A morphological analysis of research literature on Lean Six Sigma for services

Roadmap to enhance operational excellence in emerging countries

This paper addresses the dearth of studies examining the status of Operational Excellence (OE) implementation and offers a roadmap for enhancing OE maturity levels. The study encompassed three phases: (1) face-to-face interviews with industry OE experts in 57 companies across seven sectors, (2), classification of companies based on their maturity levels, and (3) development of a roadmap for companies to enhance their OE maturity. Through face-to-face interviews with OE experts in fifty-seven companies across various sectors, the study classified organizations into five maturity levels, with only 7 % reaching the champion level. The proposed roadmap, comprising twenty-three variables across six hierarchical levels, outlines a path for companies to progress towards champion-level OE maturity, with an estimated timeframe of 4.5-5 years from a zero level. This research contributes valuable insights into the OE implementation status in emerging countries and provides practical guidance for organizations aiming to elevate their OE maturity, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social sustainability variables tailored to the specific challenges and opportunities faced by businesses in emerging nations.

Revisiting 42 Years of literature on food marketing to children: A morphological analysis

Despite the preventive measures taken by the WHO, childhood obesity is still on the rise and is expected to increase by 100% between 2020 and 2035. Food marketing continues to permeate children's environments in numerous ways and influence the food behaviour of children, thus significantly contributing to the rise of obesity. Studies suggest that the literature on the effects of food marketing on children is complex and multidimensional. To fully understand these effects, a comprehensive and systematic approach is required. Nonetheless, existing reviews have focused only on specific aspects and have not comprehensively covered the literature on food marketing to children. Therefore, this review aims to navigate potential research gaps in the existing literature through a comprehensive examination of the literature by using morphological analysis (MA) methodology, the first time in this domain. Using PRISMA, 202 papers were considered eligible for inclusion and further analysed using MA. The articles were categorised into three dimensions to develop the MA framework: Stimuli (Food well-being), Organism, and Response, and 34 variants. The review has presented future research prospects by identifying at least 218 research gaps. With these findings, researchers can further explore the gaps and develop new research questions that could foster an understanding of the multifarious literature. Moreover, these findings can also provide marketers and practitioners with a better comprehension of the current state of the literature and develop more effective strategies for responsible marketing practices and policies.

Defect reduction using DMAIC and Lean Six Sigma: a case study in a manufacturing car parts supplier

Purpose

Competitive pressures force companies to seek solutions to eliminate wastes while improving product quality. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has been considered one of the most effective approaches for business transformation. This article aims to present an empirical case study where LSS and Define, Measure–Analyze–Improve–Control (DMAIC) methodologies are applied to reduce defects in a car parts manufacturer.

Design/methodology/approach

The study follows the DMAIC methodology. Design of experiments and hypothesis testing were applied in a single case study.

Findings

The main defects and the main factors that cause defective parts were indicated for die-casting and machining processes. Solutions implemented reduced the defect incidence from a chronically high level to an acceptable one. The sigma level rose from 3.4 s to 4 s sustainably.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to a single case study, without intention of generalizing the results to other types of industries.

Practical implications

This paper can be a useful guide of how to use DMAIC Six Sigma approach to defect reduction and can be applied in many sectors.

Social implications

This study offers the knowledge on how to apply the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology, reducing the dependence on specialization courses.

Originality/value

This study describes in detail the process used in a structured improvement exercise including sigma-level calculation, factorial experiments and hypothesis tests – a set of techniques still poorly combined in the literature.

Critical analysis of Lean Six Sigma black belt certification courses offered in Brazil

Purpose

This study aims to present an overview and analyze the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) certifications offered by institutions operating in Brazil.

Design/methodology/approach

This research analyzed LSSBB certification courses offered by 48 institutions in Brazil by comparing the syllabi of the classes to the reference model proposed by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) in the Six Sigma Black Belt Body of Knowledge. This study employed the content analysis technique and hierarchical cluster analysis to analyze the data.

Findings

The results revealed a lack of standardization in the content of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) training in Brazil. 100% of the LSSBB courses analyzed covered four of the 108 techniques recommended by the ASQ Body of Knowledge (i.e. data types, measurement scales, sampling, and data collection plans and methods). In contrast, more than 75% of the courses covered all techniques related to the macro areas of organization-wide planning and deployment, organizational process management and measures, measure, and improve. The major shortcoming of LSS training is related to the macro area Design for Six Sigma framework and methodologies. LSS training is offered in a highly concentrated area in Brazil, the wealthiest region, where universities play a crucial role in disseminating LSS.

Originality/value

The literature lacks studies that critically examine LSS certification courses. There is little research on LSS in Brazil and there are no studies on LSS training in this country.

The moderating role of Lean Six Sigma practices on quality management practices and quality performance in medical device manufacturing industry

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices in explaining the relationship between quality management practices (QMPs) and quality performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Partial least square-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to empirically examine the moderating effect of LSS practices on QMPs and quality performance in Malaysian medical device manufacturing companies.

Findings

Findings revealed that both QMPs and LSS practices have a significant and positive effect on quality performance. Furthermore, LSS practices served as a substitute for moderating the positive relationship between QMPs and quality performance in such a way that the relationship becomes weaker as LSS practices increase.

Originality/value

LSS is acknowledged as the most well-known hybrid methodology; however, due to its relative newness, it has not been studied in great detail. Unlike previous studies, this paper argued that Lean and Six Sigma practices are distinct from its predecessor TQM practices; moreover, both Lean and Six Sigma practices do not need to substitute QM/TQM practices instead of complimenting the QMPs. In addition, this study adds to the growing body of QM literature by empirically examine the effect of LSS practices in moderating the relationship between QMPs and quality performance.

State and citizen responsiveness in fighting a pandemic crisis: A systems thinking perspective

Management scholars have recognized organizational responsiveness among the essential capabilities of social organizations. It becomes essential for a social change to occur during a crisis, where the uncertainty or environmental dynamism is high. However, a social change cannot be successful unless constituent subsystems of a social organization exhibit responsiveness. Using systems theory, we conceptualize 'nation' as a social system and examine its responsiveness towards environmental uncertainly, taking an example of the COVID-19 pandemic. How can state and citizen community responsiveness help fight a pandemic crisis? We test these direct and moderating effects on data representing 14 countries. We perform a hierarchical regression analysis on the restructured, balanced country-wise panel data. Our findings highlight the importance of state and community interaction effects in controlling pandemic growth. Accordingly, we claim that only a collaborative approach by citizen communities with the respective governments will enable handling an uncertain situation.

Quality management in industry 4.0 environment: a morphological analysis and research agenda

Purpose

Digitalised and interconnected production systems in the era of fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 (I4.0) have triggered the need of reshaping the traditional Quality Management (QM) models and roles of quality professionals. The purpose of this paper is to review the body of literature on QM in the I4.0 environment (also termed as “Quality 4.0”) and identify future research possibilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The morphological analysis (MA) framework is used to identify research gaps in a systematic manner. We present the MA framework based on a literature review of 51 papers on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) list identified using systematic review protocol.

Findings

The MA framework, built on six relevant dimensions, namely, production and operations function, scope of QM activities, enabling technologies, latent capabilities of digitalisation, performance metrics and QM principles, and 41 associated variants, reveals 367 research gaps as an upper bound of opportunities for future research.

Originality/value

This paper is possibly the first to use MA for reviewing the QM literature, presenting important contributions. The MA framework acts as a ready reckoner on the QM in I4.0 literature. It documents research gaps through the construction of a cross-consistency matrix.

Lean six-sigma (LSS) applications in hospitals: a decade (2011–2020) bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This study examines the research landscape of Lean Six-Sigma (LSS) applications in hospitals for the period of the last decade (2011–2020) to derive answers to the research questions RQ 1: What are the current publication trends for the application of LSS in hospitals concerning document type, Journal (Source), active authors and country-wise publications and their comparison in the two most reputed scientific databases, i.e. Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), RQ2: What are the clusters based on the authors and keywords? RQ3: What are the research trends and author's productivity in LSS applications in Hospitals? RQ4: What are the future research areas?

Design/methodology/approach

This article compares these two databases (Scopus and WoS) based on publication pattern, document type, active authors and co-citation analysis. This article analyzes the core sources, author's productivity, globally cited articles, word growth analysis, thematic map and world collaboration map on the WoS and Scopus dataset. The software used are Vosviewer, Biblioshiny (R Package for Bibliometric) and M.S. Excel.

Findings

The application of LSS in hospitals is a niche theme. In the WoS database International Journal of Lean Six-Sigma and in Scopus database International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance are the most relevant sources publishing research articles in this field. The USA has the highest scientific production in this field. Among the authors, Antony J is the most active author in this area, with the highest contribution over the years.

Originality/value

This study fills the literature gap by mapping the field of LSS in hospitals.

The implementation of Lean Six Sigma framework in the Indian context: a review and suggestions for future research

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to gain insights about Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the Indian context by reviewing the related literature for one decade based on various perspectives, such as author profile, year of publication, type of firm, type of methodology used, type of industry for which the research work is carried out and the key findings from the research.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reviews the research related to LSS from the articles published in the reputed journals. The literature used for reviewing is derived from the sources, including Science direct, Google scholar, IEEE, Taylor and Francis Group, Emerald Insight, Springer, Inderscience and Elsevier during the period between 2010 and 2021. Totally, the authors have included 141 LSS-related research articles that are published in the Indian context. The keywords used are Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma in the Indian context, Lean Sigma and LSS to identify and consolidate the research papers published during this timeframe.

Findings

The research papers collected from various reputed journals, including Scopus and non- Scopus enlisted, are classified and grouped under various categories to identify the class of author who publishes more in this field, research trend over the years, the type of firm which implements LSS, the research methodology which is commonly used in LSS and related research and also the key takeaway from these articles are highlighted. Further, the authors have also identified the major contributions of researchers in various sectors during this period in India.

Originality/value

This classification framework and the systematic review help in identifying the research gap and in giving directions for future researchers. It will be useful for researchers and practitioners working on the area of LSS, rural and urban entrepreneurs, start-up managers, professionals working in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and executives of the Make in India Project to make India as Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Further, the clear direction of progress over the current decade in manufacturing industries, service sectors and processing industries can help the professionals working in these sectors.

Designing Dynamic Interventions to Improve Adherence in Pediatric Long-Term Treatment - The Role of Perceived Value of the Physician by Primary Caregivers

Primary Caregivers are the fulcrum in the physician-caregiver-child triad. Existing literature discusses static multi-component interventions in detail. In long-term treatments, dynamic intervention design is needed as the environment and situations of the families are dynamic. The objectives of this study are (a) to identify the components of the primary caregiver's perception of the physician's value with reference to the effectiveness of consultation and relationships with the former and with the child; (b) to establish the role of this perception in designing dynamic interventions, and (c) to describe the perception's potential influence on adherence. A PRISMA, chronological, and morphological analysis of the literature is carried out about caregivers' adherence in the pediatric long-term treatment context. We define communication and consultation as the functional, whereas relationship as the emotional component of the caregiver's perception of the physician. We propose a theoretical model that incorporates intervention as an integral component of care. Adherence happens as a response to changing situations and hence fluctuates. Hence, a dynamic intervention design to benefit the child should be incorporated into care through the caregiver-physician bridge. Future research should explore how intervention needs change and the driving reasons for understanding the static and dynamic components of interventions.

Impact of perceived importance of cultural readiness factors on perceived importance of Lean Six Sigma success factors for manufacturers

Purpose

This study aims at investigating the impact of the perceived importance of critical cultural readiness factors (CRFs) is on perceived importance of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) technical critical success factors (CSFs) in UK manufacturing sector.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire through a multiple embedded case study was conducted. The study involves surveying people in the manufacturing firms followed by non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test to study the relationships.

Findings

It was found that the people's perception towards impact of CRFs on technical CSFs of LSS projects is different depending upon each CRF, demographic factors and technical CSFs. This means that particular CRFs need to be prioritised to address LSS technical CSFs.

Research limitations/implications

The study fills the research gap in investigating the perception of people towards inter-relationship of cultural or soft CSFs of LSS and technical or hard CSFs of LSS in manufacturing firms. Nevertheless, the authors suggest further multi-case study analysis covering different manufacturing fields as future studies.

Practical implications

The study is crucial for managers financially to be ready to invest on a successful LSS project and it helps them to diagnose the cultural causes of failure in a more timely way and effectively.

Originality/value

This is a preliminary study focussing on analysing inter-relationship between perceived importance of soft readiness factors and perceived importance of implementing success factors as a missing jigsaw in the current literature.

Uncovering inefficiencies in the workers’ compensation industry using Lean methodology

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply Lean in the workers’ compensation industry. It focuses on identifying patterns of repetitive non-value-added transnational activities for physical-therapy patients and healthcare providers. It addresses the research gap in this field.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, we designed and deployed multiple case studies to better understand the journey of an injured worker within the worker compensation system in the United States of America. We partnered with Concentra Inc., a leading national healthcare provider in the field of workers’ compensation having 520 medical centers in 44 states. Both case studies included conducting direct observations, Gemba walk, in five clinics in two states: Florida and Pennsylvania. We analyzed the data of 263 injured workers with 8 or more physical therapy visits who got admitted to Concentra clinics in both states over the period of 31 days.

Findings

The results revealed that the time intervals at which activities associated with physical therapy treatment pre-authorization accounted for 91.59% of the total non-value-added activities and are thus the key administrative factor leading to process inefficiency in the state of Florida. The Process Cycle Efficiency of Pennsylvania was 75.36% compared to 53.16% of Florida. The injured workers in Florida needed 39.58 days on average to complete eight physical therapy visits compared to 27.92 days in Pennsylvania (a median of 34.09 vs 22.15 days).

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited as it only focuses on processes on the healthcare provider side. An expanded value stream map that includes the treatment pre-authorization process on the insurance side would be beneficial for generating more potential solutions to streamline the process.

Practical implications

This study shows that Lean could play a critical role in identifying and quantifying continuous improvement opportunities that could accelerate patient’s treatment, reduce administrative burden on healthcare providers and improve the overall claim cost of insurance companies. It provides data-driven argument for insurance companies to consider eliminating physical therapy pre-authorization.

Originality/value

This is the first study to apply Lean methodology in the workers’ compensation field.

Critical review of literature on Lean Six Sigma methodology

Purpose

This paper aims to develop an initial understanding of the Lean Six Sigma methodology since its inception and examine the few Lean Six Sigma dimensions as a research domain through a critical review of the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is structured in two-part. The first part of the paper attempts to dwell on the evolution of the Lean Philosophy and Six Sigma methodology individually and the emergence of Lean Six Sigma methodology, covered under the Lean Six Sigma: a historical outline section. The second part of the study examines the dimensions associated with Lean Six Sigma such as frameworks, critical success factors, critical failure factors, type of industry, performance metric, year, publisher and journal, based on a total of 223 articles published in 72 reputed journals from the year 2000 to 2019 as a literature review.

Findings

The adoption of Lean Six Sigma, as a continuous improvement methodology, has grown enormously in the manufacturing and few service sectors such as health care and higher education during the past decade. The study revealed that researchers came out with conceptual frameworks for the implementation of Lean Six Sigma, whereas the validation through case studies seems to be lacking. The integration of Lean Six Sigma and other approaches with a focus on sustainability and the environment has emerged as a research field. A few of the most common critical success and failure factors were identified from the articles studied during the study.

Research limitations/implications

This paper may not have included some of the studies due to the inaccessibility and selection criteria followed for the study.

Originality/value

This paper will provide an initial introduction on Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma and research insights Lean Six Sigma to beginners such as students, researchers and entry-level professionals.

Service Failure and Recovery in B2B Markets - A Morphological Analysis

The existing body of research on service failures and recoveries primarily deals with business-to-consumer markets, with relatively limited and scattered research on business-to-business (B2B) markets. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on these failures and recoveries in B2B markets, conceptualize and develop a morphological analysis (MA) framework, and identify research gaps that point to future research possibilities. We present an MA framework based on a literature review of 114 papers on the ABDC/ABS/ Clarivate Analytics list. The MA framework, constructed with eight dimensions and 62 variants, reveals 418 distinct research gaps as an upper bound of opportunities for future research. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for future research.

Developing a practical methodology to improve the health-care services: studying a neonatal intensive care unit case in Oman

Purpose

This study aims to develop a practical methodology to identify possible areas of improvements as well as exploring how to improve the health-care staff flow within a selected department in a hospital.

Design/methodology/approach

It focuses on showing how to properly study and analyze the health-care services and processes practiced at a selected department within a hospital. For this, several techniques like non-value-adding activities, time motion study, spaghetti diagram, layout analysis, etc. are used.

Findings

To test the proposed methodology, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital in Oman was considered as a case study. The study revealed that this unit has several potential improvements capabilities. Further, this study also discussed possible areas of improvements of this case unit and suggested how such improvements can be implemented.

Originality/value

Several possible improvements are suggested and are discussed with the hospital authority, which can be clarified as the re-layout of the NICU rooms, reorganization of the store to improve the staff flow, increase the work efficiency, introduction of Help Us Support Healing policy, etc., which can enhance the entire operational system at the studied NICU.

Influence of organizational life cycle on performance management design in the software industry

Purpose

This work investigates the influence of the organizational life cycle (OLC) on the performance management system (PMS) design and the performance of projects in Brazilian industries of software development.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed descriptive statistics and structural equations modeling on the data and information obtained from 115 Brazilian industries of software development with maturity in project management. Data collection was carried out through a survey applied to managers of the organizations mapped and certified by management maturity models Brazilian software process improvement (MPS-BR) or capability maturity model integration (CMMI).

Findings

Results revealed that OLC influences the PMS design dimensions (scope, aggregation and opportunity) and project performance. Regarding effects observed on the performance of projects, only the scope dimension's influence was validated by the analyses, and the other dimensions were not significant considering the investigated sample.

Originality/value

The paper shows evidence of how OLC can influence PMS design and project performance. The analyses can help managers to improve their actions in the PMS design, increasing confidence and generating more robust and sustainable results in the business model.

Identifying Muda in a fast food service process in Spain

Purpose

Identification and elimination of Muda (any activity adding cost but not value from the customers’ perspective) is one of the main objectives of Lean service. Whilst there is significant research on implementing lean in manufacturing and some service industries, there is little information related to its application to the fast food service industry. The purpose of this paper is to try to fill in this gap by answering the research question: What type of Muda could be identified from the customers’ perspective within the service production processes in the fast food restaurant industry in Spain?

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory case study has been conducted. Three multinational companies were selected and several sites observed in Madrid, Spain. Three methods were used to gather data: document analysis; direct and participative observation and semi-structured interviews.

Findings

The paper identifies the seven types of Muda: defects, movements, process, inventory, overproduction, transport and delay. The results are discussed for Cases A, B and C, showing that A and B present higher potential for Muda, compared C.

Practical implications

Threefold value for practitioners and managers: waste identification is an opportunity for non-efficient processes improvement; observation/analysis from the customers’ perspective reveals that customers perceive these inefficiencies; a guideline/audit tool for future assessments.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the limited existing literature on lean service in fast food industry and disseminates this information to provide impetus, guidance and support toward increasing the productivity, efficiency, consistency and quality of service.

Lean meeting buyer's expectations, enhanced supplier productivity and compliance capabilities in garment industry

Purpose

Investigate the potential of using “lean” in garment supplier factories to enhance productivity and compliance capability, so as to fulfill a buyer's expectation of lower price, shorter lead time, and higher occupational health and safety (OHS) standards.

Design/methodology/approach

By means of an intervention, lean tools integrated with OHS elements were introduced in four Bangladeshi key garment suppliers of a Danish buyer. By employing a qualitative approach, both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to collect data on productivity, OHS, and buyer–supplier efforts.

Findings

This study demonstrates that lean tools, integrated with OHS elements, can be used to improve the productivity and compliance capabilities of supplier firms, which meet a buyers' changing demands for lower prices, shorter lead times, and higher compliance standards. This study suggests that the improvement of productivity and OHS in supplier firms through lean implementation could be a better choice for buyers than switching to new suppliers with uncertainties in productivity and delivery, as well as OHS compliance problems.

Practical implications

The findings of this study suggest that garment suppliers can benefit from implementing lean, thereby improving their capacity to meet buyers' expectations. Therefore, both suppliers and buyers have a mutual interest in the application of lean in suppliers' production facilities.

Originality/value

By considering both buyer and supplier perspectives, this research is a unique attempt to investigate the possibilities of lean implementation at the shop-floor level to meet the market challenges in the context of a developing country.

Do recovery processes need empowered frontline employees?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether frontline employee empowerment (FEE) is necessary in the presence of streamlined recovery processes when customers attribute responsibility for the recovery process to the service provider.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested through a survey conducted with 253 bank customers, combined with two laboratory experiments run with 354 undergraduate students to assess service recovery efforts by an online store and a clinical laboratory.

Findings

Customers who attribute more responsibility for the recovery process to service providers only become more satisfied with FEE when recovery processes are not streamlined. The presence of streamlined processes and FEE is not sufficient to raise post-recovery satisfaction levels in individuals who attribute little responsibility for the process to service providers.

Originality/value

The study extends the literature on contingencies that influence the design of recovery strategies by showing when FEE matters. It also highlights the risks of designing service recovery practices, such as FEE or streamlined recovery processes, without considering that different customers do not evaluate such efforts in the same fashion. Research on service recovery design needs to fully integrate concepts from marketing, operations and human resources when the goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of such practices. The outcomes also offer managers insights for designing recovery strategies.

Modelling the barriers of Lean Six Sigma for Indian micro-small medium enterprises

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and develop the interrelationship among them using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matriced Impact Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (MICMAC).

Design/methodology/approach

Using systematic literature review and expert’s opinions, 26 LSS barriers have been extracted and finalized through statistical analysis, that is importance-index analysis and corrected item minus total correlation methods. The statistical analysis of purified 22 LSS barriers has been carried out and consistency of finalized barriers has been checked through reliability statistical test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Finally, the contextual relationship among finalized LSS barriers is developed using ISM and MICMAC approach.

Findings

The ISM model indicates that insufficient management commitment and involvement, lack of resources, lack of training and education, lack of strategic thinking, lack of training funds are strategic factors; improper project selection, poor selection of employee for belt training, lack of total employee involvement, lack of awareness of about LSS are prudent factors; unclear vision, high implementation cost, resistance to culture change, weak supplier linkage, poor alignment between company’s goal and customer demand are burst factors. Furthermore, MICMAC analysis is splitting the LSSBs in four clusters according to their driving power and dependency. These results provide a clear mind-set to engineering manager for focusing more on LSS barriers according to their driving power and dependency.

Research limitations/implications

There may be biasness in making pairwise comparison matrix of barriers due to involvement of expert’s opinion as human error.

Practical implications

The outcome of this paper provides robust practical implication for LSS researchers and practitioners. The researcher and practitioners must consciously concentrate on the identified LSSBs more conventionally during LSS implementation, and they need to plan strategically to avoid any implementation failure.

Originality/value

For successful implementation of LSS in any organization, it is necessary and permeable to make strategy for controlling LSS barriers at initial stage. So this paper is a leading attempt to highlight main LSS barriers and interrelate them using ISM and MICMAC approach. It provides a clear path for tackling LSS barriers to engineering managers, researchers and consultants.

Lean Six Sigma in consumer banking – an empirical inquiry

Purpose

The evolution of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) within the operations management theory has enjoyed significant success in both manufacturing and services. Though the applicability of LSS is evident in the services sector through various publications, academic research on the use of LSS in the Banking and Financial Services (BFS) is limited, and hence deserves greater attention. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of LSS in consumer banking in real-time setting.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study method is used to study the application of LSS in two consumer banks with stage 1 featuring identification of appropriate consumer banks where LSS projects could be undertaken, and suitable LSS readiness assessment was performed. In stage 2, LSS project opportunities were identified in the select banks through stakeholder engagement. Finally, in stage 3, LSS projects were executed for process improvements in a real-time setting.

Findings

The case studies provide evidence of the successful application of LSS in consumer banking and the associated multiple benefits. The extent of applicability and appropriate managerial implications in project management context are elaborated. An LSS project selection criterion is recommended as a part of the study. Further, the study explains five important managerial implications in BFS context, with an outlook for future research.

Research limitations/implications

Practitioner research shows that BFS organizations have changed their ways of working by adapting LSS over the last decade. However, the academic research concerning the applicability of LSS in BFS is apparently limited, and none of these are specific to “consumer banking.” This study serves as a strong foundation for future research in this area, which is at its nascence and upcoming in the researchers’ community. However, strong generalizations should not be made as this study is limited to two cases.

Practical implications

Since the cases are executed in the real-time setup of consumer banks, the paper has several practical implications. First, the paper confirms the applicability of LSS in consumer banking and concludes that LSS project management is merely a sub-set of LSS deployment. Second, LSS needs to be understood using a “systems thinking” perspective in order to move away from a narrow project-only approach. An LSS project selection criterion is recommended as a part of the study, which could serve as a managerial resource. Other managerial implications include effective management of stakeholders and change leadership as essential elements of LSS project management in banks.

Originality/value

LSS has been successful in the past few decades in the manufacturing and service sectors. However, its application in BFS is limited. This study illustrates the applicability of LSS in consumer banks, which deals with high volumes of data, customer bases and associated financial transactions.

A systematic review of Lean in healthcare: a global prospective

Purpose

Fostered by a rapid spread beyond the manufacturing sector, Lean philosophy for continuous improvement has been widely used in service organizations, primarily in the healthcare sector. However, there is a limited research on the motivating factors, challenges and benefits of implementing Lean in healthcare. Taking this as a valuable opportunity, the purpose of this paper is to present the key motivating factors, limitations or challenges of Lean deployment, benefits of Lean in healthcare and key gaps in the literature as an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used the secondary data from the literature (peer-reviewed journal articles) published between 2000 and 2016 to understand the state of the art. The systematic review identified 101 articles across 88 journals recognized by the Association of Business Schools ranking guide 2015.

Findings

The systematic review helped the authors to identify the evolution, current trends, research gaps and an agenda for future research for Lean in healthcare. A bouquet of motivating factors, challenges/limitations and benefits of Lean in healthcare are presented.

Practical implications

The implications of this work include directions for managers and healthcare professionals in healthcare organizations to embark on a focused Lean journey aligned with the strategic objectives. This work could serve as a valuable resource to both practitioners and researchers for learning, investigating and rightly adapting the Lean in the healthcare sector.

Originality/value

This study is perhaps one of the comprehensive systematic literature reviews covering an important agenda of Lean in Healthcare. All the text, figures and tables featured here are original work carried by five authors in collaboration (from three countries, namely, India, the USA and the UK).

V, Madhavan V, Gurumurthy A. Development of Lean Six Sigma training module: evidence from an emerging economy

Purpose

Nowadays, firms are keen on improving the quality culture in the organizations. The proven success of Lean and Six Sigma has given rise to the synergetic Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach that has been catching fire in the past one decade. However, there exists a gap between the understanding and implementation of LSS in the organizations, especially in the emerging economies. Taking this as a valuable opportunity, the purpose of this paper is to present a development of LSS training module.

Design/methodology/approach

This study starts with a literature review of LSS to reinforce the understanding of the research subject in scope of manufacturing sector. Then, an online questionnaire was designed and used to collect responses from 181 companies located in the Indian sub-continent. Subsequently, the results obtained from the survey were analyzed using COARSE approach.

Findings

This study reveals two key findings and associated contributions. First, it was found that the overall awareness of LSS within the responded manufacturing firms is about 70.4 percent. Second, there is no single standard training module that exists in any of the sampled firms to cater to their quality programs. Hence, in order to improve the LSS awareness which could subsequently help managers as a resource for creating an efficient workplace, this paper presents a structured LSS training framework.

Research limitations/implications

Although this paper presents the importance of LSS and associated awareness level among the responded firms, more empirical evidence is required to generalize the model findings. Second, this study is scoped to firms that work out of the Indian sub-continent, and this provides a future opportunity to expand the scope of this research toward a global study for a comparison between emerging and developed economies. Third, this study is limited to manufacturing firms and hence paves an opportunity to research on a similar theme in services context as well.

Practical implications

Before embarking on an LSS journey, an organization can use the LSS training module proposed in this study to assess the employee awareness on LSS. Furthermore, organizations that already have a mature LSS practice can incorporate the LSS training module for periodic evaluation of the employees for effective change management.

Originality/value

The training module presented in this paper is the original contribution by the authors. This is no association to any single identifiable organization or associated funding. The direct practical implication of its application in real time is the value that managers could derive from the proposed LSS training framework.

V. Impacts of Lean Six Sigma on improving a higher education system: a case study

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the applicability and impact of Lean Six Sigma (LSS), a contemporary quality excellence methodology, for improving education system in a reputed University in Iran.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper follows a case study approach illustrating how theory has been put into practice, explaining how to implement the LSS define-measure-analyze-improve-control framework in a field-setting in a higher education institution (HEI), and to highlight the subsequent challenges occurred and lessons learned during the implementation.

Findings

The key finding from the study is the confirmation of LSS applicability in education systems. The goals of the LSS team were to baseline student satisfaction levels and improve the overall rating by 10 percent; to decrease student advising wait times by 15 percent; and increase enrollment by 5 percent. The application of the LSS methodology has delivered promising results to improve the education system of the University by achieving the set goals. Further, the implementation of LSS has demonstrated student-facing benefits of improved quality on the education system.

Research limitations/implications

LSS implementation in HEIs is relatively a new topic for research. Hence, this case study adds to the body of knowledge with directions to progress future research in this area.

Practical implications

The outputs of the case study have provided greater stimulus within the facilities for wider full-blown deployment of LSS as a strategic resource for problem solving. Additionally, this case study sets the foundation for many other future projects, and to trigger interest among the HEIs in their journeys for quality excellence.

Social implications

Higher education sector being a socially responsible field of service, LSS offers continuous improvement benefits, highlighted as part of this paper.

Originality/value

The applicability of LSS in HEIs is relatively an upcoming research area with immense potential and value. This paper would serve as a valuable means for both researchers and practitioners working in HEIs, in terms of understanding the systematic application of the LSS methodology, and implications in a real-world situation.

Green value stream mapping approach to improving productivity and environmental performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new methodology called overall greenness performance for value stream mapping (OGP-VSM). Using value-added concepts, this approach has the potential to integrate, measure, control and improve productive and environmental performance in accordance with a company’s context.

Design/methodology/approach

The OGP-VSM approach was developed by reviewing and integrating the environmental aspects of existing lean thinking tools and approaches.

Findings

This research revealed the lack of practical integration between productive and environmental performance. Using OGP-VSM, managers can see that environmental practices have a direct impact on productivity. OGP-VSM allows a balance to be found between lean and green practices in order to achieve the simultaneous improvement of productivity and environmental performance.

Practical implications

The proposed approach is applied to a case study in an automotive company in Spain and lays the groundwork for moving toward functional environmental sustainability in manufacturers.

Originality/value

Companies are increasingly implementing environmentally focused practices. Pursuing environmentally friendly (green) performance poses several challenges, but it also affords opportunities to create new methodologies for generating a competitive advantage for manufacturing companies. There are a limited number of approaches to drawing together the elements and attributes that are essential for a holistic, practical and long-lasting improvement of environmental performance in the manufacturing sector.

Overall Task Effectiveness: a new Lean performance indicator in engineer-to-order environment

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new Lean metric named Overall Task Effectiveness (OTE), which can help analyst to define target task times and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities.

Design/methodology/approach

An alternative classification structure of the losses is developed to divide them in two classes. In the first one the losses that are external to the project order are included, and in the other one those due to inefficiencies directly ascribable to the project order are considered. Starting from this classification structure of the losses, a novel Lean metric, inspired from the well-known Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), is developed to evaluate the effectiveness of a manual assembly task. A case study, which briefly explains the methodology and illustrates the capability of the corresponding metric, is provided.

Findings

This tool can be considered a suitable method to achieve simultaneously a dual purpose to establish time standards and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities, estimating the impacts of potential corrective actions in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness.

Practical implications

OTE provides practitioners with an operative tool useful to highlight the points where the major inefficiencies take place in industries producing large complex items via manual assembly lines. Its practical application is demonstrated using a case study concerning a manufacturer of train wagons.

Originality/value

One distinctive, and contemporarily appealing, feature of OTE with respect to other analogous KPIs is that it provides a breakdown structure for process losses that simplifies the task of evaluating the current performances and, at the same time, individuates both the source of losses and the corresponding corrective actions.

An empirical investigation of implementing Lean Six Sigma in Higher Education Institutions

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the applicability and implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). LSS is considered as the most recent service quality practice which has proved its success in manufacturing and service sectors. Though there is plenty of literature available with regard to the application and benefits of LSS in services sectors (like Banking, healthcare, information technology sectors, etc.), there is apparently no evidence in the literature about the implementation of LSS in HEIs.

Design/methodology/approach

A five-phased approach is followed. A multiple case-study method is used in this paper to explore this implementation of LSS in two select international University colleges. LSS toolkit comprising of define-measure-analyze-improve-control phases is used for the execution of the projects. Featuring student teams in LSS project management adds novelty to the approach.

Findings

The paper empirically validates the application of LSS in HEIs. Further, it highlights the practical challenges and benefits of LSS in the HEI setup. An in-depth empirical analysis of LSS toolkit application, LSS change management and using student teams in LSS project management are the highlights of this paper. The paper concludes that LSS is applicable and could provide positive benefits to HEIs.

Research limitations/implications

LSS application in HEIs is perhaps a new research area, which is at its nascence and upcoming in the researchers’ community. Hence, this paper would serve as a platform and provide directions for future scholars to ponder on the subject.

Practical implications

Since the cases are executed in the real-time setup of HEIs, the paper has several practical implications. First, the academia and practitioners’ collaboration in executing projects adds novelty. Second, the involvement of student teams from project selection to execution brings in practical perspectives alongside the academic education. Several other key lessons learned and benefits of LSS in HEI setup are presented as part of the paper.

Originality/value

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