Six Sigma Lean Production Systems

sextette Sigma execute action trunksNowadays, the development of industrial pump intrinsic technologies is much and more important due to the ever-changing competition in the global market. Companies have to redeem and continuously raise their intrinsic technologies in the professional field to gain the live onable free-enterprise(a) advantage. However, they withal have to continuously upgrade their trouble technologies, and keep naked to the latest issues as well as their integration with familiaritys topical system. Otherwise, they still commodenot survive in the market even though their intrinsic technologies argon advanced.No matter how the anxiety technologies be developed, they mustiness emphasize their contri providedion to business instruction execution, customer satisfaction and continuous return of the crops or proceedss. Moreover, the integration of different systems is an important issue today and tomorrow.This search will focus on 6 Sigma? and magnetic inclination return System? to discuss their integration based on the background and thoughts menti integrityd above. Six Sigma is one of the most popular quality initiatives recently. Lean occupation System is the public noted asideput system developed and practiced by Toyota nomadic companion for a long time. It based on two concepts Just-In-Time? and Jidohka?. both are based on the variation in thinking in order to improve business butt against, enhance quality, crossingion and competitive position. Besides, the integration of them is viewed as a new trend in the next management wave.Moreover, regarding the attention characteristics, usefulness industry is quite different from manufacturing industry. Even though there are more wastes and avail opportunities, the application of Six Sigma, Lean occupation System or their integration in gain industry is quite few neither in literatures nor practice.This investigate proposes the Lean Six Sigma integration hom unculus based on the look for gap and the applicatory need, and then adapt it for inspection and repair industry. The model is named as Lean Six Sigma for Service (LS3)? in this research. It balances the view orchestrates of internal and external customers, and gives consideration to the Lean look sharp as well as Six Sigma high quality. Also, this research tries to endure to the enhancement of management technologies.2. LITERATURES REVIEW2.1. Introduction to Six SigmaSix Sigma is the major(ip) focus of m some(prenominal) companies for its powerful breakthrough instruction execution shewd in GE, Motorola etcetera recently. Six Sigma fag help companies to reduce cost, increase profits, keep current customers and create new customers. In brief, Six Sigma is a methodological analysis to reduce the variation of e really plow and their interfaces to achieve a very high quality take.In statistical theory, six sigma is an ideal prey nurse, and show as 6. It means when the pr ocess or overlap we observed under a normal distribution, the probability of a unique(predicate) attribute value shifts from the mean about positive or electronegative six standard deviation would be 0.002 part per billion (ppm). Motorola p go down along found a phenomenon that the process mean would shift around the reduce point of specifications in a long-term processing, and the shifting range would be about positive or negative 1.5 standard deviations from the center point of specifications.thusly, Motorola comp whatsoever modified the statistical meaning of six sigma. The definition fag allow the sample mean shifts from the center of the population, and the observed process or product would out lie the six sigma limits only 3.4 times per million operations under the original specifications. In addition, the sigma performance can similarly be express by Defect Per Million Operations (DPMO)? shown as Table 1.Table 1. DPMO and Sigma PerformanceYieldDPMOShift from Mean cust omary Age6.68 %933200 030.9 %690000 169.2 %308000 21970s93.3 %66800 3eighties99.4 %6210 4Early 1990s99.98 %320 5Mid 1990s99.9997 %3.4 62000sSix Sigma means the world leading quality aim. More and more companies understand to use Six Sigma to improve the process quality so as to achieve the business dramatic performance. This is because Six Sigma requires the quantitative measurements and analyses of the core business processes as well as suppliers involved processes.Originally, Six Sigma methodology is applied to manufacturing industries. However, the applications of Six Sigma are no longer be expressage in manufacturing processes today. Keim (2001) demonstrated Six Sigma is very suitable to improve the service performance by two real cases. Paul (2001) pointed that the recent trends in Six Sigma are emphasis on cycle time reduction, little business deployment, and integration with other initiatives.As the Six Sigma market grows, so does the availability of organizations to assist in deployment and integration. This availability of technical expertise allows smaller businesses realistically consider Six Sigma deployment with minimal economic investment. Besides, due to the telephone exchange concern of Six Sigma is to pursue the customer satisfaction and business performance, we can view Six Sigma a main structure while desegregation with other initiatives. As for the integrating initiatives such as Lean Production System, Total Quality Management or Quality Costs etc. depend on the different requirements of each company.2.2. Introduction to Lean Production SystemLean Production System (also called Toyota Production System) is the world famous production system developed and practiced by Toyota mobile company for a long time. It based on two concepts Just-In-Time? and Jidohka?. This kind of production system is very on the table to the dynamic change of market demands, and Lean Production System is established by many small stem advantage activities t o eliminate all kinds of wastes in the business.An important literature written by Spear and Bowen (1999) published in Harvard Business Review pointed that, the Toyota Production System and the scientific method that underpins it were not imposed on Toyota they were not even chosen consciously. The system grew naturally out of the workings of the company over five decades. As a result, it has never been written down, and Toyotas workers often are not able to articulate it. Thats why its so hard for outsiders to grasp. In the article, Spear and Bowen attempted to lay out how Toyotas system works. They tried to make explicit what is implicit. Finally, they depict four principles three rules of design, which show how Toyota sets up all its operations as experiments, and one rule of improvement, which describes how Toyota teaches the scientific method to workers at every level of the organization. It is these rules and not the specific practices and tools that people observe during their plant visits that in their credit form the essence of Toyotas system. Hence the two authors called the rules as the desoxyribonucleic acid of the Toyota Production System.These rules guided the design, operation, and improvement of every activity, tie-up, and path mien for every product and service. The rules are as followsRule 1 every last(predicate) work shall be highly specified as to content, sequence, timing, and outcome.Rule 2 Every customer-supplier connection must be direct, and there must be an unambiguous yes-or-no way to send requests and receive responses.Rule 3 The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct.Rule 4 each improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, under the guidance of a teacher, at the lowest possible level in the organization.All the rules require that activities, connections, and flow paths have built-in tests to house troubles automatically. It is the continual response to problems that makes th is seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances.2.3. Four Characteristics of Service IndustryRecently, due to the economic and international trading environmental change, the structures of many companies are also changed. The step-up of service industries rapidly chases the growth of manufacturing industries. Especially for the current situation in Taiwan, many factories are moving to mainland China. Hence, the needs for service industries to fill in the space of economic activities become very huge. Thats why service industries con an important role in the economic development recently.This research concludes the four characteristics of service industries based on the literatures written by Kotler (1997), Regan (1963) and Zeithmal, Parasur cull (1985) as followsIntangibility It means that services can be consumed and perceived, but they cannot easy to be objective measured like the manufactured products. Thats why there is usually a perception gap mingled with the service provider and consumer.Variability It means that services are delivered by people, so the service quality may change depending on different time, people and consumer perception. That is, the variability of services.Perishability Unlike the tangible manufactured products, services cannot be inventoried. They are delivered simultaneously while the demands from consumers appear. Once the demands disappear, the services perish.Inseparability Since the delivery and utilization of services almost be done simultaneously. Hence the interactions between servers and consumers play an important role on the evaluation of service quality. Consumers evaluate the service quality on the moment of consuming the service. That is, the inseparability of services.3. MODEL CONSTRUCTIONThis research proposes an integration model of Six Sigma and Lean Production System for service industry called as Lean Six Sigma for Service (LS3)?. In practice, the archetypal stage is to Lead? t he process improvement advise by audition the express of Customer (VOC)?. The project identification and its scope must be clarified so as to serve the customers more efficiently and heartively by the improvement.The Lead? stage provides the project team a well-defined scope of the problem they are faced. Hence the major mission of the look at? stage is to measure the current status or level by quantitative data, and then to analyze how the problem affects the process. By the collection of Voice of play (VOP)?, the project team can try to converge the problem and begin to find out its root causes.Moreover, no matter what the process indicators are, the project team has to well define them first, and to explain the purpose as well as the use of each indicator. Most important of all, the performance indicators definition and their evaluation methods must be withstandd and confirmed by the people involved. Its very important to detail record the performance levels and action r esults for the further enhancement of service processes.After studying and analyzing the current status of the service process targeted, the third stage is to draw up problem solving countermeasures. The countermeasures must be transformed to the Voice of waiter (VOS)? so as to Smooth? the consentaneous service process. It is hoped to reduce the defects and upper berth up the service delivery by the verification of performance indicators. Therefore, the project team will propose some education and training plans for the glide path countermeasures conduction.The project team can measure if the project target achieved or not by the proposed countermeasures so as to continuously monitor and entertain the better results. At this time, the project team has to Sustain? the operating stableness of the service process. Therefore, the purpose of this stage is to confirm the result, the effectiveness of the countermeasures and if there is any side effect. Once these things are confirmed feasible, the project team can view the knowledge and experiences as the base of knowledge management and technology accumulation. Finally, the knowledge and experiences must be diffused and deployed throughout the organization so as to be the Voice of Business (VOB)?.The LS3 operating model proposed by this research shown as followsFigure 1. Structure of Implementing LS3The key points and tools of implementing LS3 are reason out by this research and shown as Table 2. Moreover, the tools of LS3 are also shown as Figure 2.Table 2. Key Points and Tools of Implementing LS3LS3ActivitiesToolsLeadLead the process improvement projects by hearing the voice of customer (VOC)Identify the process improvement projectDefine the project performance indicatorsSelect the project team membersAccomplish the project charter and job assignmentsMarket survey digest charterAnnual police deploymentQuality function deploymentValue drift analysisStudyStudy and analyze the current status of targeted proce ss to get the voice of process (VOP)Observe the actual process, and measure the baselineAnalyze the collected data to understand the present situation patronize the problem and critical-to-qualityProcess mappingMeasurement system analysis achievement and time studyMulti-vari analysisCause and effect matrixProcess capability analysisTime value analysisSmooth appoint the countermeasures, and transform them into the voice of server (VOS) to smooth the service process pass away up the improvement countermeasuresImplement the countermeasures to accelerate the service delivery bear the results by performance indicators5SOperation balancingRapid operation transpositionVisual managementEliminate, combine, rearrangement, simplifyProcess reengineeringFailure mode and effect analysisSustainSustain and control the project results, and spread out the organization to be the Voice of Business (VOB)Standardize the effective countermeasures to sustain the resultsContinuous control the improvement levelDesign the job value of employees in the service processKnowledge diffusion and application bear chartCheck listProcess standardizationError proofing knowledge and trainingFigure 2. Tools of Implementing LS34. CONCLUSIONDue to the limitation of practical resources, the LS3 model demonstration by a real case could not be included in this research. Therefore, this research used the questionnaire survey to verify the theoretical logic and feasibility of LS3 structure. We interviewed several Lean Production and Six Sigma experts and consultants, and we prognosticate to provide a base of verification by their experiences and knowledge. Finally, we conclude the agreements and suggestions of the experts as followsAll the experts and consultants agreed the theoretical structure of the proposed model by this research, and show the very much agree? level on the logic, implementing steps and their contents.All the experts and consultants expressed the very agree? level on the proposed model with PDCA management cycle.All the experts and consultants expressed at least the agree? level on the seaworthiness for use of the proposed tools. Some experts considered that the names of some tools originally be applied in manufacturing industry should be changed to be well mute in service industry. In addition, all the experts and consultants considered that the tools mostly applied in manufacturing industry should also be applied to service industry. This is because there are huge demands and expectations of these tools in service industry based on their experiences and observations. Hence they deeply agreed the proposed model by this research contains the tools for reference.All the experts and consultants expressed the very agree? level on the proposed model really coordinated the principles of Six Sigma and Lean Production System. Some experts suggested we could emphasize the principles of Lean Production System a little more.All the experts and consultants expressed the very agree? level on the feasibility of applying this model to the service industry.All the experts and consultants expressed the very agree? level on the practical value of this proposed model, and they also expressed that they will refer the structure to demonstrate it if there is any suitable opportunity in the near future.Therefore, we conclude the agreements and suggestions by the experts as follows all the experts agreed the proposed model by this research on the whole structure, implementing steps and tools planned. They also expressed the practical value and operational feasibility of this model is very high. Moreover, all the experts agreed this model on the fitness for use in the service industry, and they will refer this model to demonstrate it when there is any opportunity in the near future.