Continuous improvement in the rubber extrusion process of a tyre company: the case of Pirelli & C. S.p.A.

The thesis “Continuous improvement in the rubber extrusion process of a tyre company: the case of Pirelli & C. S.p.A.” has been developed during my curricular internship in the company. I developed the thesis in the Quality function of “Manufacturing Continuous Improvement Quality”, that integrated with the Quality Data Analytics team, is strictly related to plants reality, in order to support their activities for the improvement of processes and of internal quality KPI (Key Performance Indicators) such as related to defects, waste and finished product scraps. The purpose of this function is to assure that the manufacturing and control process are capable of assuring the product conformity. The conformity of product is not intended only for the finished product but at each stage of the tyre production process for all the semi-finished products. The case study has been developed in the tread extrusion area of the Qplex line of the Settimo Torinese Plant. The objective of the thesis is to analyze how to improve tread extrusion performances through statistical process control, using online measurements, extracting data from online profilometer and to define appropriate data filtering and analysis algorithm for both product and process evaluation.