ABSTRACT
Faced with an ever increasingly competitive market, manufacturing firms must constantly make changes to improve their operations. There are numerous continuous improvement (CI) strategies available. This reports on the combination of Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing to improve production system performance. Six Sigma uses statistical techniques to understand, measure, and reduce process variation with the primary goal of achieving improvement in both quality and cost. Lean manufacturing focuses on eliminating nonvalue-added activities in a process with a goal of eliminating waste, reducing process cycle time, improving on-time delivery and reducing cost. While these two CI strategies differ in the aspects of implementation procedure, they are not exclusive of each other. This chapter proposes an integrated framework that offers a balanced combination of the speed and variation reduction power of both Lean and Six Sigma to achieve distinct competitive advantage. The integrated approach is illustrated using a case study of an actual manufacturing company that is situated in the Midwestern United States. The goal is to demonstrate the value of combining Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing to make process improvement.
