Lean Six Sigma Sustainability Framework: A Case Study on an Automotive Company

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the current status of Sustainable Lean Six Sigma (SLSS) practices execution in the industries by identifying the research gaps and also methodologies that are applied by different researchers and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach To find the current status of SLSS practices all over world, the literature review of the articles available through SCOPUS data base is given in different categories such as a country-wise and year-wise publication of the articles, journal-wise publication of articles, case study implementation focus in industry and data analysis techniques used by the researchers. Findings The different methodologies applied by the researchers and practitioners have been explained and the gaps for further research are identified. The extensive review of articles of last 18 years revealed that there are various opportunities such as quantitative study, framework modeling on the SLSS, and implementation of developed models in different industries, etc. which are required to be explored. Originality/value In the present study, a review of 129 articles for the time span of January 2000 to February 2018 is considered. The SCOPUS database was used for selecting the articles for review. A total of 129 articles were considered for the literature review, and the case study implementation in different industries with the focused areas such as cost reduction, defect reduction, economic, environmental and social aspects was explained.

Section: Descriptive Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic literature review on Sustainable Lean Six Sigma

Parmar

Desai

2019

“…Expansion of results : expanding research results obtained in particular conditions to other economic sectors, categories of companies or cultural environments (Albliwi et al , 2014; Chiarini, 2014; Drohomeretski et al , 2014; Gijo and Antony, 2014; Ismail et al , 2014; Brkic and Tomic, 2016; Gutierrez-Gutierrez et al , 2016; Shokri et al , 2016; Yadav and Desai, 2016) and testing and validating frameworks and tools to other companies and industries (Kowang et al , 2016; Garza-Reyes et al , 2016; Lande et al , 2016; Tsironis and Psychogios, 2016).…”

Section: Scientific Gaps and Research Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where to direct research in lean six sigma?

Silva

Filser

Juliani

et al. 2018

Purpose Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a continuous improvement methodology used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Although there are several articles published, only two have analyzed the literature from a bibliometrics perspective. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the LSS literature by bibliometrics, identifying its state of the art, scientific gaps and research trends. Design/methodology/approach Articles published up to 2016 in the database Scopus were investigated to identify the most significant articles, authors, journals, institutions and countries based on citation counting as well as the most frequent keywords and subject areas on LSS. Articles published in 2014, 2015 and 2016 were analyzed to point out scientific gaps and to identify eight main research trends on LSS. Findings The research trends are: “LSS implementation”, “Healthcare”, “LSS tools”, “Human factors”, “Expansion of results”, “SME”, “LSS combined with other methodologies” and “Education”. The research outcomes also point out the most significant articles, authors, journals, institutions and countries in LSS literature. Practical implications This research contributes to develop the state of the art of LSS and helps professionals as well as researchers to identify which issues new studies should address. Originality/value The performance of the literature is measured based on the number of citations and not on the number of published papers, and the bibliometric analysis covers the highest number of articles so far (319 articles). Besides, the identification of the main research trends on LSS is exclusively based on the most recent studies.

“…Thus, a clear indication that the argument concerning the link between lean and performance metrics happens to be clouded and inconclusive. Moreover, very scanty studies have attempted to link LP with sustainability performance (SP) metrics (Kowang et al , 2016; Resta et al , 2017). The relatively scanty studies associating lean and SP have excessively concentrated on either environmental performance or financial performance or a combination of the two (Ruben et al , 2018; Centobelli et al , 2019; Agyabeng-Mensah et al , 2020a, 2020b, 2020c), thus, often relegating the social performance dimension.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability excellence: the interactions of lean production, internal green practices and green product innovation

Afum

Zhang

Agyabeng‐Mensah

et al. 2021

Purpose This study aims to investigate the interactions between lean production, internal green practices, green product innovation and sustainable performance metrics. The study further looks at the mediation effect of internal green practices and green product innovation between lean production and sustainable performance dimensions. Design/methodology/approach The questionnaire was used to glean data from 209 manufacturing firms. All the hypothesized relationships were processed by using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Findings The results suggest that lean production significantly leads to the implementation of internal green practices and the production of quality products with eco-oriented features that meet customers’ needs. Further, while lean production and internal green practices were found to significantly influence sustainability performance, green product innovation significantly influences only financial performance. Besides, the mediation analysis shows that internal green practices mediate the relationship between lean production and sustainable performance dimensions but green product innovation mediates the relationship between lean production and financial performance only. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to firms from Ghana, a developing country; hence, the results cannot be imported to reflect other geographical contexts. Practical implications The results of the study provide sufficient justifications for managers, (especially Ghanaian managers and those from other similar environs) to commit their financial resources towards implementing lean production and internal green practices so as to achieve sustainability excellence. Originality/value This study magnifies and provides new insight on lean and green literature by developing a comprehensive research model that concurrently tests the direct and indirect effects between lean production, internal green practices, green product innovation and sustainable performance dimensions.