Developing a business improvement strategy based on the EFQM model

The use of the EFQM model and other business excellence models (BEM’s) has been recognised as a way of improving business processes among organisations. The information gathered through self-assessments using these models show the performance of organisations against several model criteria. There is evidence that organisations find it difficult to integrate the information from self-assessments to current business improvement programs or projects. Additionally, it has been claimed that the final reports derived from the deployment of self-assessments are rarely followed up. Thus, despite good efforts and some knowledge gained through the use of BEM’s there is a lack of methods, models, and techniques that effectively integrate the self-assessments with current business improvement strategies. In this context, the effective deployments of BEM’s and follow up activities and plans can contribute to support and develop business improvement strategies. Under this perspective, this paper explores the appropriate methods and techniques than can help to integrate self-assessments outcomes based on the EFQM model into a business improvement strategy. Based on emerging issues derived from an empirical study with twelve European Organisations that have used the EFQM model for more than five years, the paper identifies some of the best practices to integrate self-assessment outcomes with business improvement strategies. It then proposes a framework that can help to accomplish this integration and to mitigate the problems mentioned earlier. The conclusion of this work emphasises the necessity to standardise this process, and to integrate it with current knowledge management projects to store and retrieve the information for future business improvements project

Investigating the green impact of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma: A systematic literature review

© 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The academic literature and research lines exploring the effect of quality improvement methods on environmental performance still remain in early stages. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate, through a systematic review of the existing academic literature, the environmental (green) impact of using quality and operations improvement methods such as Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. This includes the impact on energy saving and the usage of natural resources. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows a systematic literature review approach through which it analyses research papers published in top 16 operations and quality management journals. No specific time frame was established, but a set of keywords were used to short-list the articles. A sample of 70 articles was finally short-listed and analysed to provide a discussion on environmental concerns related to Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. Findings: The comprehensive review of short-listed articles indicates that both Lean and Six Sigma can be considered effective methods to support the conservation of resources, combat global warming and saving energy. Various scholars provide evidence of this, and as such, organisations should not only consider these methods to manage quality and improve operational performance but also meet environmental regulations. A set of research questions that demands further investigation has also been proposed based on the findings of this research. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited to a sample of 70 articles collected from top 16 operations and quality management journals. The search of journals is also limited to a set of key words (“Lean”, “Green”, “Six Sigma”, “environment”, “sustainable” and “sustainability”) used to short-list the sample size. Practical implications: The study shows that organisations can consider the adoption of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma to meet environmental regulations, save costs and also meet quality management standards. This will contribute in helping organisations to formulate more effective and inclusive strategies which do not only consider the quality and operational dimensions but also the environmental dimension. Originality/value: Literature exploring the environmental/green impact of quality management methods commonly used in industry is limited. There is also a lack of studies aiming to investigate the green impact of Lean and Six Sigma in top operations and quality management journals. The study focusing on investigating the green impact of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma methods altogether is also a research first of its kind

An integrated approach of Six Sigma and QSAM methodologies for a pharmaceutical company: A shipment improvement process

This paper presents a shipment improvement project in a pharmaceutical company to reduce distribution costs of a set of products shipped to Germany. The project consisted in the diagnosis and improvement of the shipment process through the deployment of Quick Scan Audit Methodology (QSAM) as a precursor to Six Sigma implementation. The original sample-shipments process was analysed to improve it and achieve the targets based on optimised sub-processes. The results showed a set of non-value added activities in transportation, motion, waiting, defects and the sub-utilisation of people. Based on the application of quality tools such as VSM, CFD, VOC, CTQ-Three under the Six-Sigma approach, the improvements achieved a 26% reduction in cycle time, and no complaints from customers were reported since the implementation. A control plan was deployed to track shipments and maintain open and close communication with the customer. The resulting benefits had a significant impact on reducing distribution costs

A Case Study Improvement of a Testing Process by Combining Lean Management, Industrial Engineering and Automation Methods

Increasingly competitive market environments have forced not only large manufacturing, but also smalland-medium size enterprises (SME) to look for means to improve their operations in order to increase competitive strength. This paper presents an adaptation and adoption by a UK SME engineering service organisation, of lean management, industrial engineering, and automation metods developed within larger organisations. This SME sought to improve the overall performance of one of its core testing processes. An exploratory analysis, based on the lean management concept of “value added” and work measurement technique “time study”, was developed and carried out in order to understand the current performance of a testing process for gas turbine fuel flow dividers. A design for the automation of some operations of the testing process was followed as an approach to reduce non-value added activities, and improve the overall efficiency of the testing process. The overall testing time was reduced from 12.41 to 7.93 hours (36.09 percent) while the man hours and non-value added time were also reduced from 23.91 to 12.94 hours (45.87 percent) and from 11.08 to 6.69 (39.67 percent) hours respectively. This resulted in an increase in process efficiency in terms of man hours from 51.91 to 61.28 percent. The contribution of this paper resides in presenting a case study that can be used as a guiding reference for managers and engineers to undertake improvement projects, in their organisations, similar to the one presented in this paper

The Impact of Supply Chain Integration on Performance: Evidence from the UK Food Sector

© 2017 The Authors Supply chain Integration has emerged as a major field of interest over the years that involve the strategic alignment of functions and processes within an organization. However, there have been major debates regarding the true design of the kinds of integration that would lead to performance of supply chains. This study develops a conceptual framework from the literature and defines four constructs of integration (customer, supplier, internal, and information integration) to see how this would lead to improved supply chain performance (such as production flexibility, inventory turns, order fulfillment rate, total logistics costs, and operational performance)

Improving road transport operations using lean thinking

This paper documents a case study where the transport operations of a word leading provider of paper-based packaging solutions operating in Bogota, Colombia, were measured and improved using lean concepts, methods and tools. The methodology consisted of: (1) direct observations of the transport operations; (2) collection and analysis of data; (3) creation of a Transportation Value Stream Map (TVSM); (4) measurement of the Transportation Overall Vehicle Effectiveness (TOVE); and (5) proposal of improvement recommendations. The TVSM identified six wastes: waiting, resource utilisation, excess movement, over-production, over-processing and behavioural. The TOVE measure resulted in an efficiency of 54%. The study proposed improvement recommendations based on the results of the TVSM and TOVE.N/

Measuring business sustainability maturity-levels and best practices

There has been an increasing interest in corporate sustainability (CS) and how companies should strive for it in order to satisfy stakeholders’ demands concerning social, economic, and environmental impacts. The purpose of this paper was to identify the best sustainability practices and the sustainability maturity levels that allow manufacturing and service companies to contribute to sustainable development in the long run. Based on a qualitative approach, a comparative study of five large companies was deployed in order to determine their sustainability maturity levels and best practices. The research method consisted of a critical review of the literature and category analysis concerning corporate sustainability trends and some of the best well-known performance frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), business excellence models (BEMs), and international standards. The main findings reveal that companies’ sustainability maturity levels range from satisfactory to sophisticated in several sustainability aspects. Best sustainability practices found in this sample include the use of certifications such as ISO 9000, ISO 14001, GRI, and CSR, among others, combined with the systematic use of BEMs over many years. Finally, several key processes such as self-assessment, benchmarking, corporate reporting, strategic planning, and systematic training were found to be significant in helping manufacturing and service organisations achieve their business sustainability objectives.N/

A Case Study of Defects Reduction in a Rubber Gloves Manufacturing Process by Applying Six Sigma Principles and DMAIC Problem Solving Methodology

Abstract The Six Sigma's problem solving methodology DMAIC has been one of several techniques used to improve quality. This paper demonstrates the empirical application of Six Sigma and DMAIC to reduce product defects within a rubber gloves manufacturing organisation. The paper follows the DMAIC methodology to investigate defects, root causes and provide a solution to reduce/eliminate these defects. The analysis from employing Six Sigma and DMAIC indicated that the oven's temperature and conveyor's speed influenced the amount of defective gloves produced. In particular, the design of experiments (DOE) and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques were combined to statistically determine the correlation of the oven's temperature and conveyor's speed with defects as well as to define their optimum values needed to reduce/eliminate the defects. As a result, a reduction of about 50% in the "leaking" gloves defect was achieved, which helped the organisation studied to reduce its defects per million opportunities (DPMO) from 195,095 to 83,750 and thus improve its Sigma level from 2.4 to 2.9

Soft investment: lean versus traditional plants

Lean production comprises a set of different tools geared towards the elimination of all operations that do not add value to a product, service or process, thereby increasing the value of each activity and removing all that is not required. An essential part of lean production is training and education. Training and educating the workforce (what we refer here as “soft investment”) will create the necessary conditions to engage and involve employees in improvement activities, so are indispensable in the implementation of lean production. The aim of this paper is to present a study that explores and contrast the relationship between “soft investments” in lean firms and “soft investments” in traditional firms, by set of hypotheses tests. The hypotheses examine the existing relationship between the two components that conceptualise leanness (managerial commitment towards lean production and real changes made towards the lean direction) and the soft investment, which is assumed to be an infrastructural factor associated with these two components. Data, both quantitative and qualitative, were collected through a survey in conjunction with short structured interviews and planned visits to manufacturing sites of the ceramic industry of North Staffordshire. Two questionnaires were administered at two different levels of the organisation: one to the CEO or general managers and the other to the operations managers with the objective of evaluating the relationship between soft investment and the implementation of lean production. More than 30 firms in the tableware industry of the UK completed the questionnaires. The information collected allowed an analysis of the given hypotheses and the results and conclusions of the study shown that organisations that use lean manufacturing invest significantly more in training the labour force than those that do no