Lean Six Sigma applied to process performance and improvement model for the development of electric scooter water-cooling green motor assembly

Abstract

In response to the environmental issues triggered by global warming, worldwide companies gradually put the factor of carbon emission into the process of product lifecycle, developing green technology or adopting cleaner production aimed at sustainable development. Lean Six Sigma has advantages of cutting waste and facilitating process improvements as well as system analysis, helping enterprises create the overall business benefits in the value chain. Used in the renewable energy industry, it can promote the triple bottom line (TBL), the performance of sustainable production for corporate profit, social responsibility and environmental responsibility. Therefore, this work took the process performance of the electric scooter water-cooling green motor manufactured in Taiwan with the world’s highest density of scooters as a case study. The developed performance evaluation and improvement model for manufacturing scheduling and process quality achieved the goal of economic benefits of enhancing process quality performance by shortening manufacturing scheduling and reducing process variations with Lean Six Sigma. Besides, they could respond to the policy of energy saving and carbon reduction – replacing the traditional scooters of high-carbon emissions with the electric scooters of low emissions. Furthermore, they could bring enterprises into harmony with economic benefits, ecological benefits and social benefits.     

Rejects reduction in a retail bank using Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a majestic process improvement methodology that has been proved to be a powerful management strategy across services. The influential synergy of Six Sigma and Lean aims at improving the processes, focusing on both rapid and robust improvements, reducing waste and variation in the process. LSS generates successful results in key performance indicators (KPIs) based environments, where process data gets measured and leveraged for making essential management decisions. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of LSS in banking industry through a real-time process improvement study. The article establishes the literature for the need for LSS in banks detailing on customer facing metrics and process KPIs. An action-research study conducted in a retail bank is presented in LSS DMAIC methodology which reaped a benefit of INR 1.6 million and is a classic example of how LSS can bring bottom-line impact to an organisation, alongside contributing to the process improvement mind-set in employees.     

Lean Six Sigma approach in an Indian auto ancillary conglomerate: a case study

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology was applied to an Auto ancillary conglomerate in India for achieving operational excellence. The research reported in this paper is based on a case study carried out using LSS methodology in improving yield of a semi-automated transfer line process of the organisation. The root causes for the problem were identified and validated through data based analysis from LSS tool box, at different stages in the study. The application of LSS methodology resulted in reduction of drilling defects while machining injector bodies and reduced the Defects Per Million Opportunities from 38,000 to 5600. The application of this methodology had a significant financial impact (saving of about INR 1.4 million per annum) on the bottom-line of the company.     

Using Lean Six Sigma to improve mobile order fulfilment process in a telecom service sector

This study proposes and follows a specific and systematic framework for implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology in a telecom company in order to improve customer satisfaction by minimizing the company’s response time to customer requirements. The goal of this study was achieved by utilizing several LSS tools under five phases of the DMAIC methodology. Unlike previous studies in the telecom sector that used only qualitative method, in this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized to draw meaningful conclusions. As a result of the implementation of the LSS methodology, the average order fulfilment lead time for sales orders (SO) and value-added service (VAS) orders was reduced from 10.3 to 5.9 days and from 1.5 to 0.5 days, respectively. The reduction in lead time resulted in an increase in the sigma level for SO and VAS orders from 0.44 to 1.26 and from 0.73 to 2.66, respectively. These improvements were expected to lead to a financial benefit in savings of over $600,000 per year in operational costs, enhancements to customer experience and an increase in revenue generating opportunities. Moreover, this article enriches the existing literature on the application of LSS concept in the service industry, and helps the company to speed up the response to customer requirements.     

Sensitisation of SMEs towards the implementation of Lean Six Sigma – an initialisation in a cylinder frames manufacturing Indian SME

This article suggests the adoption of a model on Lean Six Sigma for successfully implementing it in small and medium engineering enterprises (SMEs). This model is given the name Deficiency Overcoming Lean Anchorage Define Measure Analyse Improve Control Stabilise (DOLADMAICS). The DOLADMAICS model has been designed to lift up an SME through the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in five levels. The implementation study on first level of DOLADMAICS model conducted in an Indian SME, manufacturing a component called ‘cylinder frames’, has been reported in this article. After conducting this implementation study, it was found that the first level of DOLADMAICS model would act as a catalyst and guide for sensitising the management of SMEs to successfully implement Lean Six Sigma.     

Eco-Six Sigma: integration of environmental variables into the Six Sigma technique

The impressive results achieved by several companies through the Six Sigma technique have motivated other organisations to follow their footsteps in search for competitiveness. As noticed in the literature, most Six Sigma projects in manufacturing have aimed to obtain process enhancements, focusing mostly on optimising product cycle times with almost none taking into consideration environmental aspects as part of their developments. Furthermore, organisations have been worrying worldwide about environmental issues, seeking to foster their eco-efficiency. As a result, the main objective of this paper is to formally introduce the environmental considerations into the Six Sigma technique by proposing a procedure to incorporate environmental variables into the DMAIC process as a way to increase the eco-efficiency level of the firms. Based on the literature review, a conceptual procedure to incorporate environmental variables into the Six Sigma DMAIC technique is proposed. To verify its possible application to real-life situations an action research was developed and could verify that the traditional Six Sigma approach (dealing only with the manufacturing process variables) was capable of improving the eco-efficiency level of the process area under study by 11%. The consideration of the environmental variables as part of the DMAIC technique as per the proposed approach allowed an additional 20% gain, which demonstrates its adequacy to increase the eco-efficiency level of the manufacturing area under evaluation.     

Implementing lean sigma in an Indian rotary switches manufacturing organisation

The manufacturing organisations have been witnessing a transformation in the manufacturing paradigm. Lean sigma and six sigma are the two business process improvement strategies widely employed by organisations to enhance their manufacturing performance. To achieve dramatic result in cost, quality and time, best strategies need to be applied to enhance the process performance. Lean sigma and six sigma are two powerful and effective strategies, enabling the organisation to overcome their weakness and for retaining their improvement. Lean sigma combines the variability reduction tools and techniques drawn from six sigma with the waste and non-value added elimination tools and techniques from lean manufacturing to achieve savings in the organisations. This study uses an integrated lean sigma framework to reduce the defects occurring in the final product, thereby contributing savings to the organisation. The proposed framework integrates lean tools within six sigma methodology to enhance the bottom-line results and to win customer loyalty. The implementation of the proposed framework shows dramatic improvement in key metrics and substantial financial savings to be generated by the organisation.     

Improving patients’ satisfaction in a mobile hospital using Lean Six Sigma – a design-thinking intervention

Abstract

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) that offers a unique integration of Lean and Six Sigma has been accepted globally across services sectors. Previous studies that examined the application of LSS in healthcare were steered in traditional hospital settings. Apparently, there are no studies that highlight the application of LSS in mobile hospitals, an emerging trend in the healthcare sector. The aim of this article is to explore the applicability of LSS in a mobile hospital. The authors present a case study of improving patients’ satisfaction in a mobile hospital, through reducing turnaround time. Design-thinking intervention to LSS helped resolve a real-time problem using Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Verify roadmap. This article contributes to the ‘healthcare quality” body of knowledge and is novel as it is the first of its kind of LSS application in a mobile hospital underpinning Design thinking. This study is unique as it demonstrates academia–industry collaboration in solving an organizational problem.     

Six Sigma to reduce claims processing errors in a healthcare payer firm

Abstract

As a continuous improvement practice, Six Sigma has been accepted globally across the service industry. In the past decade, the application and success of Six Sigma in healthcare services has been remarkable. Despite the fact that several papers on Six Sigma have appeared in the erstwhile literature related to healthcare operations, there is a dearth of field studies highlighting the application of Six Sigma in healthcare outsourced firms, in specific to healthcare payers that engage in a non-clinical setup. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of Six Sigma within the healthcare payer outsourced firms, where error-free delivery becomes critical. The article contributes to the literature of Six Sigma in healthcare outsourcing highlighting how ‘Six Sigma as a methodology’ could help reduce claims adjudication errors in a healthcare payer firm. The Six Sigma DMAIC project case study presented as part of the paper delivered a saving of USD 0.53 million and is a classic example of how Six Sigma can bring bottom-line impact to healthcare outsourced organizations. Managerial implications and lessons learned are discussed alongside the concluding notes.     

Decision support tool for lean product and process development

Lean and concurrent engineering (CE) are widely acknowledged business process improvement strategies. These strategies can improve processes, reduce costs, and cut waste enabling organisations to remain competitive. Lean manufacturing offers an enterprise-wide methodology that improves reliability and flexibility while reducing lead-times and inventory carrying costs. Companies in manufacturing and service sectors are focusing on integrating lean manufacturing methodology with other applications, so that, all their systems and processes are aligned. This article proposes a CE framework based on application of information technology and object-oriented methodology for lean manufacturing. This approach expected to give manufacturing companies an extra edge in today's competitive market. A case study is presented in this article to demonstrate the effectiveness of CE framework in a machine tool manufacturing company. CE practice was adopted for new products, to align the systems and processes of the company. Product development lead-time was found to decrease by more than 50% compared to similar development projects carried out by the company. The need for rework was found to be negligible and the development cost was reduced considerably.     

A conceptual hybrid framework for industrial process improvement: integrating Taguchi methods,Shainin System and Six Sigma

Design of Experiments (DoE) has evolved as powerful industrial statistics tool for managing and improving processes in diverse industries. The three broad approaches of DoE in practice: classical or traditional methods, Taguchi methods and Shainin System (SS), have their merits and demerits for a extensive industrial experimentation. Nonetheless, the power of these DoE approach is not fully harnessed in established process improvement frameworks in industries. On the other side, Six Sigma DMAIC is a well-accepted methodology for improving process capability through focus on customer’s requirement (CTQ). The use of DoE in traditional DMAIC framework is limited to quantification of influence factors on CTQ. To offer a contribution to this paucity, this paper proposed a conceptual Six Sigma/DOE hybrid framework aiming to integrate SS, Taguchi methods and Six Sigma DMAIC for process improvement in complex industry environment. A case on improving DF generation process in shock absorber assembly was developed to validate the effectiveness of the framework for intricate problem-solving.     

Implementing lean sigma framework in an Indian automotive valves manufacturing organisation: a case study

The manufacturing organisations have been witnessing a key transition to lean manufacturing paradigm so as to eliminate waste. Concurrently, six sigma methodology has been widely used for reducing the defects. In order to attain the combined benefits of these two approaches, the amalgamated lean sigma framework has originated. Lean sigma framework proves drawbacks, such as lack of systematic and scientific management and feeble lean anchorage. In order to overcome these deficiencies, this article contributes a refined lean sigma framework, and its effectiveness has been test implemented in an Indian automotive valves manufacturing organisation. The implementation benefits are described in this article.     

Case study in Six Sigma methodology: manufacturing quality improvement and guidance for managers

This article discusses the successful implementation of Six Sigma methodology in a high precision and critical process in the manufacture of automotive products. The Six Sigma define–measure–analyse–improve–control approach resulted in a reduction of tolerance-related problems and improved the first pass yield from 85% to 99.4%. Data were collected on all possible causes and regression analysis, hypothesis testing, Taguchi methods, classification and regression tree, etc. were used to analyse the data and draw conclusions. Implementation of Six Sigma methodology had a significant financial impact on the profitability of the company. An approximate saving of US$70,000 per annum was reported, which is in addition to the customer-facing benefits of improved quality on returns and sales. The project also had the benefit of allowing the company to learn useful messages that will guide future Six Sigma activities.     

Six-sigma for improving Top-Box Customer Satisfaction score for a banking call centre

Six Sigma process improvement methodology has been accepted globally across the service industry. In past one decade, the application and success of Six Sigma in Services is remarkable across Information Technology organisations, Hospitality firms, Government, Healthcare firms and Banking & Financial Sector. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of Six Sigma within call centres where the metric based environment complements the application of Six Sigma for process improvements. The article establishes the literature for the need for Six Sigma in call centre environment elaborating on customer facing metrics in addition to internal performance measures and highlighting the advantages of Six Sigma. A case study is presented in the second part of the article to study the DMAIC project management approach of Six Sigma for improving the Top Box Customer Satisfaction score of a Banking call centre. The literature identifies the possible opportunities for improving the performance of call centre metrics using Six Sigma. The project case study presented as part of the paper delivered a saving of USD 0.27 million to the bank, and is a classic example of how Six Sigma can bring bottom-line impact to an organisation. The article is limited to elaborate the advantages of Six Sigma in call centre environment, emphasising on its need and its compatibility to go along successfully with change acceleration and project management processes. Managerial implications and lessons learned are discussed alongside the concluding notes.     

Production planning and control as a tool for eco-efficency improvement and environmental impact reduction

The environmental impacts of industrial activity are an increasing concern amongst firms and their stakeholders. As a result, companies around the world have been exploring new tools to diminish the adverse impact of their activities on the environment. Eco-efficiency has played an essential role in this scenario, as companies are continuously seeking to produce more while utilizsing fewer resources and minimising adverse effects on the environment. The literature includes several initiatives to improve eco-efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing operations, but the use of production planning and control (PPC) activities to accomplish these goals has rarely been considered. Therefore, to contribute to the assessment of this issue, this paper proposes to integrate environmental concepts and actions as part of the PPC execution; therefore, they could also be applied to minimise environmental impacts, resulting in an increase in the eco-efficiency level of a company. The practical utilisation of the suggested procedure was confirmed using a case study where the procedure was successfully applied to a make-to-order firm, where a simplified version of a workload control (WLC) form of PPC was in use. As a result, incorporating environmental considerations into the WLC practices enabled the eco-efficiency level of the designated production area to increase by 42%, while the environmental impact of production was reduced by 13%.     

Lean Six Sigma implementation: modelling the interaction among the enablers

Abstract

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology has been acquiring a prominent position in organisations. The aim of this study is to demonstrate an approach to LSS implementation in organisations using the development of a hypothetical model based on interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy Matriced Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (fuzzy MICMAC) analysis phenomenon. Seventy Lean Six Sigma enablers (LSSEs) have been identified through extensive literature review and out of which 40 most important LSSEs were finalised through opinions of experts both from industry and academia. Furthermore, the valuable expert opinions have been applied to determine contextual relationships between these significant LSSEs and a hierarchical model has been created based on an ISM. The fuzzy MICMAC analysis has also been utilised to classify the enablers based on the dependence and driving power, and validate the created ISM-based model. The developed hierarchical model will assist to understand interrelationships and interdependencies among the identified LSSEs. Having high driving and low dependence power, the LSSEs have strategic significance because of their driving character. On the other hand, having high dependence and low driving power, LSSEs are more performance orientated. The mutual influence, driving and dependence power of LSSEs render valuable information to top management to distinguish between independent and dependent LSSEs. An organisation desiring of adopting LSS may get benefited by the understanding of LSSEs and their interactions.     

A Lean Six Sigma framework for the reduction of ship loading commercial time in the iron ore pelletising industry

Evidence suggests that specifically designed frameworks to implement Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects to tackle particular problems are more effective than ‘generic’ versions. This paper proposes an implementation framework to effectively deploy LSS to improve a key operation and performance indicator, i.e. ship loading commercial time, of one of the largest world producer of iron ore. This article therefore contributes with a refined framework to effectively implement LSS, and documents its successful application and effectiveness within the context of the case organisation. The LSS framework and project contributed in helping the studied organisation to improve both the capability of its ship loading process and commercial time by more than 30%, resulting in operational savings in the range of $300,000 USD per year. The systematic nature of the framework proposed also helped the organisation to establish a standardised routine to improve its operations. Managerial implications exposing the challenges faced during the implementation of LSS are also discussed to serve as lessons learnt to be considered in other LSS projects. Managers and engineers incharge of improving operations and processes can benefit from this paper as it can be used as a guide to direct the conduction of LSS projects and the empirical application of its principles and tools.     

Green and lean: a Gemba–Kaizen model for sustainability enhancement

Abstract

Despite the encouraging results obtained from the application of Green Lean, organizations have found the integration of Green and Lean, and their implementation as an integrated approach, challenging. This paper therefore presents a model for integrating Lean and Green based on the Gemba-Kaizen approach. The proposed model was developed on the basis of a through literature review on Gemba and Kaizen, conducted on peer reviewed journal articles and pragmatic books, and the more than 40 years of accumulated experience of the authors as academics, researchers, industrialists and consultants. The model was validated through two cases study in the aerospace and automotive industries. The results showed that the proposed model helped the case organizations to reduce the consumption of resources and improve their environmental performance. The proposed model can be the basis for further research on Lean and Green, contributing to help organizations to improve their sustainability performance.     

Six Sigma implementation: a qualitative case study using grounded theory

Many organisations have implemented Six Sigma, but successful Six Sigma implementation has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of implementing Six Sigma in a manufacturing plant using qualitative case study methodology. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using grounded theory to identify the main factors that emerged from the interview data and the relationships between them. Consistent with previous studies, the findings emphasise the role of executive commitment, Six Sigma Champions, and training in successful implementation of Six Sigma projects. Furthermore, the study underlines the role of effective project selection and the coexistence of other management initiatives (e.g. lean manufacturing and continuous improvement) on successful implementations of Six Sigma projects. Our findings also suggest that Six Sigma implementation leads to higher levels of customer focus. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in effective implementation of Six Sigma. The results include a coding paradigm for the implementation process and implications for managers and practitioners.