To reduce the defects in the packaging process of sushi frozen shrimps with laminated bags. A Pareto analysis on the nature of defects revealed that there were six types of defects on the bags that were significant, namely: wrong information, presence of unwanted shrimp crust, missing information, sagging, uneven seals, and misplaced seals. The causes of these defects were identified by brainstorming of experienced and concerned people with the use of cause and effect diagrams. Cause and effect matrices were then used to prioritize the potential causes and found that there were five major factors which may reduce defects if their appropriate operating parameters were used. The appropriate operating parameters of the five factors were then determined with a design of experiment with 2⁵ factorials. They were then used as standards and included in the newly developed work procedure for operators. Operators were trained and controlled to follow the new work procedure. In the first four months of the introduction of process improvements, the defects of the laminated bags in the sushi frozen shrimp packages reduced from 3.19% to 0.01%.
