The integration of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma and sustainability: A literature review and future research directions for developing a specific model

Like quality management in general, Six Sigma has penetrated into most sectors of today's business world. Although Six Sigma originated in industry, it has inspired a considerable amount of academic literature. This paper reviews this literature describing the trends, sources, and findings. The paper also seeks to synthesize the literature, with an emphasis on establishing its relationship to quality management theory and topics for future research. In doing so, there is an attempt to answer the following fundamental questions. (i) What is Six Sigma? (ii) What are its impacts on operational performance? (iii) What roles can academics usefully play in relation to Six Sigma? Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Six Sigma Literature: A Review and Agenda for Future Research

Purpose – Lean and Six Sigma are the two most important continuous improvement (CI) methodologies for achieving operational and service excellence in any organization. The purpose of this paper is to explain how lean compares to the Six Sigma and outline the benefits for integrating them. Also, this paper discusses the existing models that describe how Six Sigma and lean fit together. A new detailed description for integrating Six Sigma and lean is developed to provide an improved approach for CI.Design/methodology/approach – The following research included proposals and discussion, which were mainly based on the authors' own findings and experience, in addition to a literature‐based review of some of the most common and traditional lean and Six Sigma models.Findings – The paper proposes a new lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach and provides a detailed description of its phases. The paper also presents the views on the integration benefits as well as on how Six Sigma compares to lean. Six Sigma and lean are rel...

The integration of Six Sigma and lean management

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify emerging aspects and trends of Six Sigma literature over 17 years, from 1992 to 2008Design/methodology/approach – The literature on Six Sigma from 417 referred journal articles in business and management disciplines, information systems and computer science, engineering, healthcare, etc were systematically analyzed based on a scheme that consists of four distinct dimensions: publication year and journal, major themes, research type, and application sector (ie manufacturing vs service)Findings – A number of key findings emerged: Six Sigma research is growing rapidly, covering various disciplines and domains with a great focus on Six Sigma tools and techniques; empirical research is dominant with more emphasis on case study approach; and the growing gap between manufacturing‐ and service‐focused articles implies the return of Six Sigma to manufacturing as its initial base Although a large volume of literature is available on Six Sigma, the topic is still under deve

Six Sigma quality: a structured review and implications for future research

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:833085/FULLTEXT01

Towards innovation measurement in the software industry

Purpose – This article describes the five‐year success of a lean Six Sigma approach to improving operations that is also a way of doing better things – innovating in products, services, markets and even a company's underlying business model.Design/methodology/approach – Consultants from IBM's Operations Strategy group and from the Institute for Business Value analyzed the innovation records of several leading companies that have implemented operations strategies based on Lean Six Sigma management techniques.Findings – They found that lean Six Sigma initiatives also led to product innovations, such as Caterpillar's phenomenally successful low‐emissions diesel engine, and also to redesigned processes, including a streamlined supply chain. After five years, by 2005, revenues at Caterpillar had grown by 80 percent.Research limitations/implications – A case study of Caterpillar illustrates the points of the lean sigma six approach.Practical implications – For more than five years, industry leaders have used co...

Using a Lean Six Sigma approach to drive innovation

Purpose – To aid business leaders struggling to implement global integration, IBM Consulting developed an “R‐O‐I Framework” that emphasizes repeatable processes, optimized assets and integrated operations, all on a global basis. This paper aims to look at this framework.Design/methodology/approach – The researchers first examined data from and IBM 2008 CEO Study (more than a 1,000 respondents), and then selected 20 best practice cases to identify patterns among strategies that strong global integrators were using.Findings – The IBM approach has identified three elements of the R‐O‐I framework that must be addressed concurrently: repeatable processes – eliminating inefficiency, optimizing effectiveness, and managing exceptions; optimized assets – managing core versus non‐core activities, optimizing locations and establishing virtual operations; and integrated operations – Optimizing global competencies via partnering and managing end‐to‐end processes on a global basis.Practical implications – In concert wi...

Dave Lubowe

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Using a Lean Six Sigma approach to drive innovation

A comprehensive strategy for globally integrated operations