| Summary: | 碩士 === 正修科技大學 === 工業工程與管理研究所 === 99 === Pectin has a wide range of applications in the food, medicine and cosmetics industry. Lemon peels are a common source for extraction and production of pectin for commercial and pharmaceutical purposes. Such use increases the agricultural waste utilization rate and adds value to agriculture, consequently enhancing the competitive edge of agriculture in Taiwan.
This study investigated the parameters of lemon pectin production process by means of a systematically improved DMAIC process and tools for each phase. In the Define phase, a SIPOC diagram was used to define the quality characteristic as the quantity of lemon pectin. A Gage R&R analysis was performed in the Measure phase to determine whether the measurement system was appropriate, and a process capability analysis was also carried out. In the Analyze phase, factors that may influence the quality characteristic were explored using a fishbone diagram. The Taguchi Method was adopted in the Improve phase, and the orthogonal array of L18(21 × 37) was chosen for experiments. Factors B, C, D and E are significant factors, so a standard with a larger S/N was selected as the new process parameters; as for insignificant factors, lowest costs and the least amount of time were the determinants for the new process parameters. In terms of experiment verification, the confidence intervals for the predicted value and experimental value overlapped, which conforms to the hypothesis of the Taguchi Method. The two-sample t-test results before and after the improvement revealed that the quantity of pectin before and after the improvement exhibited a significant difference at the 95% confidence level, and the quantity increased after the improvement (10.0012-11.7548%). The sampled data regarding the process capability analysis after the improvement showed that the values are under control and conform to normality. In the Control phase, quality control was performed for two months using the control chart, and all of the sampled data were under control. In addition, alterations were made on the process parameters, and educational training was offered to operators, in order to ensure the implementation of new process parameters.
After the improvement of the process parameters, the S/N ratio, the quality characteristic, showed an increase from 29.95 to 31.14, the average value increased from 25.28% to 3617%, and Cpk (CPL)increased from 0.71 to 3.44, with three days saved for production.
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