Using Six Sigma DMAIC for Lean project management in education: a case study in a German kindergarten

Employees' preference analysis on lean six sigma program coaching attributes using a conjoint analysis approach

The purpose of this study was to determine the preference of employees for Lean Six Sigma project coaching attributes. Conjoint analysis with an orthogonal design was utilized and six attributes were considered: coaching style, frequency of coaching sessions, duration of coaching sessions, the turn-around time of feedback, documentation review, and mock defense. In addition, 4 different projects were also evaluated: Quick Win project, Yellow Belt project, Green Belt project, and Black Belt project. The results showed that for Quick Win projects, employees consider conducting a mock defense as the highest preference, followed by having a documentation review, and a democratic coaching style. For Yellow Belt projects, employees considered conducting a mock defense as the highest preference, followed by having a documentation review, and a weekly coaching session. For Green Belt projects, employees consider having a documentation review as the highest preference, followed by a transactional coaching style, and conducting a mock defense. Lastly, for Black Belt projects, employees consider having a documentation review as the highest preference, followed by conducting a mock defense, and a 1-week turn-around time for feedback. The results of this study will help companies to implement and to sustain better employee-oriented LSS programs.

The performance improvement analysis using Six Sigma DMAIC methodology: A case study on Indian manufacturing company

The six-sigma methodology has been adopted by the industry as a business management tool to improve operational capabilities and reduce defects in any process. This study aims to present a case study on the implementation of the Six-Sigma DMAIC methodology with the purpose to reduce the rejection rate of rubber weather strips manufactured by XYZ Ltd. (name changed) situated in Gurugram, India. Weather strips are used in all four doors of cars for noise reduction, waterproofing, dust proofing, soundproofing, windproofing, and for improving air conditioning cooling, and heating effects. The overall rejection rate of both front and rear door rubber weather strips was 5.5% which was causing a huge loss to the company. The average rejection rate of rubber weather strips per day reduced from 5.5% to 3.08%. After implementing the Six-Sigma project findings the rejection was reduced from 153 pieces to 68 pieces helped the industry in saving the cost of a compound by Rs. 15,249 per month. The sigma level improved from 3.9 to 4.45 within three months with the implementation of one Six-Sigma project solution. The company was highly concerned about reducing the high rejection rate of rubber weather strips and decided to deploy Six Sigma DMAIC as a quality improvement tool. The industry was keen to reduce this high rejection rate to 2% and this target was materialized with the application of the Six-Sigma DMAIC methodology. The novelty of this study is to analyze performance improvement considering the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to reduce the rejection rate of rubber weather strip manufacturing companies.

The Development of an Excellence Model Integrating the Shingo Model and Sustainability

Companies are continuously looking to improve their production systems using excellence models, with lean thinking, the Shingo model, six sigma and lean six sigma being the most comprehensive and applied. It is expected that the initial focus for the survival of companies is their economic profitability, but when economic needs are met, the next step is to achieve operational excellence. For this, in addition to economic objectives, it is necessary to include social and environmental objectives, i.e., the other two pillars of sustainability. This study aims to propose a conceptual model identifying the tools that can help achieve the desired results in the three pillars of sustainability aligned with operational excellence. The design of the conceptual model was based on a bibliometric analysis of the literature that relates the concepts of lean thinking, six sigma, lean six sigma and the Shingo model. The Web of Science was the platform selected for the collection of data, and the timeframe considered was 2010 to 2021. A total of 125 articles were analyzed using the VosViewer software, through which it was possible to analyze different topics of study related to the literature. The bibliometric analysis allowed for the identification of the temporal distribution of publications, the categorization of topics, different areas of application and the importance of the tools used in different practical cases. This study points out that companies have at their disposal several tools to achieve economic objectives. On the other hand, there is a set of more restricted tools that are used to meet the objectives of the social and environmental pillars. Future research should focus on identifying tools that meet social and environmental goals in order to strengthen these pillars that are essential for operational excellence and for the sustainability of companies.