Acadia Polymers

James E. Bierman, Senior Process Engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt

Acadia Polymers is a QS-9000 certified manufacturer of sealing products for automotive and heavy-duty transmissions located in Iron Gate, Virginia.

Acadia launched its Six Sigma program in July of 2000 and has formally adopted the methodology as its corporate operating system for continuous improvement. Since operational excellence is a key goal at Acadia, Six Sigma is seen as a way to "recognize unrealized potential." According to James Bierman, Senior Process Engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt, "Our goal is to improve our process outputs to a Six Sigma level or a PPM level of 3.4. In any company, support and commitment at all levels is key to the success of any initiative. This support may be in the form of training, manpower, software, or equipment. As our chosen tool for data analysis, Minitab is being used company-wide for all Green Belt and Black Belt projects. We've been using Minitab in our engineering and quality departments, and have expanded the use of the software to our transactional areas such as finance and human resources."

Acadia's Black Belt Team
Back Row, left to right: Greg Taylor, James Hunter, James Bierman. Front Row, left to right: Janie Campbell, Judy White, Linda Spinks

James described how Minitab is used in several stages of Acadia's Six Sigma projects: "In the DEFINE stage, Minitab is used to organize data from the baseline period and predict the financial impact a project will have. In the MEASURE phase, it is used to evaluate the measurement systems used and identify focus points of the project through Pareto analysis. The ANALYZE phase involves the use of multi-vari charts and regression and correlation studies. In the IMPROVE phase, we use the DOE tools, ANOVA, and regression models. Minitab's response optimizer functionality is very useful. The CONTROL phase involves using Minitab to calculate specification limits."

When asked to name his favorite Minitab tools and features, Bierman said, "The response optimizer is great and the newly added Project Manager feature that allows me to save projects and worksheets is also useful. The addition of Attribute Gage R & R (Release 13.3) is a big plus as well. More than a few specific aspects of the software, it is the total package that Minitab provides that makes it the best selection." He also added, "When I encountered problems with the application of the tools in Minitab, I was able to get a quick response and support. The technical support folks are knowledgeable and always able to help me resolve my problems."