An investigation and implementation framework of Lean Green and Six Sigma (LG&SS) strategies for the manufacturing industry in India

Prioritization of critical success factors for sustainable Lean Six Sigma implementation in Indian healthcare organizations using best-worst-method

Purpose

Recent years have seen an increased demand for healthcare services, presenting a need to improve service quality through the deployment of sustainable Lean Six Sigma (LSS). This study aims to identify critical success factors (CSFs) of sustainable LSS and prioritize them based on their intensity of importance for the effective implementation of sustainable LSS in the healthcare environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study identified 33 leading CSFs through a comprehensive literature review and expert experience and classified them into six major categories based on organizational functions. The primacy of these CSFs is established using the best-worst-method (BWM) approach. The significant advantage of this approach is that the decision-maker identifies both the best and worst criteria among alternatives prior to pairwise comparisons, leading to fewer pairwise comparisons and saving time, energy and resources. It also provides more reliable and consistent rankings.

Findings

The findings of the present study highlight the economic and managerial (E&M) CSFs as the most significant CSFs among the major category criteria of sustainable LSS-CSFs, followed by organizational (O), knowledge and learning (K&L), technological (T), social and environmental (S&E), and external factors (EF). Similarly, management involvement and leadership to implement sustainable LSS (E&M1), structured LSS deployment training and education (K&L2), and availability of required resources and their efficient utilization (O2) are ranked as the topmost CSFs among sub-category criteria of sustainable LSS-CSFs.

Practical implications

The prioritization of sustainable LSS-CSFs determined in this study can provide healthcare managers, researchers and decision-makers with a better understanding of the influence on effective deployment of sustainable LSS, resulting in improved service quality in hospitals.

Originality/value

This paper is an original contribution to the analysis of CSFs in an Indian healthcare institute, utilizing the BMW method for ranking the sustainable LSS-CSFs. The advantage of utilizing and distinguishing the performance of this approach compared to other MCDA approaches in terms of (1) least pairwise comparison and violation, (2) consistency (3) slightest deviation and (4) conformity.

Lean Six Sigma Impact Analysis on Sustainability Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM): A Literature Review

The Lean Six Sigma (LSS) philosophy and sustainability have become topics of interest since the 1990s; they have generally been analyzed together since 2012. Numerous professionals, managers, and researchers have sought methodologies by which to assess their impact and know their effectiveness within companies. During the past decade, the application of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has been widely accepted in various modeling, prediction, or multivariate analyses as a way to measure the impact of LSS on sustainability. This study conducts a literature review to identify the use of PLS-SEM in measuring the impact of LSS on sustainability. A systematic review methodology has been employed, applying five search criteria to three scientific database platforms. This approach has been helpful to identify PLS-SEM as a valuable methodology for measuring the impact of LSS on sustainability. One of the research findings is that LSS practices positively impact 83% of economic indicators, 78% of environmental indicators, and 70% of social indicators. This article creates a theoretical foundation for future research on these issues, outlining research opportunities to generate future studies. It also allows researchers and managers who are interested in improving sustainability indicators to access valuable knowledge regarding what types of LSS tools could be used.