Six Sigma Award for VACOM

Großlöbichau. The Six Sigma Award of the European Six Sigma Club Germany in the category "Practice" goes to VACOM this year. The prize winner is the physicist Dr Francisc Haidu from the Cleaning Technology team. His project "Development and improvement of OEE key figures in the high-end area of industrial parts cleaning" convinced the Six Sigma jury. The prize is endowed with 500 euros and will be presented in Wiesbaden in March.

Francisc Haidu has been working for clean surfaces at VACOM for more than seven years. The 36-year-old physicist develops processes in which components are cleaned under vacuum conditions and temperature influence. The basis for his development work is residual gas analysis. He and his colleagues use this measuring method to detect impurities on component surfaces. These contaminations are caused by substances such as oils, greases and cooling lubricants.

"The development of cleaning processes is one of the daily challenges at VACOM. Every month, we clean more than 5000 different components that vary in geometry, weight and materials. In order for us to clean components economically, customised and efficiently, a targeted review of our overall system effectiveness is necessary," says Francisc Haidu.

For one year, the project team around the doctor of physics evaluated and weighted statistical key figures and cleaning processes within the company with the help of analysis software. The result is that the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) can be optimised.

"This project result is of great value to us. We now have an OEE cockpit with which we can systematically optimise the performance of our cleaning systems in the future," says Dr. Michael Flämmich, member of the management board at VACOM and responsible for the VACOM cleanFAB business unit.