Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to adopt a multiple case-study approach, of three companies, in order to identify the factors affecting Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) implementation in service industry. Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data were collected through companies’ documents, written procedures and quality assurance policies. Primary data were collected through a number of in-depth interviews with managers and quality experts. Findings – The analysis of qualitative data gathered through in-depth interviews with managers in all three cases resulted in the emergence of variety of critical success factors (CSFs) regarding L6σ implementation in service industry. As it can be seen the great majority of the factors have been identified in all three cases. Moreover the analysis shows that there are two categories of factors emerged. Originality/value – This study has four major contributions. First, it provides an intergraded multi-factor framework regarding the implementation of L6σ in service indu...

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Road towards Lean Six Sigma in service industry: a multi-factor integrated framework

We reviewed the literature for the impact of service delivery initiatives (SDIs) on patients' waiting times within radiology departments We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, INSPEC and The Cochrane Library for relevant articles published between 1995 and February, 2013 The Cochrane EPOC risk of bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias on studies that met specified design criteria Fifty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria The types of SDI implemented included extended scope practice (ESP, three studies), quality management (12 studies), productivity-enhancing technologies (PETs, 29 studies), multiple interventions (11 studies), outsourcing and pay-for-performance (one study each) The uncontrolled pre- and post-intervention and the post-intervention designs were used in 54 (95%) of the studies The reporting quality was poor: many of the studies did not test and/or report the statistical significance of their results The studies were highly heterogeneous, therefore meta-analysis was inappropriate The following type of SDIs showed promising results: extended scope practice; quality management methodologies including Six Sigma, Lean methodology, and continuous quality improvement; productivity-enhancing technologies including speech recognition reporting, teleradiology and computerised physician order entry systems We have suggested improved study design and the mapping of the definitions of patient waiting times in radiology to generic timelines as a starting point for moving towards a situation where it becomes less restrictive to compare and/or pool the results of future studies in a meta-analysis

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The Effectiveness of Service Delivery Initiatives at Improving Patients’ Waiting Times in Clinical Radiology Departments: A Systematic Review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demystify Lean for service innovation by investigating its benefits and risks. Lean innovation is a relatively new approach which is advocated in management literature. Little scientific work about its practice exists in the field. Although the Lean innovation principles are clear, there is limited evidence about their impact on service innovation processes. Design/methodology/approach – From the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, a framework for understanding Lean innovation is developed. Using this framework, the benefits and risks of Lean innovation are analyzed in a case study. Findings – The case study not only shows that Lean service innovation can have many advantages, but also draws attention to the risks. The risks might result in the inability to follow Lean principles and might hamper the realization of the benefits. Using the case studies, study mitigation mechanisms are identified. Originality/value – This research offers a new knowledge perspect...

Demystifying the benefits and risks of Lean service innovation: a banking case study

Lean six sigma in the healthcare sector: A systematic literature review

A l’image des grands groupes, les PME souhaitent, elles aussi, profiter des methodes modernes de management pour ameliorer leurs processus, leurs performances et leur competitivite. L’interet du secteur des PME se porte sur les elements du concept Lean Six Sigma qui leur semblent appropries pour realiser ces objectifs. Apres avoir constate une lacune dans les recherches sur ce sujet et une lacune methodologique concernant l’implementation du LSS dans les PME, nous proposons une methodologie de conception, d’application et de controle du LSS pour ces PME, que nous avons appelee LSS Plutus. Elle est dediee aux PME de la production et elle prend en compte leur specificite. Dans ce but, nous avons restreint la boite a outils traditionnelle du LSS utilisee dans les grands groupes. Nous avons egalement cree deux variantes pour mettre en œuvre notre methodologie qui correspondent aux besoins, capacites et maturites differents des PME. Nous avons elabore des indicateurs, des outils, ainsi qu’un guide d’application de la methode LSS pour les PME de la production et sa version informatique en TIBCO. Nous avons decide de renforcer l’efficience des ameliorations, en deployant les actions de planification, de standardisation et de perennisation des changements. Dans ce but, nous proposons de modifier les criteres du Modele d’Excellence E.F.Q.M. pour qu’elles puissent prendre en compte les conditions de fonctionnement de la methode LSS dans les PME. La methodologie proposee a ete verifiee dans deux PME de la production en Pologne et en France, ce qui a confirme son utilite et son efficacite en termes d’amelioration des performances et de developpement des organisations

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Contribution à l’implantation de la méthode Lean Six Sigma dans les Petites et Moyennes Entreprises pour l’amélioration des processus

Delivery of services to a patient has to be given with an acceptable measure of quality that can be monitored through the patient's satisfaction. The objective of this work was to innovate processes eliminating waste and non value-added work in processes done at the Imaging Department in the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER for its Spanish acronym) in Mexico City, to decrease the time a patient spends in a study and increase satisfaction. This innovation will be done using Lean Six Sigma tools and applied in a pilot program.

Lean Six Sigma applied to a process innovation in a Mexican health institute's imaging department

The integration of a RIS-PACS into the imaging service at the INER in Mexico City had a strong impact in their previous workflow. A process analysis was developed considering: patient’s satisfaction, strengthen system’s use and elimination of waste. The objective of this work was to determine an overall sigma level of an imaging department, presenting a strategy that considerates process analysis and workflow innovation through Lean Six Sigma Tools.

J. Garcia-Porres

Papers

Lean Six Sigma applied to a process innovation in a Mexican health institute's imaging department

Overall Sigma Level of an Imaging Department through Process Innovation