A lean six sigma framework for continuous and incremental improvement in the oil and gas sector

This article aims to explore synergies between Lean Production (LP) and Six Sigma principles in order to propose a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) framework for continuous and incremental improvement in the oil and gas sector. The Three-Dimensional LSS Framework seeks to provide various combinations about the integration between LP principles, DMAIC cycle and PDCA cycle to support operations management needs. Design/methodology/approach - The research method is composed of two main steps: (i) diagnostic of current problems and proposition of a conceptual framework that qualitatively integrates synergistic aspects of LP and Six Sigma; and (ii) analysis of the application of the construct through semi-structured interviews with leaders from oil and gas companies to assess and validate the proposed framework. Findings - As a result, a conceptual framework of LSS is developed contemplating the integration of LP and Six Sigma and providing a systemic and holistic approach to problemsolving through continuous and incremental improvement in the oil and gas sector. Originality/value - This research is different from previous studies because it integrates LP principles, DMAIC and PDCA cycles into a unique framework that fulfils a specific need of oil and gas sector. It presents a customized LSS framework that guides wastes and costs reduction, while enhances quality and reduces process variability to elevate efficiency in operations management of this sector. The paper type is an original research that present new and original scientific findings.N/

PDCA Cycle Application in the Beer Filtration Process

The brewing process requires that the manufacturing of your product be done and controlled in such a way that the entire characteristic of the product is preserved from receipt of raw material to finished product. Thus, this work aims to propose actions that allow identifying possible critical steps of oxygen increases during the beer filtration process. Using the PDCA cycle methodology to analyze possible failures, be it people, management or equipment, and seek improvements through the analysis and monitoring of objective actions capable of identifying and addressing all problems at the process stage, thus ensuring, improving the sensory quality of beer and producing with, lower dissolved oxygen content. The PDCA cycle will be used because it is a sequence of activities that are cyclically performed to improve activities and continuous application and allows a real use of the processes generated in the company, aiming at reducing costs and increasing productivity. Therefore, the scientific problem of this work refers to the evaluation of points of the manufacturing process that causes premature aging and oxidation in the produced beers

Sustainability in Construction: Using Lean Management Principles to Reduce Waste

The construction industry is facing many challenges. There are growing consumer demands for sustainable building. The construction industry generates a significant portion of the waste going into landfills. The construction industry has failed to keep pace with productivity in the manufacturing industry. Through adoption of Lean management principles, the construction industry can become more sustainable while increasing productivity. The literature was evaluated for three concepts: Lean management principles interaction with sustainability, the current state of sustainability in the construction industry, and the current state of Lean management principles in the construction industry. Lean management philosophies interactions with sustainability has been heavily studied in the manufacturing industry, but rarely so in the construction industry. The construction industry has been slow to adopt Lean philosophies, as construction presents unique challenges not present in manufacturing. There are emerging technologies in construction that enhance sustainability and Lean philosophies. Through analysis of the few case studies performed on Lean construction, an early model of Lean impacts has been proposed

Measuring the readiness level for Kaizen projects:a multi-layer Bayesian decision-making framework

Purpose. Acquainting organisations regarding the concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and its implementation is one measure that effectively improves their global position and performance. Kaizen is one of the concepts of TQM, which focuses on low-cost organisational transformational methods and often saves consuming significant resources (time, capital, etc.). Using Kaizen in organisational transformation sets efficient guidelines to improve processes agility and leanness and increase manufacturing productivity. Hence, this study aims to identify the key success factors in Kaizen projects and presents a score function that measures the readiness level of organisations to implement Kaizen projects. Design/methodology/approach. A literature review first extracts the key success factors in Kaizen projects. Afterwards, the selected factors are screened via the Fuzzy Delphi method using expert opinions from the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy. Subsequently, their importance is crossexamined by the Bayesian Best-Worst Method (BBWM). The BBWM is one of the most recent Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods that lead to stable, dynamic and robust pairwise comparisons. After analysing the weights of the key factors, a score function is designed so that organisations can understand how much they are ready to launch Kaizen projects. Findings. According to the findings, “Training and Education” and “Employee attitude” played an important role in the success of Kaizen projects. The literature extracted 22 success factors of Kaizen projects, and ten factors were eliminated through the fuzzy Delphi method. Twelve success factors in Kaizen projects were evaluated and investigated through the BBWM. Matching to this method, “Training and Education” and “Employee attitude” weighed 0.119 and 0.112, relatively. Furthermore, “Support from senior management” was the least important factor. Originality. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first research in which the success factors of Kaizen projects have been identified and analysed through an integrated multi-layer decision-making framework. Although some studies have investigated the key success factors of Kaizen projects and analysed them through statistical approaches, research that examines the success factors of Kaizen projects through MCDM methods is yet to be reported. Moreover, the score function that measures the level of readiness of each organisation for the successful implementation of Kaizen projects is a unique contribution to this research

Validating the theoretical underpinnings of the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system standard : a multi-country study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

ISO 9000 family of quality management system (QMS) standards — particularly ISO 9001, which stipulates QMS requirements for compliance — have received a great deal of attention by academia and practitioners. Every year, thousands of organisations obtain ISO 9001 certification worldwide, and a plethora of studies have examined the effectiveness of ISO 9001 implementation, empirically or otherwise. One existing knowledge gap is the absence of a comprehensive study that examines the theoretical validity of ISO 9001. Another is ascertaining how ISO 9001 compliance requirements are accepted across countries and regions, given that ISO 9001 is meant for sociotechnical systems. Using responses received from 240 ISO 9001 certified manufacturing companies in five countries, this study empirically examined the theoretical validity of ISO 9001:2015, which is claimed to underpin Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) at the overall QMS level. The theoretical model of the study which posited that “Leadership Driven QMS Planning (LDQMSP) (reflected via clauses 04 through to 07 of the standard) leads to implementing the planned processes (reflected via clause 08), and checking the effectiveness of these processes (reflected via clause 09) and taking appropriate action (reflected via clause 10) leads to QMS Results” was found to be a good fit to data, based on goodness of fit criteria used in partial least squares structural equation modelling. As regards national culture effects and regional effects (Australasia, South Asia, and Greece), the empirical test results found that national culture (or region) plays only a very minor role in making ISO 9001 based continual improvement (PDCA) of the QMS being more acceptable to certain cultures than to others; power distance (PDI) and individualism (IDV) showed positive and negative effects (but small) respectively on Plan (LDQMSP), Do, Check, Act, and QMS Results as hypothesised. However, uncertainty avoidance (UAI) failed to show a significant effect (α = 0.05). Similarly, the mean scores of Plan (LDQMSP), Do, Check, Act, and QMS Results of South Asia were found to be higher than those of Australasia, although these effects were small. Thus, the findings support the universal relevance and acceptance of the standard, although the study was limited to ISO 9001 certified manufacturing firms of five selected countries. Contributions of the findings were highlighted, and further research directions were suggested

Guiding principles of integrated management systems: Towards unifying a starting point for researchers and practitioners

The Integrated Management System (IMS) seems to be a suitable strategy to manage multiple systems that have to meet the needs and expectations of various stakeholders. The main objective of this research is to establish the guiding principles of IMS and the essential elements for its development and maintenance in order to move towards unifying a starting point in the literature. This objective was reached through a systematic content analysis with focus on the content analysis of the most cited articles of Scopus and Web of Science databases from 2006 to 2016. The results indicate the existence of 28 elements for development and implementation of IMS. Through the critical analysis of these elements 6 principles of IMS were systematized: 1) Systemic Management; 2) Standardization; 3) Strategic, tactic and operational integration; 4) Organizational learning; 5) Debureaucratization; and 6) Continuous Improvement. Each principle is a pillar for development and maintenance of IMS. The scientific contribution of this study is that it represents a starting point towards the establishment of the IMS theory. Moreover, taking into account these results one can homogenize the basis of IMS, providing research results with a higher degree of comparability. The results of this work may also help company managers better target their efforts in the management of the IMS, serving as a guideline to assist them in developing and maintaining each one of the abovementioned pillars. The best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to unify the literature

Total Quality Management and Six Sigma

In order to survive in a modern and competitive environment, organizations need to carefully organize their activities regarding quality management. TQM and six sigma are the approaches that have been successful in solving intricate quality problems in products and services. This volume can help those who are interested in the quality management field to understand core ideas along with contemporary efforts done in the field and authored as case studies in this volume. This volume may be useful to students, academics and practitioners across diversified disciplines

Systematic analysis of industry engagement activities on student learning in the undergraduate technology program

Industry engagement is used alongside classroom learning to provide students with the best possible learning experience before graduation. There are a variety of engagement activities which may be utilized by the instructor to help students learn and apply classroom content. Time and resources are used by both the instructor and the industry personnel to arrange the student activity. Thus, it is imperative that the activities used by instructors are providing students with the best possible learning experience. Approximately 75% of students graduating with a technology degree from Iowa State University are transfer students who come into the program sometime after their freshman year. Therefore, this study will focus on survey responses from the junior and senior classes. This thesis examines and defines what students learn from different industry engagement activities. Then, the seven activities are compared using t-tests, a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level, and the effect size of the difference of the mean scores, to determine which activity or activities are most effective at enhancing junior and senior learning. Based on the research, it showed that all industry engagement activities with the exception of professional organization involvement had a similar impact on student learning for juniors and seniors