The fritted glaze process with water cooling method has been studied. The main objective was
to reduce the oversize defect at 50% via frit conveyer machine. This research applies the Six Sigma
process in order to better develop the process of producing fritted glazes. The research started from
studying the problem, identifying the goal, outlining the parameters of improvement, and analyzing
the assessment tool. A brainstorming session was initially needed to identify what potential factors
cause the frit to be larger than the standard size. Three tools were used to help find these factors including the Cause and Effect Diagram, Cause and Effect Matrix and Failure Mode Effective
Analysis (FMEA). Following that, the hypothesized factors were used to design the experiment in
order to find the real root cause of the problem, through the 2k factorial design method. The significant
factors were tested the parameter level and were afterward confirmed the results. The research showed
that the optimum conditions were letting water into machine from top pipes, side pipes, and small pipes
(Y4), width of brick furrow 4 centimeter and frequency of inverter at 37 Hz. The production of
oversize frit reduced from 7.69% to 2.78% at 95% confident level which is translated into a reduction
at 65.08%.
Keywords
Fritted Glazes, Ceramic Glazes, Six Sigma, Design of Experiments