Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on the critical success factors (CSFs) of various continuous improvement (CI) like total quality management (TQM), Lean, Six ...Sigma and Lean Six Sigma (LSS), and perform a content analysis (CA) leading to an agenda for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
CA is based on literature review of 41 papers published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. A four-stage methodology is used by the authors, with Stage 1 featuring relevant material collection; Stage 2 presenting a descriptive analysis; Stage 3 outlining the category selection; and Stage 4 featuring the material evaluation using clustering and Pareto analysis.
Findings
The CA revealed various research implications and directions for the future. The number of studies in the literature regarding CSF assessment is found to be far from substantial while compared to CI implementation. Assessment methodologies developed have been ranging from qualitative to quantitative models. Key gaps were identified and directions for CSF assessment are proposed which requires further validation.
Research limitations/implications
Only articles that appeared in peer-reviewed journals were analyzed; conference papers, reports, manuals and white papers from practice were excluded. Another limitation of the paper would be the scope of CA limited to four CI constructs – TQM, Lean, Six Sigma and LSS. Research implications indicate that the future studies in this domain would be intensive toward analyzing the vital CSFs for enterprise organizational excellence and not merely process excellence.
Practical implications
This review study can serve as a resource for both researchers and practitioners to understand the importance of CSFs and positioning CSFs for the successful implementation of CI programs.
Originality/value
The CA on the existing literature on CSFs for CI presents a unique, systematic effort to identify an agenda for future research. This study is the apparently the first of its kind on CSF assessment.
The food industry is an important sector of the world economy, that faces many challenges providing a wide range of products with short delivery times and at low-cost. Continuous Improvement (CI) ...initiatives could assist this industry manage its challenges as the global market endures economic and political crises. Lean and Six Sigma are two widely used and recognized CI initiatives and are often hybridized as Lean Six Sigma. However, it is not clear how appropriate these strategies are for the food industry.
A systematic literature review was performed to identify the appropriateness of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma initiatives (L&SSi) for improvement in the food industry. The aim is to consolidate the existing knowledge about the application of L&SSi in the food industry, analyze the L&SSi evolution within the sector and identify the relevant aspects of implementation such as drivers of adoption, critical success factors, tools and methods applied, barriers faced and benefits obtained.
The review suggests that L&SSi are effective in the food industry context. Their implementation in the sector is still growing. Their use was found to reduce costs and increase productivity. Human factors and the food industry characteristics were identified as the main barriers to implementing these initiatives. Future research to investigate the degree that L&SSi practices were adopted in the food industry and to identify the best practices to implement these initiatives is suggested.
•Food industry adopts Lean & Six Sigma initiatives mainly to increase productivity and to reduce costs and inventory.•There is a great opportunity for Food Industry to improve their performance by implementing Lean & Six Sigma initiatives.•The food industry characteristics and human factors impact the adoption of some Lean & Six Sigma tools and methods.
Lean Six Sigma is a systematic data driven methodology that integrates two powerful business improvement strategies Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma with the goal of removing wastes and reducing ...process variation. Lean Six Sigma has a positive effect on environmental performance as defect reduction and reducing process variation leads to reduction in raw material consumption, energy consumption and reduced scrap which in turn reduces the overall environmental impacts. In this context, this study uses a Lean Six Sigma framework with environmental considerations to reduce overall defects and environmental impacts concurrently to improve the firm's operational and environmental performance. The framework is based on Define Measure Analyze Improve Control methodology where traditional Lean Six Sigma and environmental impact assessment tools are integrated to systematically deploy LSS strategies with environmental considerations. The framework is validated with an industrial case study conducted in an Indian automotive component manufacturing organisation and the inferences are derived. On successful deployment of the framework, the internal defects was brought down to 6000 ppm from 16,000 ppm and environmental impacts was reduced to 33 Pt from 42 Pt. Deployment of the developed framework helped in improving the firm's sigma level and also reduced the overall environmental impacts.
The purpose of this paper was to verify how Lean Six Sigma (LSS) could influence the organizational sustainability through their projects, given that there are few scientific studies that seek to ...evaluate the relationship that current exist between this tree streams: Lean, Six Sigma and Sustainability. The metodologie used on this study has qualitative point of view, based on experts' perception and collected by survey. The authors structured a questionnaire with 13 impacts of LSS, which was subsequently applied over 106 international LSS experts, with Green Belt, Black Belt, Master Black Belt or Champions certification. The survey investigate the expert perception of LSS influence over the three pillars of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). There were identified in this study the correlation between LSS and organizational sustainability, principally due to impacts that significantly influence over Financial pillar of TBL. The authors also identified the 5 more influential impacts over organizational were identified and the importance of cost dimension for sustainability in organizations. This study assists in expansion of knowledge about the use of LSS by evaluating the influence of the metodologie over organizational sustainability and providing a deeper understanding of the relationship existing between them. Because of its feature, this study also raises the awareness among governments and companies regarding the weaknesses identified between TBL pillars. The survey application model through the LinkedIn platform presented in this study also shows itself as a possible source of inspiration for future studies. Even with the large volume of articles published about the Green Lean Six Sigma (GLSS) theme, it was not possible to identify papers that aim to verify the impacts of LSS methodology over the organization with a holistic and sustainable point of view. Within this scenario, the present study seeks to fill the verified gap.
Abstract
For existing goods or services, Six Sigma uses the steps of DMAIC and the statistical analysis of data to decrease variation and errors, improve the value of an organization's outputs to the ...customers, and increase the profitability of the organization. In health care, in view of the training required and other issues, Six Sigma is best used for large complex problems, although it has also been applied successfully to smaller issues. Many examples of the use of Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma in health care are reviewed.
The purpose of this paper is to present a review and an analysis of the literature concerning a possible model for integrating three management systems: lean manufacturing, Six Sigma and ...sustainability. In particular, we analyzed current proposals and identified at the same time gaps in the existing literature from which we suggested future research directions for developing a specific integrated model, suggesting new opportunities and challenges that should be addressed by future studies.
Both academicians and practitioners will find our review useful because it outlines the major lines of research in the field and their limitations.
•Elaborates on the question how to conceptualize the integration of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma and sustainability.•Integration of Lean, Six Sigma and sustainability is an emergent topic that lacks of a structured research definition.•A systematic literature is conducted to assess recent developments, current gaps and future perspectives.
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.
PurposeThis paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of the implementation of the contact points (CPs) between Lean Six Sigma practices and Industry 4.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approachA ...systematic literature review was carried out based on two samples. A first sample containing 78 articles was analyzed through bibliometric indicators. After that, a second sample of 33 articles was analyzed in-depth according to research questions.FindingsThe conceptual framework involves 13 CPs between Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices and I4.0 technologies (what), going through the technical requirements needed (how), categorized as information technology (IT), automation and competence requirements, to finally present the main results reported in the literature (why).Research limitations/implicationsThis paper presents an innovative perspective of interactions between digital technologies and LSS practices, expanding knowledge about Digital LSS. Such perspective gives emphasis to the importance of technical requirements, such as communication and connectivity protocols, network topology, machine-to-machine communication (M2M), human–machine interfaces (HMI), as well as analytical and digital skills.Practical implicationsThe managerial implications regarding the digitalization of LSS practices address the investments required for the acquisition and maintenance of cyber-physical systems (CPS). Moreover, there is a need for the development of skills so that operators can successfully use the new technologies in a context of continuous improvement.Originality/valueThis paper presents a conceptual framework covering 13 CPs between LSS practices and Industry 4.0 technologies, the technical requirements and the expected results. It is hoped that this framework can assist future research and operational excellence projects towards digitalization.
The current market is characterised by a high level of customisation, leading to aggressive competition between companies to respond to customer needs. To keep their competitiveness, companies search ...continually to improve their efficiency, flexibility, and performance. With the advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), new technologies are developed to increase connectivity and automate processes. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is known for its capacity to solve complex problems using statistical methods. I4.0 affects almost everything including LSS. Thus, a new combination is emerging LSS4.0 aiming at further increasing the operational excellence for companies. Therefore, the aim of this paper, as the first scoping review in this field, is to present the results of existing studies on the LSS and I4.0 integration, find the gaps in the literature, and provide directions for future studies. The paper proposes a framework that categorises the findings into three main discussed directions, which are relationship, implementation, and impact on performance.
PurposeManufacturing industries are facing dynamic challenges in today’s highly competitive world. In the recent past, integrating Industry 4.0 with the lean six sigma improvement methodologies has ...emerged as a popular approach for organizational excellence. The research aims to explore and analyze critical success factors of lean six sigma integrated Industry 4.0 (LSSI).Design/methodology/approachThis research study explores and analyzes the critical success factors (CSFs) of LSSI. A three-phase study framework is employed. At first, the CSFs are identified through an extensive literature review and validated through experts’ feedback. Then, in the second phase, the initial list of CSFs is finalized using the fuzzy DELPHI technique. In the third phase, the cause-effect relationship among CFSs is established using the fuzzy DEMATEL technique.FindingsA dyadic relationship among cause-and-effect category CSFs is established. Under the cause category, top management commitment toward integrating LSSI, systematic methodology for LSSI and organizational culture for adopting changes while adopting LSSI are found to be topmost CSFs. Also, under the effect category, organizational readiness toward LSSI and adaptability and agility are found to be the uppermost CSFs.Practical implicationsThe study offers a framework to understand the significant CSFs for LSSI implementation. Insights from the study will help industry managers and practitioners to implement LSSI and achieve organizational excellence.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, CSFs of LSSI are not much explored in the past by researchers. Findings will be of great value for professionals in developing long-term operations strategies.
