Boise 208

Six Sigma training helping Boise fine tune processes

SuccessfulOutreach Achieves Results February 2008

Boise Inc. manufactures a wide range of specialty and premium paper products, containerboard and corrugated products, imaging papers for office and home, printing and converting papers, newsprint and market pulp. The company has partnered with Auburn Technical Assistance Center (ATAC) for a number of years to provide Six Sigma training for green belt and black certification. Its in-house continuous improvement projects have resulted in millions of dollars in bottom-line cost savings and process enhancement applications.

It sounds like training in martial arts – disciplined students striving to attain green belts or black belts through weeks of intense study, sharply focused exercises, and the development of a mindset bent on following a process of problem solving and excellence.

It is Six Sigma training that for paper manufacturer, Boise Inc., blazes the path along the company’s continuous improvement journey.

Six Sigma applications in corporate America is credited largely to the vision of former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch, who revived the concepts of quality performance and challenged his company to use them as a practical way of conducting and managing business.

“It is not surprising in a process industry like Boise Paper to find a keen interest in Six Sigma,” said Dr. Mark Clark, Six Sigma instructor with the Auburn Technical Assistance Center (ATAC), who has taught classes of Boise personnel in the techniques of Six Sigma since around 2002, and presently is in the early stages of conducting a large class

of green and black belt training at the company’s Jackson, Ala. mill.

Not unlike Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma is a customer-focused continuous improvement system. The difference is where Lean techniques strive to drive out waste through the application of such tools as 5s (sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain) and standardized work processes and procedures, Six Sigma provides a data-driven approach to generating even better, more finely tuned process solutions.

“Most process industries can’t generate significant improvements by establishing

cellular flow and other lean-based improvement techniques that involve redesigning the production floor and material flow,” Clark says. “They have to attain improvements by making changes in the finer details of the process. That is where Six Sigma comes in, and, the two can work very well together.”

In a recent issue of “Industry Week,” Writer David Drickhamer described the two programs as follows: “Most companies began by applying basic lean-manufacturing techniques . . . As they reduced

unneeded inventory, and reduced waste, they discovered the need for even more advanced methods of uncovering the root cause of abnormalities.”

That advanced method is Six Sigma, explains Clark.

“Sigma is simply a mathematical description of a standard deviation from the mean – or perhaps in more laymen’s terms – how much variation is in a process,” Clark explains. “In statistical terms, reaching Six Sigma means that your process is performing with very little deviation and almost no defects.”

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Boise Paper has long been a proponent of Six Sigma, says Marty Parker, the company’s customer focus/governmental affairs manager.

“We have employed Six Sigma projects on a number of our process areas, and through partnering with ATAC, we have trained some 70 green and black belts within our company,” Parker said. “Over the years, these projects have resulted in millions of dollars in bottom-line cost savings and process improvement applications.”

Trainees typically can attain green belt certification over two-weeks of classroom work through ATAC’s Six Sigma program. Black belt certification is a four-week session, which also includes a project. The week-long sessions are not consecutive.

“There are gaps between each week of classroom training,” Clark said. “The idea is to provide some of the tools and then enable the trainees time to apply them within their organizations.”

Moreover, the black belt projects require sufficient time for the trainees to identify meaningful and manageable

Auburn Technical Assistance Center was established in 1976 and is an affiliate of the Alabama Technology Network and an Economic Development Administration University Center. As an Outreach arm of the Auburn University College of Business, ATAC provides business and technical assistance, customized training, and consultation in implementing value-added strategies to manufacturers and other businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies in Alabama and the Southeast.

Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institute/employer.

“The improvements that we’ve achieved through applying Six Sigma in our Jackson (Ala.) paper mill have been noticed and

are now being applied in other Boise facilities.” -- Marty Parker

Boise Inc.

opportunities for improvement, gather data and conduct a thorough analysis. Their work culminates with a presentation to company management. It has been shown that project success is more likely to occur when the project is linked to the company’s organizational goals.

“We have conducted projects on various components within our paper making processes,” Parker adds. “Projects have ranged from trying to reduce the amount of dyes and other chemicals used in bleaching and washing, thus lowering both chemical costs and improving environmental factors; to drilling down into tiny details that have proven to have dramatic change effects on the overall quality of our product, process flow and the operation of the paper machines.”

The positive impacts of Six Sigma aren’t limited to the paper manufacturing processes, Parker notes.

“The improvements that we’ve achieved through applying Six Sigma in our Jackson paper mill have been noticed and are now being applied in other Boise facilities,” Parker said. “The results also have captured the attention of our marketing people, who now are working in concert with production personnel because

they understand that even very small improvements can provide a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

Boise Inc. manufactures a wide range of specialty and premium paper products, containerboard and corrugated products, imaging papers for office and home, printing and converting papers, newsprint, and market pulp. Boise Inc. formed following the Aldabra 2 Acquisition Corp. purchase of the paper and packaging assets of Boise Cascade, L.L.C., in February 2008. Visit www.BoiseInc.com.

Drs. Mark Clark, left, and Amit Mitra -- ATAC Six Sigma instructors -- provide input during a recent black belt presentation.

Boise Paper Converting Superintendent Elizabeth Hargrove presents her black belt project on paper brightness control and efficiency.