DMAIC Case Study:

Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain Problem

Introduction and Background

One of the most important factors in achieving long-term sales growth and profitability
is improving, or at least maintaining, the quality of services, products, workplaces, and
marketing practices. Businesses that want to improve product quality must incorporate quality
practices into their daily operations. As a result, rather than being an afterthought, quality must
be an integral part of a company's performance and day-to-day operations management. As
Nokia Corporation is the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, with customers in 130
countries. It has a market share of 85% of the global Windows phone market. Nokia is a well-
known electronics company that specializes in network infrastructure, location-based
technologies, and other cutting-edge technologies. Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Enterprise
Solutions, and Networks are the four business groups that make up Nokia. Despite being a
stronger company than it was in 2011, it is once again standing on a burning platform. Nokia is
not even in the top five smart phone sales companies, despite owning almost all Windows
Phone sales and producing some excellent phone hardware. One of the major issues it faces is
complaints about Nokia's mobile phones' batteries draining too quickly. In response with this
problem, the company requires improvement strategies that make efficient and effective use of
the available resources.

Many of the world's most successful companies are using lean tools and techniques to
boost productivity and quality. The application of Six Sigma is a widely used performance
strategy improvement. The DMAIC Six Sigma method has the potential to improve shop floor
quality. Define, measure, analyze, improve, and control are the phases of the DMAIC
methodology. The Six Sigma DMAIC process is an incremental improvement system for existing
processes that are falling short of specifications. This paper aims to investigate the Nokia's
Mobile Battery Drain Problem.
Methodology

A DMAIC approach is presented in this paper to find out the causes of Nokia's Mobile
Battery Drain Problem. DMAIC is an effective tool that helps expose and kill the root causes of
defects in the process and thereby helps achieve higher customer satisfaction through
improved quality.

a) Define

The most important step in using the Six Sigma DMAIC approach is to define the
problem's scope. There are four factors why Nokia's mobile phones' batteries drains quickly.
The use of the device by users is the first reason. Users usually overuse and overcharge their
devices, and their devices' operating systems may not have been updated. The device's
materials could be the second reason. It could be low-tech in comparison to other brands, have
out-of-date phone parts, or have an old and worn-out battery. The device itself could be the
third reason. This could be due to a CPU temperature issue, a faulty or low battery capacity on
your devices, or a failure to update its software offerings. The last reason are the personnel
who create these devices. They lack knowledge of how to properly protect the smartphone's
battery, lack expertise in the skills required for the product, and have failed to adapt to
changing market dynamics. Figure 1 shows the process flow of the production of the Nokia’s
Mobile Phones.

Figure 1. Process flow of the manufacturing process of Nokia’s Mobile Phones

b) Measure

In this phase, the battery performance of some Nokia mobile phone models are
analyzed with comparison to other brand mobile phone models. In the first test, the mobile
phones are tested with its web browsing battery life using with and mobile data. A bar graph
was plotted and shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Graph of Web Browsing Battery Life (in Wifi and 2G/3G)

The Lumia 930 comes with a built-in 2420 mAh 3.8 V battery with a total capacity of 9.2
Wh. The battery in the Galaxy S5, which has the same screen size and also has a removable
battery, is significantly smaller. Unfortunately, with just over five hours of Wi-Fi battery life, the
Lumia 930 is one of the worst performers in recent memory in terms of battery life. During
these tests, the phone becomes extremely warm. When displaying the mostly white content of
our web browsing tests, the AMOLED display in this phone appears to draw an excessive
amount of power. Unsurprisingly, HSPA performs even worse than Wi-Fi, with only 4:20 of
runtime.
 Windows Phone also includes a Battery Saver feature, which disables most background
tasks from being able to function unless you have specifically allowed them. The second test is
performed using the Battery Saver feature. A bar graph was plotted and shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Graph of Web Browsing Battery Life Battery Saver (using Wifi)

The Lumia 630's battery life was significantly extended as a result of this. The Lumia
630's Battery Saver has a significant impact on battery life, as shown in Figure 3. In this test, the
Lumia 630, which has a smaller battery, performs significantly better with its low resolution LCD
display.
 Another test involves playing a 720p video with the display brightness set to 75% and
airplane mode turned on. In Figure 4, a graph has been plotted.

Figure 4. Battery-Life Test: Video Playback.

As shown in Figure 4, the results of a typical video playback battery life test are quite
interesting. The State of Charge (SOC) on every other phone we tested had a dedicated video
decoding/encoding block capable of 720p decoding. Because the Nokia X's MSM8225 doesn't
have that luxury, it had to decode on the CPU for the playback test, significantly reducing
battery life. Nonetheless, the above test accurately depicts how long the X lasts when decoding
HD content.
 A graph showing charge times for the device from a flat battery is also included below in
Figure 5. When switching from a 10W to a 7.5W charger, it shows no difference in charging
time, indicating that the extra power input has no effect because the power management chip
throttles the higher amperage.

Figure 5. Charging Time

 c) Analyze

This phase is used for identifying and determining all the factors that affect the process
or procedure of handling the product from the beginning to the customer and lead to defects.
The main tools used to analyze the Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain Problem are the following:

1. Fishbone Diagram. The Fishbone Diagram, also known as the Ishikawa diagram,
identifies possible causes for an impact or problem. This tool is used to identify the
problem's root causes by categorizing each potential cause of the problem. Common
uses of this visualization tool are product design and quality defect prevention to
identify potential factors causing overall effect.

MACHINE METHOD

CPU Temperature Issue Overuse

Overcharged
Low battery capacity

Failed to update its Downgrade

software offerings software/OS

MOBILE
BATTERY
DRAINING
Failed to adapt the
market dynamics Low tech compared
to other brands

Insufficient expertise
in the skills required Outdated phone parts
regarding the product

Unawareness how to Old & worn out battery

properly protect the
smartphone’s battery

MAN MATERIAL

Figure 6. Fishbone Diagram

2. Why-Why Analysis. A why-why analysis is a method of searching for and finding the
root causes of the problem. This is conducted to determine solutions to a problem that
address its root causes. This tool also helps us identify how to actually prevent the issue
from happening again.

PROBLEM:
Mobile Battery Draining

CPU Temperature Issue

Failed to update its

software offerings

Failed to adapt the market dynamics

Low tech compared to other brands

Downgrade software/OS

Outdated phone parts

Old & worn out battery

Low battery capacity

Insufficient expertise in the

skills required regarding
the product

Overcharged

Overuse

Unawareness how to properly

protect the smartphone’s
battery

Figure 7. Why-Why Analysis

d) Improve

This phase is to determine the action that needs to be taken to find out the causes of
the Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain Problem. As we have experienced, the most common and
worrying situation about smartphones is the battery life. Almost every smartphone user is
faced with this problem with phones or battery cycles. This is the reason why many users
complain that their smartphone’s battery does not last for even half an hour.

Nokia is known for making high-performance smartphones, so battery issues are rare.
However, some users complained a lot in the company’s forum about the battery draining
issue. They also reported that the smartphone battery was draining fast after an update or do
not charge at all. There can be different reasons for the phone battery draining faster than
usual. The causes and possible actions or solutions are given in the figure 8 below.

DEFECT CATEGORY CAUSES POSSIBLE ACTIONS/SOLUTIONS

CPU Temperature Issue Keep your device between 32 to

95°F or 0 to 35°C when it's charging
or performing tasks
Machine
Low battery capacity Use the power saving feature
Failed to update its software Learn to accept opportunities
offerings
Overuse Disable network connections,
location services & some other
services when not in use
Overcharged Don’t let your phone charging for
Method too long. Make sure you unplug it
from the charger after it reaches
MOBILE
100%
BATTERY
Downgrade software/OS Make sure it has all of the current
DRAINING
software updates
Failed to adapt the market Learn to adapt to new market trends
dynamics
Insufficient expertise in the skills Employees must be creative and
Man required regarding the product innovative with their product
Unawareness how to properly Be aware of how to use and care for
protect the smartphone’s battery things properly especially if you own
them
Low tech compared to other Conduct competitive benchmarking
brands
Material
Outdated phone parts Use the latest and updated phone
Old & worn out battery parts at all times

Figure 8. Causes and Possible Actions or Solutions to a Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain Problem
e) Control

We need to ensure in this phase that the full-scale implementation of the improvement
action plans is carried out. Controls need to be set up controls to monitor the system so that
gains are sustained. A lot of things can cause your battery to drain rapidly. Some of the reasons
behind this issue are overuse, overcharged, use of outdated mobile phone, and many more.

Based on the identified root causes, appropriate improvements are proposed. A

structured improving effort can lead to innovative solution that can improve the baseline
measure. All users especially those who have experienced the Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain
Problem have identified the possible improvement actions and tested the improvements. These
include the following:

 Analyze your Battery use.

 Turn off adaptive battery/brightness.

 Reduce Sleep/Screen Settings.

 Always switch on Battery Saver. Although Android comes with Battery saver mode &
App standby that helps us saving lots of battery but still sometimes we may not get that
result which we were expecting to get.

 Restart/reboot your device & see some changes.

 Try clearing Cache data.

 Avoid downloading high-end apps which drains the battery.

 Disable unnecessary apps/bloatware.

 Disable the permissions like Auto-run and Background Service.

 Disable Non-Useful Notifications.

 Disable some unnecessary Services like network connections, location services & some
other services when not in use.

 Try another Launcher.

 Try a Factory Reset.

Summary/Conclusion

In 2013, the journey of what was once the world’s best mobile phone company was all
gone in an instant. Nokia overestimated its brand value. They failed to keep pace with the
changing needs of customers and did not want to adapt to the market dynamics. Instead of
using Android (like everyone back then), it is stubbornly stuck with Symbian. Nokia also failed to
update its software offerings and only focused on hardware until they continue to go down and
decline in the market.

Even if that happened before, some people still say that Nokia smartphones are great.
But compared to other brands, it offers less value to money ratio. This is particularly the main
reason why they did not succeed in the market. They offer specifications which they think are
good in their point of view. And that is their mistake because we all know that these days,
specifications matter the most for majority of the people.

Based on this case study, Nokia's Mobile Battery Drain Problem has many factors.
However, there are also many solutions we can apply to avoid the causes of the issue. The
battery problem can get worst if not resolved in time, so we must better try out the possible
improvement actions and fix this issue. Keep in mind that if you have done all of the above-
mentioned and still have a battery drain issue; it is possible that you are dealing with a software
fault. Therefore, it is very important that we must know how to protect the health of our
Phone’s Battery because we use it on a daily basis. And, definitely the easiest way to do is to
avoid heavy charging or overnight charging.
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