Quality Revolution Reduces Defects, Drives Sales Growth at 3M

Seven years ago, leaders in 3M’s abrasives business saw that customer complaints were on the rise and belt failures were the no. 1 cause. The organization’s sales representatives were spending 40% of their time handling complaints instead of pursuing sales activities. Customers suffered and the organization lost sales, which limited business growth and financial objectives. As one vice president declared, it was time for a quality revolution.

3M was founded more than a century ago with a single technology—abrasives, often called sandpaper. Since then, the organization has grown into a $25 billion diversified technology giant, serving customers in six market-focused businesses. The abrasives division is part of the industrial and transportation business and provides innovative products such as tapes, adhesives, coatings, and abrasives for industrial and transportation customers. The organization’s coated abrasives come in many converted forms such as portable belts, back stand belts, utility sheets, cartridge rolls, utility shop rolls and more.

As customers of 3M’s abrasives products provided feedback—frequently complaints—to the sales, customer service, and quality teams, the need for significant quality improvement was apparent. When the executive vice president of the industrial and transportation unit declared the need for a quality revolution, he noted, “To achieve our growth goals we need a step-change improvement in quality.” Strategic goals rolled down to every division, factory, and product line with annual targets. Soon thereafter, the abrasives division established the following goals:

Specifically, the business unit initiated an improvement project to reduce belt DPPM from 12,000 to 500. To spearhead this work, the Abrasives Belt Fabrication Improvement Team was chartered in 2003.

All participants on the team are ASQ members by virtue of 3M’s ASQ Site membership for its Maplewood, MN, facility. Joe Pribyl, the abrasives quality manager, served as a coach for the improvement team.

The project worked to create value by providing more robust products that would perform better and longer to increase customers’ productivity. This coincides with 3M’s corporate goal: “Growth through customer success by building value for our customers.”

Prior to implementing the final solutions, several modifications were necessary. For example, with the Top-200, changes were made to products and standards, special handling procedures such as using new splice tape, and operator training. On the Lean Six Sigma side, typical changes included equipment upgrades as well as process, product, and documentation updates. This team project created several positive intangible and tangible results.

A key result of the Top-200 and Lean Six Sigma efforts is that 3M reduced its DPPM from 12,000 to just 475 in seven years. Not surprisingly, customer complaints dropped by 90% in the corresponding timeframe and the business realized the benefits of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and abrasives sales growth of 54% . By driving the bel ported the quality revolution by meeting defect reduction, cost of poor quality, and complaint response time goals.

3M sustains the process changes through its ISO 9001 procedures, which require audits, documentation, quality metrics, corrective actions, and management reviews. The team developed extensive control plans for both Top-200 and Lean Six Sigma projects. These plans, along with documentation, audits, and frequent training, continue to sustain 3M’s quality improvements over time. Several quality and business metrics are charted and monitored through plant dashboards for any statistical shifts that may warrant attention. In addition, external and internal feedback data are gathered through satisfaction and loyalty surveys and monitored to ensure that changes are delivering the expected results and continue to align with the organization’s goals and strategies. Team members report that the Top-200 process is now a way of life at 3M. The organization follows up with all critical accounts by conducting a trial production order and a tech service customer visit to ensure that 3M products meet the customer’s requirements.

Another benefit from this project was improved product and process understanding (PPU), notes Pribyl. He explains that PPU is the organization’s comprehensive quality improvement methodology linking voice of the customer data back through tests, product specifications, processes, procedures, and raw materials. “By truly understanding the science and technology behind our products and processes, we can control critical variables and deliver consistent products to our customers,” says Pribyl, an ASQ certified quality manager.