has occurred, where 10
represents that the control is nearly certain not to
are due to the environment is the weather (listed in
detect the problem/no controls and 1 represents that
the upper right of the diagram). Various aspects of
the control is almost certain to detect the problem.
the weather, such as humidity, temperature, rain, or
The issues identified through FMEA were prioritized
wind, could affect the quality of the welds performed
based on their risk priority number, or RPN (i.e., the
at job sites. Specifically, improper wind breaks is product of the ratings for severity, occurrence, and
a potential cause that explains how wind/weather detection), in order to determine which problems
may lead to weld repairs. The items in Figure 8 represent the highest risk of failure (i.e., highest
that are circled will be explained further in the risk of causing defective welds). A portion of the
Analyze phase of the project. The potential causes of FMEA for this project is shown in Table 1 for
weld repairs together with the steps of the welding the items with the highest RPN. These items are
process, shown previously in Figure 2, were used to related to the process steps denoted in gray in
further investigate the causes of defective welds. Figure 2 and the potential causes circled in Figure 8,
FIGURE 8 Potential causes of defective welds (items circled are associated with the root causes identified in Figure 10).
shown previously. The issues associated with the option does fulfill the desired characteristic. The
highest RPN were identified as the root causes of total score is calculated by summing the scores
defective welds. The first two rows of the FMEA down each column of the matrix, and the solution(s)
indicate that root cause 1 is related to wind/incorrect with the highest score represent the most beneficial
windshielding and the five additional rows included solution(s). For this project, four solutions were
in Table 1 suggest that root cause 2 is related to the identified for reducing defective welds. To reduce
use of incorrect welding techniques/inexperienced the wind impact on the welding process, inspecting
welders. windshields (solution C) and training welders how
to use windshields (solution E) were the highest
Improve Phase rated solutions, as illustrated in Figure 9. To improve
In the Improve phase, the project team conducted welder performance, developing standard welder
additional brainstorming sessions to develop training (solution F) and implementing annual
potential solutions for the two root causes of eyesight tests (solution H) were the highest rated
defective welds identified previously through solutions, as shown in Figure 10.
FMEA: (1) wind/incorrect windshielding and (2) The four top-rated solution ideas developed in
use of incorrect welding techniques/inexperienced this project were presented to and approved by
welders. Prioritization matrices were then used to JVIC management for implementation at the La Porte
evaluate the solution ideas for each root cause division. For solution C, inspecting windshields, a
(Tague 2005). In these matrices, solution options field fabrication shop design standard was created
are listed across the top row and the desired for use during installation of windshields by a third-
characteristics (developed by the project team) are party scaffolding company at the client's project
given in the left-most column. Solution options are sites where welding activities take place. To reduce
then evaluated based on how well the solution the wind impact on the welding process, the new
fulfills each of the desired characteristics. In this design standard shows elements such as required
project, these evaluations were completed using a fabrication shop bay widths, appropriate roof slope
1, 3, 9 scale, where 1 represents that the solution for adequate rain drainage, and desired shop
option does not fulfill the desired characteristic location in regards to northern wind direction. In
very well and 9 represents that that the solution addition, JVIC distributed a field fabrication shop
at 3.66% (see Figure 5), and it is below the original welders in a group to pass the evaluations with a
project goal of 2.75%. The improvements made as minimum of six passing; however, if the pass rate
a result of this project generated an annual savings drops below six, this will set off an action alarm
of $90,000 from direct labor costs for JVIC. Further that will cause the Quality Control Department to
revenue may be generated as a result of this project launch a root cause investigation to determine the
through continued business for JVIC from current underlying cause of the problem and correct it.
customers and other potential new business. Finally, the weld repair rate for welders who have
and have not completed Welder University will be
Control Phase tracked using a run chart as illustrated in Figure 15,
During the Control phase, the project team created where the goal is for the weld repair ratio to be
a plan to sustain the gains made through the 2% or less. The benefits of tracking performance
project. The control plan for the project included (1) in this manner are twofold. First, JVIC can actively
documenting the improvements made to the process, monitoring welder performance, which will enable
(2) training employees to properly perform the them to take action to continue to improve welder
improved process, (3) monitoring the performance performance as along as the weld repair ratio is less
of the improved process, and (4) auditing aspects than 2%. Second, this run chart provides JVIC with
of the improved process to ensure it is performed measures that offer some indication of the impact that
properly. JVIC's corporate policies and procedures the Welder University training may have on welder
were revised/established to reflect the improvements performance.
made as a result of this project. These changes
include requiring the use of field fabrication shop
design standards for installing windshields at project
sites, training welders on the use of personal
windshields and on proper welding techniques
through Welder University, and annual eyesight tests
for welders company-wide.
To monitor performance related to some of the
improvements made, the time to complete Welder
University will be tracked by JVIC using a run chart,
as shown in Figure 13. The current goal is for
welders to complete this training in 10 weeks, but
this will be adjusted if it is found that welders need
more/less time to complete the training. Welders' FIGURE 14 Welder University pass rate tracking.
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