Purpose The purpose of this global study is to investigate the critical failure factors (CFFs) in the deployment of operational excellence (OPEX) programs as well as the key performance indicators ...(KPIs) that can be used to measure OPEX failures. The study also empirically analyzes various OPEX methodologies adopted by various organizations at a global level. Design/methodology/approach This global study utilized an online survey to collect data. The questionnaire was sent to 800 senior managers, resulting in 249 useful responses. Findings The study results suggest that Six Sigma is the most widely utilized across the OPEX methodologies, followed by Lean Six Sigma and Lean. Agile manufacturing is the least utilized OPEX methodology. The top four CFFs were poor project selection and prioritization, poor leadership, a lack of proper communication and resistance to change issues. Research limitations/implications This study extends the current body of knowledge on OPEX by first delineating the CFFs for OPEX and identifying the differing effects of these CFFs across various organizational settings. Senior managers and OPEX professionals can use the findings to take remedial actions and improve the sustainability of OPEX initiatives in their respective organizations. Originality/value This study uniquely identifies critical factors leading to OPEX initiative failures, providing practical insights for industry professionals and academia and fostering a deeper understanding of potential pitfalls. The research highlights a distinctive focus on social and environmental performance metrics, urging a paradigm shift for sustained OPEX success and differentiating itself in addressing broader sustainability concerns. By recognizing the interconnectedness of 12 CFFs, the study offers a pioneering foundation for future research and the development of a comprehensive management theory on OPEX failures.
Today's competitive environment requires a higher level of quality in processes, services, and products to reach a larger portion of market share and economic success. Quality management being a ...systematic approach for quality-related evaluation and development is substantial for companies. Industry 4.0 is defined as the integration of physical machinery systems with digital networking. Industry 4.0-related technologies provide extensive opportunities for quality-related issues by incorporating economic, environmental, and social impacts. To encompass all dimensions effective on quality management, it is necessary to process a large amount of data within the context of industry 4.0. Advanced production systems and quality management are complementary resources to enhance the functionality leading to a higher competitive advantage. This article develops a sustainable industry 4.0 production value measurement approach. The quality elements are collected and purified using the concept of lean six sigma and Delphi technique. Among all quality elements, those that are related to leanness and six sigma are extracted. Then, adapted interpretive structural modeling (AISM) is developed to map elements of lean six sigma and sustainability factors and indices. As a quantification method, sustainable production measurement relation is formulated. The process is implemented as a case study in an industrial cluster located in Iran. The results imply new aspects of quality improvement to the managers of the cluster.
A system-level design optimization method under the framework of a deterministic approach was presented for electrical drive systems in our previous work, in which not only motors but also the ...integrated control schemes were designed and optimized to achieve good steady and dynamic performances. However, there are many unavoidable uncertainties (noise factors) in the industrial manufacturing process, such as material characteristics and manufacturing precision. These will result in big fluctuations for the product's reliability and quality in mass production, which are not investigated in the deterministic approach. Therefore, a robust approach based on the technique of design for six sigma is presented for the system-level design optimization of drive systems to improve the reliability and quality of products in batch production in this work. Meanwhile, two system-level optimization frameworks are presented for the proposed method, namely, single-level (only at the system level) and multilevel frameworks. Finally, a drive system is investigated as an example, and detailed results are presented and discussed. It can be found that the reliability and quality levels of the investigated drive system have been greatly increased by using the proposed robust approach.
Lean Six Sigma: yesterday, today and tomorrow Antony, Jiju; Snee, Ronald; Hoerl, Roger
The International journal of quality & reliability management,
01/2017, Letnik:
34, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences and perspectives of three practitioners from two continents on the subject of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) from both academic and industrial ...viewpoints. The authors of the paper have each been working on the topic of LSS over the past 15 years and have contributed over 150 journal and conference papers to the topics of lean and Six Sigma.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is to synthesize the practical experiences and research conducted by three authorities on the topic of LSS. In addition, relevant secondary data have also been used in the sections where and when appropriate.
Findings
The authors initially present the history of LSS emphasizing the importance of integration of the two most effective process excellence methodologies over the past 30 years. The authors also report the current trends of LSS in organizations as well as the emerging future trends. They argue that LSS will continue to grow and evolve across the globe for several years.
Practical implications
The paper is intended to be equally useful to both academics and practitioners who are interested on the topic of LSS. From a pure practical standpoint, the paper provides an overview of the past, present and future trends of LSS as a powerful business strategy and problem-solving methodology for all industrial sectors, irrespective of their size and nature. The documentation of the history and recent developments in LSS should be useful to researchers in academia.
Originality/value
In authors’ best knowledge, there are no recent journal articles which cover all the three of these aspects; the past, the present and the future of LSS. This paper presents the above three aspects in a unique manner and addresses the gap between the current state and future directions of LSS.
Purpose - Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a continuous improvement methodology that aims to reduce the costs of poor quality, improve the bottom-line results and create value for both customers and ...shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to explore the critical failure factors for LSS in different sectors, such as manufacturing, services, higher education, etc. Design/methodology/approach - The following research is based on a systematic literature review of 56 papers that were published on Lean, Six Sigma and LSS in well-known academic databases from 1995 to 2013. Findings - There are 34 common failure factors of LSS cited in this paper. There are some common factors for failure, such as a lack of top management commitment and involvement, lack of communication, lack of training and education, limited resources and others. Many gaps and limitations are discussed in this paper and need to be explored in future research. Originality/value - The paper is one of the first systematic literature reviews to explore the critical failure factors of LSS and discuss the top failure factors from different angles, i.e. countries' evolution, organisations' size (small- and medium-sized enterprises and large organisations) and industry nature.
Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma initiatives (L&SSi) have been adopted by different industry and service sectors to improve companies' performance and competitiveness; however, adoption in the food ...industry is still very low. The sector lacks familiarity with the L&SSi initiatives; it views “quality” as a safety and hygiene factor, which is one characteristic that differentiates it from other sectors. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the food industry sector's characteristics affects its adoption of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices and performance improvement. A survey of 145 food industry firms was conducted and then analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the research framework. Our findings suggest that LSS is relevant and effective in this sector. Food industry performance is positively affected by the adoption of LSS practices. Moreover the adoption of LSS practices in the food industry is greatly affected by the level of experience of the individual company. The level of experience moderates two performance indicators very valued by the sector (financial gains and product quality). The food industry is to a certain extent affected by the sector's characteristics. The compulsory cleaning practices restrict adoption of LSS practices such as set-up time reduction. Six Sigma role structure and Statistical Process Control dimensions are among the sector's least adopted practices. These practices require financial resources for training, which can be a challenge in a sector with low margins that primarily focuses on cost reduction, and they require statistical techniques and knowledge that is generally considered complex and too advanced in the food industry. These findings suggest that as managerial awareness of the relevance of LSS practices to food industry performance improvement increases, that managers will encourage employees to gain experience using the tools.
•The adoption of Lean Six Sigma positively affects the food industry performance.•More experience in Lean Six Sigma increases the potential benefits to food sector.•It is necessary to increase managerial awareness about Lean Six Sigma relevance.
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.
Operational excellence is critical to throughput and patient flow in an emergency department. This case study applied the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to improve throughput as measured by ...reducing patients’ length of stay by 30% in just 3 months, and reducing the percent of patients leaving without treatment from 6.5% to .3%. The patient satisfaction, as measured by patient satisfaction surveys, had increased by 24% to 89.9%. This allowed the ED to achieve the top 1% level of hospitals nationally. This case study demonstrates the value of engaging healthcare providers in improving their processes through application of Lean Six Sigma methods.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the research landscape of LSS 4.0 papers published in two well-known repositories, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), in terms of publication trends, ...article distribution by author, journal, affiliations and country, and article clustering based on keywords, authors and countries. In addition, a literature review was carried out to build a conceptual framework of integrated Lean Six Sigma and Industry 4.0 (LSS 4.0) that encompasses operational, sustainability and human factors or ergonomics aspects. Design/methodology/approach The literature review of integrated Lean Six Sigma and I4.0 publications published in Scopus and WoS databases in the current decade was conducted for the present study. This study categorizes LSS, I4.0 and related research articles based on publication patterns, journals, authors and affiliations, country and continental-wise distribution and clustering the articles based on keywords and authors from the Scopus and WoS databases from 2011 to 2022 using the search strings “Lean”, “Six Sigma”, “Lean Six Sigma” and “Industry 4.0” in the Title, Abstract and Keywords using Biblioshiny, VOS viewer and Microsoft Excel. Findings In the recent three years, from 2020 to 2022, LSS 4.0 has been substantially increasing and is seen as an emerging and trending area. This research identifies the most influential authors, most relevant affiliations, most prolific countries and most productive journals and clusters based on keywords, authors and countries. Further, a conceptual framework was developed that includes the impact of operational, sustainability and ergonomic or human factors in LSS 4.0. Research limitations/implications This article assists in comprehending the trends and patterns of LSS 4.0. Further, the conceptual framework helps professionals and researchers understand the significance and impact of integrating LSS and Industry 4.0 in the aspects of human factors/ergonomic, sustainability and operations. Also, the research induce professionals to incorporate all these factors while designing and implementing LSS 4.0 in their organization. Originality/value This conceptual framework and bibliometric analysis would aid in identifying potential areas of research and providing future directions in the domain of LSS 4.0. It will be beneficial for academicians, professionals and researchers who are planning to apply and integrate techniques of LSS and technologies of I4.0 in their organizations and research.
Lean manufacturing and six sigma methodologies have been widely used in a large number of companies worldwide. However, many companies have found it difficult to successfully implement and sustain ...lean manufacturing and six sigma. It is, therefore, very important for companies to identify and understand the critical success factors for successfully implementing either six sigma or lean manufacturing. A comparative examination of lean manufacturing versus six sigma was conducted, and the success factors relevant to these two methodologies were identified. It was found that the most important success factors differed in terms of their significance for six sigma and lean manufacturing. Specifically, for organizations that have successfully implemented six sigma, skills and expertise ranked highest in importance. In contrast, for organizations that have successfully implemented lean manufacturing, employee involvement and culture change ranked highest. This study builds on current knowledge and fills a gap in the literature by providing more insight into the most critical success factors within companies that have already successfully implemented these methodologies. The results of the study will help organizations to make more mature and careful decisions regarding the critical success factors of each method. Therefore, in the pre-implementation stage, organizations can identify how their capabilities and resources can be utilized to accomplish the critical success factors for the implementation of lean manufacturing and six sigma, either simultaneously or sequentially. This is the first study that has conducted an examination to compare lean manufacturing and six sigma in terms of the importance of the same specific critical success factors.
•Comparison the importance of the same specific critical success factors between lean manufacturing and six sigma.•Results offer guidance for implementing lean, six-sigma, or both practices together.•Initial methodology should be based on capacity to meet the critical success factors.•Strategies were identified for successful implementation of lean and/or six sigma.•Opportunity for successful implementation of lean and/or six sigma was maximized.
PDF
