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Lean Six Sigma

About: Lean Six Sigma is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1919 publications have been published within this topic receiving 29142 citations.


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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how to engineer Six Sigma continuous improvement, design for Six Sigma (DFSS), and lean Six Sigma, and emphasize that thorough measurement of the existing process is necessary for redesign or future designs of process/product.
Abstract: This chapter examines how to engineer Six Sigma continuous improvement, design for Six Sigma (DFSS), and lean Six Sigma. Six Sigma process improvements consist of five different phases: phase 0—process definition/ project selection; phase I—process measurement; phase II—process analysis phase III—process improvement; and phase IV—process control and maintenance. The chapter presents the definitions and measurements of each of the phases. The statistical tools and methods involved in each phase are also illustrated. It is emphasized that thorough measurement of the existing process is necessary for redesign or future designs of process/product. The aspect of evaluation in each phase is also highlighted. Furthermore, it is stated that the process should be examined without any manipulation. The process engineer should identify independent variables (experimental factors) that affect dependent (response) variables in improving and contributing to the mean of normal distribution. Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) is an analytical approach for preventing defects by prioritizing potential problems and their resolution. Thorough analysis of the existing process is required for redesign in some cases or future designs of process/product. Process control requires a process and design control plan and team development, as well as statistical process control and advanced process control techniques.

4 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Management accountants are provided with a dual conceptual framework--merging elements from Goldratt's Theory of Constraints with Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology and tools--that can be used to tackle organizational system constraints.
Abstract: Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints (TOC) are arguably the two most significant methodologies affecting operation management and process improvement initiatives over the past three decades. For those of you who have forgotten the concept behind it, TOC is a simple, yet brilliant management theory introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his 1984 book, The Goal. This unusual book, written in the form of a hard-to-put-down novel about a plant manager named Alex Rogo, depicted how TOC can be used to increase productivity and operating income in a manufacturing setting by stepping away from practices suggested by traditional cost accounting and variance reporting systems. Six Sigma approaches some of the same TOC issues, but from a different angle. The focus of Six Sigma is to address issues related to the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ). Looking at it from a traditional quality theory point of view, Six Sigma aims at decreasing internal and external failure costs in an enterprise, thereby contributing directly to increased customer satisfaction. Having spent several years studying Six Sigma and some of its implications for management accounting and internal auditing, I began to contemplate the benefits of incorporating TOC accounting metrics within the control phase of Six Sigma. As such, the purpose of this article is to provide management accountants with a dual conceptual framework--merging elements from Goldratt's Theory of Constraints with Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology and tools--that can be used to tackle organizational system constraints. Specifically, I will aim to: * Provide you with an overview of Six Sigma, as well as the fundamentals of TOC and Throughput Accounting (TA); * Propose a Six Sigma/TOC dual framework that allows a system constraint to be broken up quickly (TOC effect) while the Six Sigma approach studies the issue in more depth to also address effects related to COPQ. In other words, while TOC can target the resource constraint (tactical objective), the Six Sigma methodology aims to increase the level of quality and remove extra nonvalue-added processes, thereby freeing up additional system resources. * Explain why the use of TA metrics within the proposed framework presented in this article can help address several shortcomings associated with other cost accounting systems, such as traditional cost accounting (CA), as well as the more relevant activity-based costing (ABC). A SIX SIGMA AND TOC PRIMER Six Sigma is a quality-driven, scientific methodology that aims at improving a current standard to a future, ideal standard of 99.9997% accuracy. This translates to about 3.4 defects per one million opportunities. Six Sigma is based on the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology. The main strength of Six Sigma is that it is data driven: The DMAIC process contains an arsenal of more than 400 process improvement and analysis tools--many of which have been used for more than a half century. The roots of Six Sigma can be traced back to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle developed by W. Edwards Deming in the 1950s to help Japanese businesses rebuild their infrastructure after World War II. Even though a detailed discussion of Six Sigma is outside the scope of this article, management accountants interested in becoming more familiar with the Six Sigma methodology are encouraged to add the following two books to their office shelves. The first, The Six Sigma Handbook by Thomas Pyzdek, is used in many Six Sigma certification courses and provides the novice and intermediate Six Sigma practitioner with a comprehensive, detailed overview of the DMAIC methodology. The other, The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook, can be used best as a Six Sigma dictionary and quick reference guide in choosing appropriate tools to tackle a certain task. I also encourage you--especially if you are an internal audit professional--to read a previous article of mine, "A Six Sigma Approach to Internal Audits," which appeared in the February 2009 issue of Strategic Finance, in order to gain an overall understanding of how the DMAIC methodology may be used to better orchestrate an operational internal audit. …

4 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper aims to compare the prognostic and visualisation capabilities of all the three simulation paradigms to identify their suitability and rigor in eliminating weaknesses and bottlenecks in a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project.
Abstract: This paper aims to compare the prognostic and visualisation capabilities of all the three simulation paradigms to identify their suitability and rigor in eliminating weaknesses and bottlenecks in a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project.,The paper uses an light-emitting diode (LED) factory as a business case to show the differences and advantages of using three different simulation techniques to solve a manufacturing problem.,Even though this is only one business case that shows how system dynamics (SD) can be effective in a Six Sigma manufacturing project, more examples are needed to validate this hypothesis within Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing fields. Even though, discrete-events (DE) and agent-based (AB) models are both equally well suited to develop the manufacturing processes and the choice of what to use may be arbitrarily dependent on the available software or the preference of the modeller, hybrid models seem to become extremely powerful. Therefore, more hybrid models need to be constructed within LSS (especially when a flowchart and a SIPOC ((Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers) table are combined to develop a hybrid model) to achieve the most accurate results with accurate representation of reality.,There are three commonly used simulation techniques, DE, AB and SD, but choosing the right simulation methodology has often been a challenge.

4 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
05 Feb 2019
TL;DR: This study explored the use of LSS on the standardization and documentation of health literacy assessment of patients in an academic safety net clinic and suggested that LSS is an appropriate method of standardizing assessment and documentationof health literacy in this clinical setting.
Abstract: Background Lean Six Sigma is a set of techniques intended to improve processes by greatly reducing the probability that errors will occur. The Lean Six Sigma approach was used to engage staff and clinicians in standardizing the assessment of patient health literacy in an academic safety net clinic. Brief description of activity Clinicians were surveyed, and a chart review was conducted to attain baseline information regarding the uniformity of health literacy assessment and documentation in the clinic. A workgroup used the survey data and Lean Six Sigma quality improvement tools to determine the root cause, which was the lack of standardization. Implementation To address this root cause, a standardized process for health literacy assessment in the clinic was developed; an assessment tool was selected, support staff were trained, and the new process was initiated. A support staff focus group was conducted, and a second clinician survey was disseminated to gauge perception of the new health literacy assessment and documentation processes. Quantitative data were collected to assess the coverage achieved by the new processes. Monthly reporting and staff feedback sessions were conducted to ensure continued efficacy of the protocol. Results Standardized assessment and documentation processes were effectively implemented using the Lean Six Sigma approach in an academic safety net clinic. Providers and rooming staff were satisfied with the new processes. Rooming staff input and buy-in were critical to successful implementation. Lessons learned Our findings suggest that Lean Six Sigma tools and methodologies can be appropriate for health care quality improvement and process standardization in an academic safety net clinical setting. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2019;3(1):e25-e30.]. Plain language summary A growing body of evidence supports the role of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools and processes for the assessment, design, and implementation of the quality improvement in the health care industry. This study explored the use of LSS on the standardization and documentation of health literacy assessment of patients in an academic safety net clinic. Findings suggest that LSS is an appropriate method of standardizing assessment and documentation of health literacy in this clinical setting.

4 citations


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Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
2023109
2022205
2021183
2020187
2019190