ABSTRACT

This chapter involves a company that manufactures flexible tanks used to hold volatile liquids. In the interior of the tank is a rubber product, referred to as an inner liner, that is coated with other materials that actually hold the liquids inside the tank, much like the inner liner of a tire holds air. This particular problem had apparently been around for as long as anyone could remember, and everyone on the team had doubts that this problem could actually be solved. Although the Problem Solving Roadmap was created to assist teams in solving problems, it is equally effective when used as a vehicle for process improvement. Not only is the roadmap in complete alignment with the Six Sigma methodology of define, measure, analyze, improve, and control, it is in alignment with the problem-solving teachings within Jeffrey Liker's The Toyota Way.