Lean Six Sigma: yesterday, today and tomorrow

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences and perspectives of three practitioners from two continents on the subject of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) from both academic and industrial viewpoints. The authors of the paper have each been working on the topic of LSS over the past 15 years and have contributed over 150 journal and conference papers to the topics of lean and Six Sigma. Design/methodology/approach The approach is to synthesize the practical experiences and research conducted by three authorities on the topic of LSS. In addition, relevant secondary data have also been used in the sections where and when appropriate. Findings The authors initially present the history of LSS emphasizing the importance of integration of the two most effective process excellence methodologies over the past 30 years. The authors also report the current trends of LSS in organizations as well as the emerging future trends. They argue that LSS will continue to grow and evolve across the globe for several years. Practical implications The paper is intended to be equally useful to both academics and practitioners who are interested on the topic of LSS. From a pure practical standpoint, the paper provides an overview of the past, present and future trends of LSS as a powerful business strategy and problem-solving methodology for all industrial sectors, irrespective of their size and nature. The documentation of the history and recent developments in LSS should be useful to researchers in academia. Originality/value In authors’ best knowledge, there are no recent journal articles which cover all the three of these aspects; the past, the present and the future of LSS. This paper presents the above three aspects in a unique manner and addresses the gap between the current state and future directions of LSS.

Climate Change Mitigation: Application of Management Production Philosophies for Energy Saving in Industrial Processes

“…In the literature, there are many studies examining the impact of the use of Six Sigma in the sustainability of organizations. They are focused on three major areas: (a) costs (cost reduction, reduction of defects, waste reduction, reducing waiting times, reducing unnecessary inventories) [18], (b) quality (increased quality products and services, reducing process variability) [19], and (c) satisfaction (accelerated delivery time, process and production cycle, increased customer and employee satisfaction) [20]. Chugani et al [15] found 70 articles that analyze the impact of Six Sigma on environmental sustainability.…”

“…The DMAIC structure (define-measure-analyze-improve-control) facilitates the statistical definition of a problem as well as its solution [20]. In this way, and because the whole process is based on data, subjectivity and arbitrariness are eliminated when making difficult decisions.…”

“…From the union of the two approaches appears Lean Six Sigma. The term was first introduced into the literature around 2000 as an evolution of Six Sigma [20].…”

“…The application of the Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma methodologies to increasingly complex problems [20] that require deepening the interactions of dependent and independent variables in processes whose variation may cause resource overconsumption, especially important in the case of different energy sources.…”

Reduction of defects in the lapping process of the silicon wafer manufacturing: the Six Sigma application

“…This is commonly known as a 1.5 sigma shift. So, the standardised definition of the Six Sigma quality considers this shift and guarantees that a six-sigma process will produce no more than 3.4 DPMO (Antony, Snee & Hoerl, 2017;Harry, 1988).…”