Implementing the Lean Sigma Framework in an Indian SME: a case study

Lean and Six Sigma are two widely acknowledged business process improvement strategies available to organisations today for achieving dramatic results in cost, quality and time by focusing on process performance. Lately, Lean and Six Sigma practitioners are integrating the two strategies into a more powerful and effective hybrid, addressing many of the weaknesses and retaining most of the strengths of each strategy. Lean Sigma combines the variability reduction tools and techniques from Six Sigma with the waste and non-value added elimination tools and techniques from Lean Manufacturing, to generate savings to the bottom-line of an organisation. This paper proposes a Lean Sigma framework to reduce the defect occurring in the final product (automobile accessories) manufactured by a die-casting process. The proposed framework integrates Lean tools (current state map, 5S System, and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)) within Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to enhance the bottom-line results and win customer loyalty. Implementation of the proposed framework shows dramatic improvement in the key metrics (defect per unit (DPU), process capability index, mean and standard deviation of casting density, yield, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)) and a substantial financial savings is generated by the organisation

Crisis Management in the Tourism Industry-The Role of Social Media Platforms

The tourism industry is highly susceptible to various forms of risks operating in the industry that occur and go unattended over a period of time. Social media could be effectively used to address the risks. Studies, however, on social media and its role in crisis management are few in spite of a consistent e mphasis on the importance of social media in the tourism industry, specifically, its role in crisis management. This paper provides a review of the current state of affairs and provides a framework to involve social media research in crisis management in tourism

Lipid breakdown in oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) during frozen storage

The problem of hydrolysis of lipids and consequent accumulation of free fatty acids and development of rancidity due to oxidation of the lipids are major problems in frozen storage of oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps). The course of the phospholipid breakdown, production of free fatty acids and the changes taking place in the major unsaturated fatty acids during frozen storage are described in this paper. The rate of free fatty acid production is faster in the fish, with the higher fat content. Unlike in lean fish, the neutral lipids are found to contribute substantially to the free fatty acid production. The fatty acids most affected during storage are C sub(20:5) and C sub(22:6). The polyene indices were found to decrease during storage. These effects are more pronounced in the fish with the higher fat content

Leveraging Decoupling in Enabling Energy Aware D2D Communications

Downlink/Uplink decoupling (DUDe) in LTE net- works has caught the attention of researchers as it provides better uplink SINR and reduced power consumption per device due to decoupled connection of a device with the Macro (in downlink ) and a small cell (in uplink). These characteristics of DUDe c an be exploited to encourage more D2D communications in the network. This paper first proposes a model to estimate decoup ling region within which a device is allowed to perform DUDe. Then , it formulates an equation to calculate the total power saved by devices due to decoupling. Finally, the extra area due to decoupling which can be used to enable D2D pairs is calculate d. Simulation results are shown based on different simulation scenarios for different objectives for better understandi ng the idea proposed

Determining the Economic Value of Irrigation Water in Kerio Valley Basin (Kenya) by Residual Value Method

This paper presents an application of the residual value technique to determine the disaggregated economic value of irrigation water used across crops at the basin level for the Kerio valley basin Kenya. A multistage sampling method was used to select a representative sample of 216 smallholder irrigation farmers. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered to the small holder farmers, additional data on irrigation water requirements was obtained from FAO, CROPWAT 8.0 and CLIMWAT 2.0 (2013) database. The average residual value in the basin is Ksh 6.17 per M3. Results for the economic values of irrigation water are Ksh/ M3 20.85, 14.87, 4.3, 11.28, 1.25, 0.3 for field food crops; green grams, maize, millet, sorghum, cassava and cowpeas are respectively. Similarly for the fruit trees bananas, mangoes and lemons, the economic value of irrigation water are Ksh/M3 1.36, 0.90, 0.45 respectively Green grams and maize had the highest values for the ratios of apparent productivity and residual value and cowpeas and lemons the lowest. The results shows that at crop level water values estimated for field crops are generally higher compared to fruit trees. This means that there is greater potential in field crops than fruit trees in the basin. Keywords: Irrigated agriculture, apparent productivity, value of water, residual value metho

Electron Transfer Precedes ATP Hydrolysis during Nitrogenase Catalysis

The biological reduction of N2 to NH3 catalyzed by Mo-dependent nitrogenase requires at least eight rounds of a complex cycle of events associated with ATP-driven electron transfer (ET) from the Fe protein to the catalytic MoFe protein, with each ET coupled to the hydrolysis of two ATP molecules. Although steps within this cycle have been studied for decades, the nature of the coupling between ATP hydrolysis and ET, in particular the order of ET and ATP hydrolysis, has been elusive. Here, we have measured first-order rate constants for each key step in the reaction sequence, including direct measurement of the ATP hydrolysis rate constant: kATP = 70 s−1, 25 °C. Comparison of the rate constants establishes that the reaction sequence involves four sequential steps: (i) conformationally gated ET (kET = 140 s−1, 25 °C), (ii) ATP hydrolysis (kATP = 70 s−1, 25 °C), (iii) Phosphate release (kPi = 16 s−1, 25 °C), and (iv) Fe protein dissociation from the MoFe protein (kdiss = 6 s−1, 25 °C). These findings allow completion of the thermodynamic cycle undergone by the Fe protein, showing that the energy of ATP binding and protein–protein association drive ET, with subsequent ATP hydrolysis and Pi release causing dissociation of the complex between the Feox(ADP)2 protein and the reduced MoFe protein

Neutron and proton drip lines using the modified Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula

Proton and neutron separation energies have been calculated using the extended Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula. This modified Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula describes minutely the positions of all the old and the new magic numbers. It accounts for the disappearance of some traditional magic numbers for neutrons and provides extra stability for some new neutron numbers. The neutron and proton drip lines have been predicted using this extended Bethe-Weizsacker mass formula. The implications of the proton drip line on the astrophysical rp-process and of the neutron drip line on the astrophysical r-process have been discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Multiple case-study analysis of quality management practices within UK Six Sigma and non-Six Sigma manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises

This paper examines multiple case-study analysis of quality management practices within UK Six Sigma and non-Six Sigma manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises