WEST POINT, Miss. - Ramp-ups in the target production volume at Yokohama Tire resulted in growing pains as the company worked to make the necessary process adjustments to reach those targets. Making these incremental changes throughout the one million square-foot facility upset the delicate balance of scheduling and maintaining batches of perishable rubber compound. Even small disruptions in the complex and inter-dependent processes caused a variability ripple effect that made it difficult to consistently hit the new targets. Yokohama looked to Mississippi State University CAVS Extension (CAVS-E) for support in finding and addressing bottlenecks through Six Sigma methodology and simulation modeling.