Continuous improvement put into practice: Alternative approaches to get a successful quality program

“Power to the workers”

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how information and communication technology (ICT) can empower shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing environments.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors gather data from a mobile maintenance department of a steel manufacturing company and apply the method of a scenario-based design. The authors use data from interviews, observations and company documents to create problem and activity scenarios. The authors also demonstrate the development of a worker-centric digital design in multiple demonstration and evaluation cycles.

Findings

The authors find that ICT can be used to ensure that empowerment is not only a concept, but can sustainably empower daily operations.

Research limitations/implications

The authors contribute to theory by showing how structural empowerment can be used as a guiding theoretical lens to design ICT for shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing work environments. These implications are limited to findings from a single case study.

Practical implications

The results provide an overview of different empowerment dimensions, namely, the access to information, resources, support and opportunities, that can support employees in collaborative manufacturing environments.

Originality/value

This paper is first in suggesting a framework of how ICT designs can be used to empower shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing environments.

Environmental comfort based (ECB) methodology as a tool for preparing Kaizen application in a catering service company

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology that is based on the concept of environmental comfort and can serve as a tool that can help companies and employees to implement Kaizen projects. This methodology focuses on the worker’s participation in analyzing and developing improvements related to their workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is focused on the development of a methodology that encourages worker participation in improvement activities, through the analysis of their working conditions. For this purpose, the proposed methodology was developed in accordance with the dimensions of workplace comfort proposed by Vischer. The employees start working on the analysis of problems and their solutions through the logical framework approach, as it is a tool that encourages worker participation and consensus. The developed methodology was applied in a company, with three different groups of people, which enabled the authors to test its utility.

Findings

The findings reveal that the proposed methodology is effective in initiating workers in the path of Kaizen. The employees who applied this methodology were able to propose improvement actions that addressed the problems and opportunities that they had previously detected. Moreover, the questionnaire that was used to validate the methodology and was administered to employees shows that the methodology is useful in preparing them for adopting continuous improvement (CI) programs.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology presented in this paper has been applied and evaluated by a small number of employees. These limitations suggest future research recommendations.

Practical implications

This participatory methodology could be used by different types of companies to initiate employees on the path of CI, even if they are not familiar with improvement programs or methodologies. In addition, its use could improve the capabilities of employees in areas such as participatory analysis, problem identification and proposal of objectives. These capabilities are necessary in any Kaizen project. As a result of the application of this methodology, the companies could obtain a list of areas of improvement related to their work and propose actions to work on.

Originality/value

The paper presents the use of environmental comfort in the workplace as the first step in accomplishing a Kaizen project, with a focus on the employee involvement and consensus.

Lean Six Sigma journey in a UK higher education institute: a case study

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the fundamental challenges and critical success factors in the development of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) initiative within a UK higher education institute (HEI). The paper also illustrates examples of the types of projects completed and share some of the key lessons learned as part of the LSS journey.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have initially carried out an extensive literature review on the application of LSS in higher education to understand the existing body of work carried out by other scholars in the field. This is followed by presenting a case study explaining how a HEI in the UK has embarked on its LSS journey as a process excellence methodology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of core and supporting business processes.

Findings

There has been a clear lack of support and commitment from senior management in the sustainability of LSS within the case study organization. There was a general lack of understanding of the benefits of LSS in the higher education context and there is a lack of knowledge on the use of LSS tools for tackling process efficiency and effectiveness problems across the case study organization. Although a number of LSS projects were executed across finance, administrative, and human resources, as well as IT and library services, no projects were carried out for improving academic processes such as teaching effectiveness.

Research limitations/implications

As the case study is limited to one higher education institution (HEI), the findings of the study cannot be broadly generalized. Moreover, the paper does not report the findings of any strategic projects as most projects were carried out at the operational level.

Originality/value

This is possibly one of the first studies reporting project examples of LSS in a HEI. The results of the study can also be used to benchmark with similar studies in other HEIs to understand the impact of certain management practices of LSS.

The role of employee empowerment in the implementation of continuous improvement

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of increasing employees’ level of continuous improvement (CI) empowerment, i.e. employees’ knowledge and understanding of CI, the possibility of open communication and support from the work environment regarding CI, in the implementation of CI over time.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the theory of structural empowerment, the authors test the research question using evidence from a case study in a European financial services provider. Data are gathered with questionnaires on a team level and cover a period of 2.5 years including 780 participants.

Findings

The findings show that after conducting a CI programme in the case, there is a significant increase in employees’ CI empowerment over time, which has a positive but time-lagged relationship with the level of CI implementation.

Research limitations/implications

Implications are that CI empowerment can be created sustainably and is an important factor in establishing CI in a company, but that it takes time until empowerment leads to changes in behaviour. However, it has to be considered that these implications are solely derived from empirical results from a single company.

Practical implications

Financial service providers should invest in establishing CI empowerment and consider a delay in realising measurable benefits in terms of the level of CI implementation.

Originality/value

This paper is the first empirical study to examine the relationship between employee CI empowerment and the implementation of CI from a longitudinal perspective.

Lean Six Sigma in higher education institutions

Purpose

This paper aims to illustrate the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in higher education institutions (HEIs). A real-time case study presented as part of the paper highlights the value which LSS can bring to the higher education system.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper commences with an overview and the success of the LSS methodology. The uniqueness of the higher education system for imbibing quality excellence is elaborated, comparing it with the manufacturing industry. Various opportunities for LSS projects in HEIs are then discussed as part of the paper. The last section of the paper elaborates a real-time case study, explaining how LSS was leveraged to improve a university library process.

Findings

The study identified the key attributes of the higher education system, which need to be understood for imbibing quality excellence. The study also provided an insight into the upcoming application of LSS and the benefits it can bring to HEIs.

Practical implications

The introduction of LSS into the higher education setup could bring multifold organizational and social benefits

Originality/value

LSS has been successful in the past few decades in the manufacturing and service sector. However, its application in HEIs was very nascent. This study illustrates its importance and application to a highly responsible area of the service sector, for imbibing quality excellence, serving as an excellent resource for researchers and higher education professionals.