Failure analysis with 8D method in production processes: A case study in automotive industry

Quality improvement enhancement in the whole production process within the entire is the main point. As a result of the improvement of quality, failures in production processes will prevent. In this sense, product/process quality improvements can be made by analyzing failures in production processes, determining the root causes of failures, and eliminating failures. This study was exercised so that the variables impressing customer complaints, and quality management would be identified as a case study in the automotive industry. The purposes of this dissertation are to eliminate active and recurring failures by using the 8D methodology including FMEA, five why analyses and Ishikawa diagram to increase the efficiency of the method in the framework of lean production. Therefore, it was applying to the process where the 8D problem-solving occurrences were for all chronic problems. Besides, it was aimed to contribute to the industry and the literature by using this method effectively. This investigation carried out using a qualitative and quantitative approach in a case study of the 8D methodology used in the industry. The findings obtained were analyzed with a mixed model, which includes quantitative and qualitative research methods. The qualitative study was measured, the 8D methodology is a suitable problem-solving tool or not. In the quantitative approach, the effects of using the method in increasing the quality level and reducing the quality costs were determined. After the case study of the 8D methodology, the total ppm (parts per million) value decreased from 1.071 to about 0, and this enhancement resulted in tangible benefits. This result has supported besides findings of the research together with the ppm values. This study's findings were appropriate with the related literature, which was the proposed increase in the 8D improvement with the production process and removed the failures. It can be seen that the 8D could be used as a quality tool in process improvement and increase the efficiency of quality. Future studies could be proposed only for other production and quality cases where the 8D methodology applied in the automotive will use the others industries, and these reports can be contributed to the literature.