Research into the application of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) as a tool to enhance the environmental sustainability performance of operations has been confined to a handful of studies only. Research on ...this green lean research stream is therefore limited, especially when compared to the vast amount of scholarly research focused on the ‘traditional’ VSM tool. To complement and support the narrow body of knowledge on the application of VSM as tools to improve environmental performance and enhance the effectiveness of its application, this paper proposes an approach, based on the Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) improvement cycle, to systematically implement and conduct Environmental-VSM (E-VSM) studies. The implementation of the proposed method is reported through an action research-based case study conducted in a helical rolling process of one of the mining consumables business units of an international diversified mining and materials multinational company. The results of the case study indicate that the proposed PDCA-based approach to E-VSM can be an effective alternative to improve the green performance of operations. Besides the proposal of this approach, its testing, and expanding the body of knowledge in the green lean field, the paper also contributes by providing a guiding reference for operations managers who may want to make the operations of their organisations more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Finally, this paper also intends to contribute by inspiring researchers and practitioners to broaden the study of the under-researched field which explores the application of VSM for environmental sustainability enhancement.
•Limited research has considered VSM to enhance the environmental performance.•A PDCA-based approach to systematically implement E-VSM is proposed.•Approach is applied in an international mining and materials multinational company.•Results indicate the approach can be an alternative to improve green performance.•Paper provides a guiding reference for managers to undertake similar improvement projects.
The application of Green Lean Six Sigma Gholami, Hamed; Jamil, Norhazrina; Mat Saman, Muhamad Zameri ...
Business strategy and the environment,
20/May , Volume:
30, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Green Lean Six Sigma has been recently clarified to improve the environmental sustainability performance of operations, but it seems glaringly scarce and in need of cutting‐edge studies to integrate ...the concepts of green, lean, and Six Sigma into one unified application. This paper is accordingly aimed at constituting the application of Green Lean Six Sigma as a cleaner production. In doing so, a Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC)‐based approach that is one of Six Sigma's well‐known methods was proposed to systematize a Green Lean tool—environmental value stream mapping. Thus, this paper as one of the preliminary studies aligns environmental value stream mapping with DMAIC through presenting the proposed methodological approach, which relies on the five DMAIC phases—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control—and considers green wastes in each phase simultaneously. To support the narrow body of knowledge, this proposed approach was validated via the action research‐oriented case study implemented in the substrate manufacturing system that seeks to develop the environmental sustainability of its production processes and subsequently its general competitiveness. The findings indicated the effectiveness of a DMAIC‐based approach in systematizing environmental value stream mapping and improving its efficacy to achieve environmental sustainability. The case analysis revealed that the application can significantly lessen the consumption of chemicals and energy in the system by 28% and 21%, respectively.
Given the rise in demand for online, graduate degree programs there is a need to guide program planning and evaluation professionals within institutions of higher education to utilize continuous ...quality improvement (CQI) strategies. Using principles of design thinking and CQI, the purpose of this case study was to describe a CQI project that sought to develop a better understanding of adult students’ experience progressing through their plan of study in an online doctoral program. As part of the CQI project, value stream mapping (VSM) was used to gain visibility and perspective on the actions required by faculty and staff to guide students through their plan of study. The VSM process provided information that led to conversations that furthered the CQI efforts and led to changes in the adult education program that would benefit all students. Improvement processes that lead to better quality and more positive experiences for users are valuable. This case study demonstrates the processes, challenges, lessons, and future directions in the use of VSM to better understand online graduate programs designed for adult learners.
•In adult graduate education, faculty and staff who plan programming want suitable curricular and student support initiatives.•Case study research can provide descriptions of appropriate quality improvement practices to inform decisions about adult education planning.•Value stream mapping was used to make visible what was hidden about the student experience for faculty and staff to consider.•Adult students’ experiences in graduate school can be confusing, therefore communicating in the right way at the right time is important.•Consideration of equity, effectiveness, and empathy for students, as well as faculty and staff, are also needed to support high-quality graduate education.
Despite the envisioned interrelations, the way Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies can influence the design and implementation of lean value streams is still unknown and little empirical evidence is ...found in the literature. This article aims at proposing guidelines integrated with I4.0 technologies for designing lean value streams. We gathered experts' opinions regarding the relationship between guidelines for designing a lean value stream and I4.0 technologies. The identification of the most important relationships provided arguments for the proposition of enhanced guidelines for designing lean value streams within the Fourth Industrial Revolution context. The integration of I4.0 technologies into the guidelines for designing a lean value stream raises a distinct approach that benefits from the simplicity and efficiency of Lean Production with ease and agility of the technologies typical of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Such technology-integrated guidelines may allow overcoming existing barriers while lead companies to superior performance results.
Value stream mapping is a widely used and proven method that enables the mapping and analysis of process chains and helps to derive potentials for improvement. The digitalisation of production ...according to Industrie 4.0 promises new opportunities to develop more efficient production lines. Particularly companies which digitally upgrade existing operations need to be introduced to a new approach. This holistic approach extends proven methods of Lean-Production while systematically mapping opportunities for digitalisation to derive measures for improvement. A comprehensive view at information-logistic waste is shown while regarding recording, handling, processing, analysing and optimising (information-) processes.
The digitalization of so far analog value stream mapping should not only increase the accuracy and correctness of the captured value stream and the associated key figures but also show their dynamic ...changes as well as their variant-dependent distribution. Yet, existing approaches face the problem of a tremendously heterogeneous and incomplete data landscape. This paper introduces a proposal for an event-based framework for digitalization of value stream mapping with a standardized and scalable interface between data acquisition and processing. This result is the basis for the development of various value stream applications with customized reporting.
Sustainable manufacturing, which involves the use of sustainable processes and systems to produce more sustainable products, is becoming increasingly important. One natural starting point for ...innovation and developing better strategies for sustainable manufacturing is to examine currently used best practices and how they can be adapted to meet the sustainability requirements. Lean manufacturing practices are being increasingly assessed and used as a catalyst to develop better strategies for green and sustainable manufacturing. In this regard, the potential of extending Value Stream Mapping, an important technique used in lean manufacturing to identify environmental and societal impacts/waste has received attention. A vast majority of these efforts have focused on adding energy-related metrics to Value Stream Maps while several other studies refer to ‘sustainable’ Value Stream Mapping, but limit emphasis to only environmental performance; the societal sustainability assessment as well as visualization methods to present the information in Value Stream Mapping are not addressed. This paper presents a comprehensive methodology to develop Sustainable Value Stream Mapping by identifying suitable metrics and methods to visually present them. The approach is validated through the application to an industry case study and opportunities for further improvement are discussed.
Operation management models have been developed according to changes in society's demands, such as better working conditions, clean production, recyclable and reusable products, and improving social ...conditions. Thus, new challenges in developing sustainable management models, particularly for manufacturing processes, have emerged. Lean Manufacturing and Value Stream Mapping (VSM) have been widely used to develop manufacturing processes without wastes in the production flow. However, current indicators of the VSM tool have not identified the economic, social and environmental factors. This work aims to propose a conceptual method to integrate a new group of sustainability indicators into the VSM tool to assess manufacturing processes. The development of sustainability indicators was performed through analysis of the assessment models of sustainability and sustainability indicators in the period of 2009–2014. The method was applied in three case studies, and the results demonstrated that the proposed method identified different levels of sustainability of manufacturing processes and thus enabled the development of improved scenarios. In this sense, the results contributed to the literature with the proposition of new sustainability indicators related to the manufacturing process. The case studies enabled evaluation of the interaction of a new group of sustainability indicators in different manufacturing processes.
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