Integrating six sigma and theory of constraints for continuous improvement: a case study

Purpose The research paper aims to unveil the practical use of Lean Six Sigma and its effectiveness as a business survival strategic tool by a chemical product realization concern, as well as to establish the market and business performance impacts on the manufacturing entity. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was pursued with a multi-national chemical manufacturing entity in South Africa. A comprehensive literature research was undertaken to establish the contemporary tools used for implementing Lean Six Sigma, and the classification and flow of tools and steps undertaken to ensure the successful and effective application of Lean Six Sigma in a manufacturing organization and the benefits derived. The critical success factors and reasons of ineffective use of tools are reviewed. To ensure that a comprehensive research was conducted which is relevant to the body of knowledge in engineering, recent articles on the application of Lean Six Sigma were selected and reviewed during the progress of the study to add impetus to the relevance of the findings. Findings The research findings were mainly based on the inferences obtained from a chemical product manufacturing concern in South Africa, to distinguish the efficacy and relevance of Lean Six Sigma as strategic business survival tool and imputing strategic resonance to corporate strategy. Research limitations/implications This research was limited to distinguishing Lean Six Sigma as a business survival strategic tool and an ultimate enhancer of market performance for a chemical product manufacturing entity. The implementation and evaluation of the Lean Six Sigma methodology as a business survival strategic and market performance enhancement option for the case study organization was entailed as the corollary of deductive resemblance to similar entities. Practical implications This study enables continuous improvement practitioners to evaluate the Lean and Six Sigma practices. The advantages posed by the simultaneous and optimized application of the two approaches versus individual application were assessed and verified to produce enhanced continuous improvement. This poses further challenges to scholars and academics to pursue further researches on the practicality of applying Lean Six Sigma as a strategic option. Originality/value The paper prompts the efficacy of well publicized methodologies and evaluates their implementation for strategic performance for manufacturing organizations. The practical application, constraints and resultant effects of deploying Lean Six Sigma were reviewed to give impetus to the methodology.

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Continuous Improvement of Productivity and Quality with Lean Six-Sigma: A Case Study

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.889.557 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 889 ◽

pp. 557-566

Author(s):

Ly Duc Minh ◽

Vo Thi Hoang Ni ◽

Do Ngoc Hien

Keyword(s):

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Assembly Line ◽

Lean Six Sigma ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Electronic Assembly ◽

Popular Method ◽

Pdca Cycle

Continuous improvement of productivity and quality is a potential requirement of any competitive organization. Lean six-sigma is known as the useful and popular method to do it. In this paper, a case study in the mechanical manufacturing process would be presented as a successful implementation. The seven quality control tools would be integrated in specific systematic steps of the PDCA cycle and DMAIC process, and lean technology. The case study shows the promising results on improvement of productivity and quality of a mechanical production line. It could be considered to implement for other production or assembly line in other fields such as electronic assembly line, garment line, and furnitune assembly line.

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Continuous improvement of injection moulding using Six Sigma: case study

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering ◽

10.1504/ijise.2019.10021839 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 243

Author(s):

Ahmed Maged ◽

Nadia Bhuiyan ◽

Saleh Kaytbay ◽

Salah Haridy

Keyword(s):

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Injection Moulding

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Continuous improvement and value stream analysis through the lean DMAIC Six Sigma approach: a manufacturing case study from Ohio, USA

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage ◽

10.1504/ijssca.2011.040676 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 278 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Matthew Franchetti ◽

Megan Yanik

Keyword(s):

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Value Stream ◽

Six Sigma Approach

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Continuous improvement and facility redesign through the lean DMAIC Six Sigma approach: a final assembly work unit case study from Ohio, USA

International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage ◽

10.1504/ijssca.2014.064253 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 83 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matthew Franchetti

Keyword(s):

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Work Unit ◽

Assembly Work ◽

Final Assembly ◽

Six Sigma Approach

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Lean Six Sigma and the Australian business excellence framework

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma ◽

10.1108/ijlss-01-2017-0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 185-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Oriana M. Price ◽

Matthew Pepper ◽

Matthew Stewart

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Lean Six Sigma ◽

Content Type ◽

Strategic Fit ◽

Strategic Direction ◽

Learning Practices ◽

Business Excellence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a contextualized local government case study of the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in conjunction with the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) to highlight the importance of a good strategic fit between LSS and organizational objectives before implementation. Design/methodology/approach A local government council is used in a case study-based approach. Organizational artefacts and documents were used for data collection in conjunction with interviews from senior executives within the organization. Findings Results indicate that when used in conjunction with the ABEF, LSS provides focus on organizational learning practices embedded within the implementation of continuous improvement. Research limitations/implications The purpose of this paper is to contribute to discourse regarding the effective application and implementation of LLS in local government. Practical implications LSS tools and techniques are known to local government, but are applied in isolation of the overarching LSS framework. This paper emphasizes the importance of comprehensive implementation of these tools, guided by the inclusion of an external contextualized framework (ABEF) in conjunction with the LSS to achieve sustainable continuous improvement. Originality/value Business excellence frameworks are widely used in the public sector as a reference/means for improvement. This paper highlights the importance of LSS in operationalizing strategic direction provided by such frameworks and providing the focus on learning practices critical for sustainable improvements.

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Application of a proposed TLS model in a Lean Productive System

Independent Journal of Management & Production ◽

10.14807/ijmp.v10i1.830 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 076

Author(s):

Rui Manuel Ferreira Dias ◽

Luis Diogo Silva ◽

Alexandra Tenera

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Sigma Models ◽

Present Article ◽

Economic Crisis ◽

Continuous Improvement ◽

Six Sigma ◽

Cost Reduction ◽

Theory Of Constraints ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Productive System

The current market, becoming more rigid, forces companies to search continuously for innovation and improvement of their processes and products as a way to keep competitive and gain strategic advantages. Due to the global economic crisis, more and more companies try an approach through new management methodologies that allow better performances in terms of earning, profit and cost reduction. The present article proposes an integrated TOC (Theory of Constraints), Lean and Six-Sigma (TLS) model, with the objective of improving continuously a productive system, although it shows flexibility to be applied in other kinds of systems. The model synergistically integrate the best practices found in existing TOC, Lean and Six-Sigma models. The proposed model derivatives mainly from Eliyahu Goldratt’s TOC model of the “5 focus steps” and TLS model “Ultimate Improvement Cycle”, developed by Bob Sproull. The proposed TLS model was tested on an important Portuguese Manufacture. The implementation of a first continuous improvement cycle was completed and a second cycle began. The main results obtained by the implementation of the TLS model were extremely satisfactory.

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