Lean Quality

Explore the dramatic changes brought on by the new manufacturing technologies of Industry 4.0

Lean Six Sigma is a powerful methodology that reduces waste and variation in an organization and ultimately minimizes operating costs, optimizes productivity, and maximizes customer satisfaction. The success stories speak for themselves, but not all LSS stories have a happy ending, and a large body of scholarly research shows why. What is needed now is a set of accessible general guidelines for organizations seeking to implement and sustain such a powerful, but at times perilous, continuous improvement strategy.

Companies from startups to corporate giants face massive amounts of disruption today. Now more than ever, organizations need nimble and responsive leaders who know how to exploit the opportunities that change brings. In this insightful book, Jean Dahl, a senior executive and expert in the Lean mindset and its methods, demonstrates why you need to embrace Modern Lean principles and thinking to redefine leadership in this age of digital disruption in order to continuously evolve the Lean enterprise.

This book reports four structural equation models (SEM) for quantifying the relationship between the most important lean manufacturing (LM) practices applied to the manufacturing industry. The SEMs are evaluated using 220 responses to a survey applied to manufacturing companies applying LM principles in the production system and are related to: distribution and maintenance, production process and quality system, supply chain and quality, and an integrator model. The findings identify the most important activities for every LM practices and how they are related. These relationship’ values will help administrators, managers, engineers to focus their efforts on these most important activities, facilitating the decision-making process.

This book focuses on the human side of organizational culture. The authors approach organizational culture from the perspective of alignment to mission, vision, and values. Using a Lean Six Sigma structure, the sequence of chapters begins with the organization and its structure, then drills through strategic, operational, and tactical levels of process and behavior which establish and grow the overall culture of the organization over time. The book begins with foundational principles of organization, through the necessity of aligning processes and systems to mission and vision, assessment, gap analysis for improvement, prioritization, and chapters on qualitative and quantitative approaches for reducing variation and improving systems and behavior.