Lean Production System and Six Sigma Quality Management Systems

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The world is witnessing a reformed shape of business, an approach more focused on quality and customer care. The traditional concept of supplier orientation has shifted to customer orientation and traditional meaning of quality has also changed. Quality management, total quality management, zero defect level, lean management, continuous improvement and Six Sigma have evolved over the period of time to meet quality requirements of customers. Each having a slighter different and updated focus of quality, Six Sigma is the most advance approach. Six-Sigma is a quality management initiative that takes the methodological approach based on data attempting to eliminate the defects to minimize standard deviation to desired level of quality. The study is focused to find sustainability that Six Sigma brings in multinationals. Small businesses, due to their small scale and low organized processes confront difficulties while implementing six sigma processes. Present study finds the sustainability that six sigma provides to larger multinational organizations in terms of society, environment and financial return. The Six Sigma model provides various kinds of sustainability to companies in terms of quality enhancement, zero defect level, market share enhancement, optimal production level and financial returns. Multinational companies are more orientated toward implementation of Six Sigma than small scale locally held companies. Numerous larger companies have so far implemented Six Sigma including 3M, Caterpillar, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Amazon. com, DIlL, SGL group, Dell, Ford Motor Company, DuPont, McGraw Hill Companies and HSBC group.

Implementation of Six Sigma requires considerable cost and effort in terms of human resource training and reformulation of business processes. This study is an attempt to find what kind of sustainability motivates multinational companies to invest in Six Sigma. Sustainability identified includes social sustainability, environmental sustainability, and economic sustainability. With the aid of interviews, a constant comparison study is conducted in order to find the most prevalent type of sustainability offered by Six Sigma. A sample is drawn from multinational companies which have already implemented Six Sigma in their operations. The findings suggest that multinational companies implement Six Sigma in order to attain economic sustainability through various means such as market share, customer base, and social sustainability.

The Six Sigma model provides various kinds of sustainability to companies in terms of quality enhancement, zero defect level, market share enhancement, optimal production level and financial returns. Multinational companies are more orientated toward implementation of Six Sigma than small scale locally held companies. Numerous larger companies have so far implemented Six Sigma including 3M, Caterpillar, Merrill Lynch, Bank ...