Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to: 1) reduce the quantity of waste caused by errors in the filling process; and 2) find the methods to reduce waste in the filling process of ready-made medicines in the factory as a case of study by applying the operational approach of Six Sigma projects, including Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) for five steps.
The process of this research were: 1) Define the waste problem which occurred from errors of filling processes, defining the goal, setting scope of modification and building a team for brainstorming;2) Measure condition there data collection about waste sorting;3) Analyze brainstorm the causes of waste to create cause and effect diagram, coupled with analyzing Failure Mode and Effect Analyze process by estimating the severity of effect, the probabilities of effect, and the ability of error identification. Then the Risk Priority Number was calculated to reduce their score to less than 100 points; 4) Improve by adding an examination process into filling processes, designing documents to determine work procedures, and training how to work properly;and 5) Control was performed by creating a waste database as a history for solving problems in the future, making documents about controlling filling processes to make filling have the highest efficiency and comparing waste data before and after modification.
The results of this study indicated: 1) the quantity of waste occurrence was reduced from 73 boxes (0.033%) to 3 boxes (0.002%) the average quantity of waste was reduced from 7 boxes per month to 1 box per 4 months; and 2) methods were found to prevent defects that arise by increasing design of documents about the inspection process and the control of filling process from adjustment the quality of preventive measures in filing process. As a result, value of waste after the filling-processes modification of ready-made medicines in the factory was reduced to 95.891%.
Keywords: Waste Reduction, Filling Processes, Medicinal Products for Humans.