Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate and identify the key success factors of implementing lean manufacturing and six sigma in separate ways. The study applies a quantitative approach and statistical analysis to determine the results collected from the French industry. Findings revealed that there exist statistically significant differences in the level of importance between the implementation of lean manufacturing and six sigma across the common success factors such as culture change, communication and involvement of employees, among others. On the other hand, there were similarities in the degrees of importance regarding the common success including top management commitment, skill and expertise and linking method to supplier, etc. The findings can assist an organization to be more careful with the success factors of each method, in addition to helping them in determining the appropriate method that enables exploration between lean manufacturing and six sigma based on the capacity of an organization to apply the success factors. Literature reviews regarding comparison of key success factors of lean manufacturing and six sigma had not been tested earlier, which have been considered in this study.

Keywords:

Key success factors, lean manufacturing, six sigma, quality tools, statistical test,

References

1. Achanga, P., E. Shehab, R. Roy and G. Nelder, 2006. Critical success factors for lean implementation within SMEs. J. Manuf. Technol. Manage., 17(4): 460-471.
   CrossRef    
2. Åhlström, P., 1998. Sequences in the implementation of lean production. Eur. Manage. J., 16(3): 327-334.
   CrossRef    
3. Andersson, R., H. Eriksson and H. Torstensson, 2006. Similarities and differences between TQM, six sigma and lean. TQM Mag., 18(3): 282-296.
   CrossRef    
4. Antony, J., 2004. Six sigma in the UK service organisations: Results from a pilot survey. Manage. Audit. J., 19(8): 1006-1013.
   CrossRef    
5. Antony, J., 2011. Six sigma vs lean: Some perspectives from leading academics and practitioners. Int. J. Prod. Perf. Manage., 60(2): 185-190.
   CrossRef    
6. Antony, J. and R. Banuelas, 2002. Key ingredients for the effective implementation of six sigma program. Meas. Bus. Excell., 6(4): 20-27.
   CrossRef    
7. Antony, J., M. Kumar and C.N. Madu, 2005. Six sigma in small-and medium-sized UK manufacturing enterprises. Some empirical observations. Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manage., 22(8): 860-874.
   CrossRef    
8. Arnheiter, E.D. and J. Maleyeff, 2005. The integration of lean management and six sigma. TQM Mag., 17(1): 5-18.
   CrossRef    
9. Bertels, T., 2003. Rath and Strong's Six Sigma Leadership Handbook. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
   
10. Bhasin, S. and P. Burcher, 2006. Lean viewed as a philosophy. J. Manuf. Technol. Manage., 17(1): 56-72.
    CrossRef    
11. Breyfogle III, F. W., 2003. Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
    PMid:16220958    
12. Brun, A., 2011. Critical success factors of six sigma implementations in Italian companies. Int. J. Prod. Econ., 131(1): 158-164.
    CrossRef    
13. Chakravorty, S.S., 2009. Six sigma programs: An implementation model. Int. J. Prod. Econ., 119(1): 1-16.
    CrossRef    
14. Chen, T., 2008. Comparing lean production and six sigma management. Asia Soc. Sci., 4(7): 48-50.
    
15. Ciarniene, R. and M. Vienažindiene, 2012. Lean manufacturing: Theory and practice. Econ. Manage., 17(2): 726-732.
    CrossRef    
16. Coronado, R.B. and J. Antony, 2002. Critical success factors for the successful implementation of six sigma projects in organisations. TQM Mag., 14(2): 92-99.
    CrossRef    
17. Dombrowskia, U. and T. Mielkea, 2013. Lean leadership fundamental principles and their application. Proc. CIRP, 7: 569-574.
    CrossRef    
18. Dora, M., M. Kumar, D.V. Goubergen, A. Molnar and X. Gellynck, 2013. Operational performance and critical success factors of lean manufacturing in European food processing SME. Trends Food Sci. Tech., 31(2): 156-164.
    CrossRef    
19. Emiliani, M.L., 1998. Continuous personal improvement. J. Work. Learn., 10(1): 29-38.
    CrossRef    
20. Feng, Q. and C.M. Manuel, 2008. Under the knife: A national survey of six sigma programs in US healthcare organizations. Int. J. Health Care Qual. Assur., 21(6): 535-547.
    CrossRef    PMid:19055264    
21. Flynn, B.B., R. Schroeder and S. Sakakibara, 1994. A framework for quality management research and an associated measurement instrument. J. Oper. Manag., 11: 339-366.
    CrossRef    
22. Gamal Aboelmaged, M., 2010. Six sigma quality: A structured review and implications for future research. Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manage., 27(3): 268-317.
    CrossRef    
23. George, M.L., 2002. Lean Six Sigma: Combining Six Sigma Quality with Lean Speed. McGraw-Hill, New York.
    
24. George, M.L., 2003. Lean Six Sigma for Service: How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma Quality to Improve Services and Transactions. McGraw-Hill, New York.
    
25. Gunasekaran, A and J. Lyu, 1997. Implementation of just in time in a small company. Case study. Prod. Plan. Control, 8(4): 406-412.
    CrossRef    
26. Hahn, G.J., N. Doganaksoy and R. Hoerl, 2000. The evolution of six sigma. Qual. Eng., 12(3): 317-326.
    CrossRef    
27. Henderson, K.M. and J.R. Evans, 2000. Successful implementation of six sigma: Benchmarking general electric company. Benchmarking: Int. J., 7(4): 260-282.
    CrossRef    
28. Hibadullah, S.N., N.F. Habidin, F.I.M. Zamri, N.M. Fuzi and A.F.N.C. Desa, 2014. Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices for the Malaysian automotive manufacturers. Int. J. Qual. Innov., 2(3): 256-271.
    CrossRef    
29. Ho, Y.C., O.C. Chang and W.B. Wang, 2008. An empirical study of key success factors for six sigma green belt projects at an Asian MRO company. J. Air Transp. Manag., 14(5): 263-269.
    CrossRef    
30. Huq, Z., S.M. Aghazadeh, L. Najjar and S. Hafeznezami, 2010. Employee and customer involvement: The driving force for six-sigma implementation. J. Appl. Bus. Econ., 11(1): 105-122.
    
31. Keller, A.Z., R.H. Fouad and C.K. Zaitri, 1991. Status and Structure of Just-in-time Manufacturing in the UK. In Satir, A. (Ed.), Just-in-time Manual Systems. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp: 115-131.
    
32. Kumar, M. and J. Antony, 2009. Multiple case-study analysis of quality management practices within UK six sigma and non-six sigma manufacturing small-and medium-sized enterprises. J. Eng. Manuf., 223(7): 925-934.
    CrossRef    
33. Kumar, M., J. Antony, R.K. Sigh, M.K. Twaari and D. Perry, 2006. Implementing the lean sigma framework in Indian SME: A case study. J. Prod. Plan. Control, 17(4): 407-423.
    CrossRef    
34. Kumar, M., J. Antony, F.J. Antony and C.N. Madu, 2007. Winning customer loyalty in an automotive company through six sigma: A case study. Qual. Reliab. Eng. Int., 23(7): 849-866.
    CrossRef    
35. Kwaka, Y.H. and F.T. Anbari, 2006. Benefits, obstacles and future of six sigma approach. Technovation, 26(5-6): 708-715.
    CrossRef    
36. Laureani, A. and J. Antony, 2010. Reducing employees' turnover in transactional services: A lean six sigma case study. Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manage., 59(7): 688-700.
    CrossRef    
37. Manotas Duque, D.F. and L. Rivera Cadavid, 2007. Lean manufacturing measurement: the relationship between lean activities and lean metrics. Estud. Gerenciales, 23(105): 69-83.
    CrossRef    
38. Näslund, D., 2008. Lean, six sigma and lean sigma: Fads or real process improvement methods? Bus. Prod. Manag. J., 3 (14): 269-287.
    CrossRef    
39. Nave, D., 2002. How to compare six sigma, lean and the theory of constraints. Qual. Prod., 35(3): 73-80.
    
40. Nunnally, J.C., 1978. Psychometric Theory. McGraw Hill, New York.
    
41. Pepper, M.P.J. and T.A. Spedding, 2010. The evolution of lean six sigma. Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manage., 27(2): 138-155.
    CrossRef    
42. Pingyu, Y. and B. Yu Yu, 2010. The barriers to SMEs’ implementation of lean production and countermeasures: Based on SMS in wenzhou. Int. J. Innov. Manag. Tech., 1(2): 220-225.
    
43. Prieto-Avalos, M.C., C.R. Navarro-González., A. González-Angeles and S.V. Medina-León, 2014. Reduction waste by combining lean manufacturing and six sigma in an electronics industry. Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 8(13): 1558-1562.
    CrossRef    
44. Puvanasvaran, A.P., 2012. Enhancing Productivity Through Lean Behavior. INTECH Open Access Publisher, pp: 295-317.
    
45. Rahani, A.R. and M. Al-Ashraf, 2012. Production flow analysis through value stream mapping: A lean manufacturing process case study. Proc. Eng., 41: 1727-1734.
    CrossRef    
46. Rose, A.N.M., B.M. Deros and M.N.A. Rahman, 2014. Critical success factors for implementing lean manufacturing in malaysian automotive industry. Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 8(10): 1191-1200.
    
47. Scherrer-Rathje, M., T.A. Boyle and P. Deflorin, 2009. Lean, take two! Reflections from the second attempt at lean implementation. Bus. Horizons, 52(1): 79-88.
    CrossRef    
48. Shah, R. and P.T. Ward, 2003. Lean manufacturing: context, practice bundles and performance. J. Oper. Manage., 21(2): 129-149.
    CrossRef    
49. Snee, R.D., 2010. Lean six sigma-getting better all the time. Int. J. Lean Six Sigma, 1(1): 9-29.
    CrossRef    
50. Sorqvist, L., 2009. Successful integration of six sigma and lean. Proceeding of the World Conference on Quality and Improvement, 63: 1-8.
    
51. Taghizadegan, S., 2010. Essentials of Lean Six Sigma. Butterworth, Heinemann.
    
52. Wiklund, H. and P.S. Wiklund, 2002. Widening the six sigma concept: An approach to improve organizational learning. Total Qual. Manage., 13(2): 233-239.
    CrossRef    
53. Wilson, L., 2010. How to implement lean manufacture. McGraw_Hill Companies Inc., NY.
    
54. Wyper, B. and A. Harrison, 2000. Deployment of six sigma methodology in human resource function: A case study. Total Qual. Manag. Bus., 11(4 and 5): S720-S727.
    
55. Zailani, S. and S. Sasthriyar, 2011. Investigation on the six sigma critical success factors. Eur. J. Sci. Res., 57(1): 124-132.
    

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Open Access Policy

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Copyright

The authors have no competing interests.