Bending Metal: Improving Sheet Metal Repair at Tobyhanna Army Depot through Lean Six Sigma

The Army's Lean Six Sigma methodology includes five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC); each of these phases includes interaction between the stakeholder and process team. This paper focuses on the application of Lean Six Sigma methodology at Tobyhanna Army Depot to help reduce overruns and repair cycle time within the sheet metal cost center. At the initiation of the project, the process incurred over 4,000 hours of overruns, a situation in which it takes longer to repair an asset than the standard hours allocated for the repair. Additionally, the average repair cycle time, amount of time required to repair an individual asset, exceeded customer expectations by almost four days. The paper describes recommended solutions to address both problems.

VALUE STREAM MAPPING OF OCEAN IMPORT CONTAINERS: A PROCESS CYCLE EFFICIENCY PERSPECTIVE

International cargo transportation is majorly dependent on marine transport, which moves 80% of the international cargo. With the increase in vessel size and the same yard area available for container transportation, it is important to study the processes and understand the efficiency of the container operations process. This research paper aims to review the import container transportation process and understand the process cycle efficiency through lean six sigma concepts. The process is evaluated from the operations process perspective and documentation process at one of the ports of India. The research has been designed by conducting an industry expert review on the process of container transportation from vessel berthing to gate out for import containers, utilising lean six sigma principles such as value stream mapping (VSM) and process cycle efficiency. The results have contributed to the existing knowledge in identifying the waste in the container handling process and demonstrated the inefficiency in the system from the perspective of waiting time of containers due to customs examination, scanning, and inter-terminal handling and movement. The process cycle efficiency of 40% is calculated by analysing the detailed time of handling containers from vessel berthing to gate out. A new future value stream mapping is proposed considering the process cycle efficiency. Future studies will focus on studying this process for export containers and benchmarking the results with the top-performing ocean ports globally.

IMPLEMENTASI LEAN SIX SIGMA DALAM MENGURANGI BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE PADA SISTEM AUTOMATIC LENGTH CONTROL DI PT XYZ MENGGUNAKAN METODE DMADV

PT XYZ is a private company engaged in steel manufacturing, one of the products produced by this company is tire cord. This product is in the form of steel wire that serves to maintain the shape of the tire. The length of the wire is a very critical factor in quality, because one coil of wire that is not suitable length will cause a lot of scrap in consumers, namely the company that produces tires and of course this will cause customer complaints and customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is contained in the Automatic Length Control system to avoid the possibility of wire coils that are not suitable for delivery to customers. Every system must have weaknesses that lead to failure that causes maintenance breakdown. This study used the DMADV method to reduce breakdown maintenance on the Automatic Length Control system at PT XYZ. After going through all the stages using the DMADV method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify) a significant reduction in the number of breakdowns was obtained. Reduction of ALC-related breakdown maintenance by 88.1% or from 185 breakdowns to only 22 breakdowns. So that this flat pulley design was successful in reducing alc problems in henxing machines that produce tyre cord construction 3 +9 +15x0,23 +0.15 NT 6/12/18/5 SSZS

Barriers and Enablers for Continuous Improvement Methodologies within the Irish Pharmaceutical Industry

This study aims to investigate the barriers that exist when implementing continuous improvement methodologies, such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS), within the Irish Pharma industry. The main finding of this study is that 45% of participants perceived that a highly regulated environment could be a barrier to continuous improvement implementation, while 97% of respondents utilised Continuous improvement (CI) methods, such as Lean, Six Sigma, and LSS, within their organisations. While the International Conference of Harmonisation integrates CI into its Pharmaceutical Quality Systems (PQS) regulations, the highest motivation for CI implementation amongst the Irish Pharma industry is to improve Productivity and Quality. The main obstacles highlighted for CI implementation in Pharma attributed to stringent regulatory regimes were fear of extra validation activity, a compliance versus quality culture, and a regulatory culture of being “safe”. Another relevant finding presented in this paper is that participants CI LSS tools are very strongly integrated into the pharma industries corrective and preventative action system, deviations, and internal audit systems. Limitations of the research are that all the data collected in the survey came from professionals working for multinational Pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland. The authors understand that this is the first research focused on the barriers and status of CI initiatives in the pharmaceutical industry. The results of this study represent an important step towards understanding the enablers and obstacles for the use of continuous improvement methodologies in pharmaceutical manufacturing industries on a global scale.

Improving access to frontline psychosocial services for youths in difficulty by using LSS: an action research case study

Purpose This study aims to improve accessibility to frontline psychological services for youths in difficulty. In the province of Quebec, Canada, the first significant intervention must take place within 30 days for at least 75% of the clients. Achieving this target is challenging. This was observed in the Youth Programme of a health-care network in Montreal (Centre Intégré (Universitaire) de la Santé et des Services Sociaux Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal). Design/methodology/approach Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach within the Action Research methodology was used. Define, Measure, Analyse, Innovate, Implement and Control structure combined with Lean techniques and a Kaizen event were implemented. Findings In total 69% of the clients have now had their first intervention within 30 days and 91% within 60 days. Improving accessibility to frontline services led to improving accessibility to second-line services. Communicating performance objectives to employees led to increasing their awareness about the importance of performance assessment and their willingness to contribute to improvement. The Kaizen event was a driving force that enabled more collaboration and trust. The participation of a partner-client in the Kaizen helped finding client-centred solutions. The large number of participants in the Kaizen added complexity. Research limitations/implications It was difficult to sort and rank a large number of solutions during the Kaizen. The impact of hiring additional employees has not been investigated. Despite the significant improvements, the targets were not achieved. More research is required to identify more accurately critical factors that have a major impact on the success of LSS projects involving complex processes. Originality/value This study contributes to the body of knowledge in Lean health care. It describes Lean tools/techniques used, solution implementation and improvements achieved in a real context. 10 success factors and 4 challenges were identified. The study provides a model for other organizations for developing their own roadmap to improve accessibility to their services, notably in large and complex processes.

Global study into the pros and cons of ISO 18404: a convergent mixed method study and recommendations for further research

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the pros and cons of having a standard for lean six sigma developed in 2015. The study follows up on a previous study by Antony et al. (2021) in more depth and aims to provide a more detailed investigation of various aspects of the standard.Design/methodology/approachA sequential mixed methodology was utilised by interviewing a panel of leading academics and practitioners familiar with lean six sigma followed by distributing a survey questionnaire to continuous improvement and operational excellence (OPEX) personnel.FindingsThe findings indicate that continuous improvement and OPEX professionals have conflicting views of International Standards Organisation (ISO) 18404. A majority of the participants of the qualitative study suggested, whilst supporting the requirement for a lean sigma standard, voiced concerns about the auditability of the standard and whether it is currently “fit for purpose” and proposed that it needs to be revised. Within the quantitative survey, 42% had never heard of the standard, and of the 58% who had heard of it, 90% had read it. Just 10% stated that they had or would apply the standard within their organisations. Just fewer than 50% felt that the standard was fit for purpose which suggests for further refinements of the standard in the future. Finally, 85% of respondents of the quantitative survey suggested for the revision of the standard whilst just 15% felt it should be removed.Research limitations/implicationsOther than a previous study by Antony et al. (2021), implementation of ISO 18404 in organisations and its benefits as well as empirical study looking into the impact of the standard on corporate performance in the literature were limited. An opportunity to review lessons learnt from a case study on the ISO 18404 standard implementation within an organisation would further enhance the research.Originality/valueThe paper provides a valuable resource for organisations to obtain insight into a standard in lean six sigma and whether to implement it or not. Furthermore, the results can form the basis of a case for the future revision of the standard by consolidating and strengthening the findings from the first study with more detailed quantitative and qualitative study.

Utilization of Lean & Six Sigma quality initiatives in Indian healthcare sector

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the utilization of Lean & Six Sigma quality initiatives in healthcare sector in India. Methodology The survey questionnaires were sent to 454 hospitals through registered postal in all the states of India. The survey questionnaire was designed to assess different quality initiatives; currently implemented in Indian hospitals, factors align with organization’s objectives, reasons for not implementing Lean & Six Sigma and contribution of Lean & Six Sigma projects in healthcare improvement projects etc. A separate section in the questionnaire provides the feedback on implementation of Lean & Six Sigma in various hospitals. The relationships between Lean & Six Sigma and healthcare performance have also been established in this paper. Findings It is found that 15 Nos. of hospitals have implemented the Lean tools while 14 Nos. have implemented the Six Sigma tools out of 109 collected responses. This shows the utilization of Lean & Six Sigma in Indian healthcare sector. The ‘Lack of knowledge’ and ‘Availability of resources’ are the major reasons for not implementing Lean & Six Sigma. It is also observed that 22% running projects were related to Lean & Six Sigma out of various improvement projects running in various hospitals. Originality There is lack of evidences of similar studies that determines the utilization of Lean & Six Sigma in Indian healthcare sector at the national level. This paper will provide important breakthrough to academicians and healthcare practitioners, who are involved in Lean & Six Sigma research. Social implications The present study will create awareness among healthcare practitioners across India for utilization of quality tools that will provide direct benefits to the society.