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Integrating Lean and Six Sigma for achieving and sustaining operational and service excellence
Edited by Professor Jiju Antony
Introduction
Over the past two decades, the theory and practice of supply chain management (SCM) has received considerable attention from academics and practitioners alike. The pursuit for quality product and waste reduction are driven by the need to survive and remain competitive. Indeed, lean production is an integrated activity in SCM designed to achieve high-volume flexible production using minimal inventories of raw materials. Lean production focuses on continuously improving the processes, a philosophy of eliminating all non-value adding activities and reducing waste within an organization ([3] Alabama Technology Network, 1998; [47] Inman, 1999; [22] Davis and Heineke, 2005). According to [54] Lambert et al. (1998), "supply chain management is the integration of key business processes from end-user through original suppliers that provides products, service, and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders."
Many manufacturing companies have fought the global pressures of competition by becoming increasingly technologically advanced, moving up-market to more value-added products, and upgrading the skills of their work force. However, irrespective of these aforementioned strategies, manufacturing companies have come under increasing pressure to deliver quality products ([121] Randall and Senior, 1994) and to increase efficiencies ([86] Robinson et al. , 1992). To compete successfully in today's challenging business environment, manufacturing companies ought to be able to effectively integrate internal functions within a company and effectively link them to the external operations of suppliers and supply chain members. The process of producing and distributing products and services to customers is becoming the most effective and efficient way for businesses to stay successful and is central to the practice of SCM. As global competition intensifies, manufacturing companies must have greater knowledge on how their suppliers and customers conduct business. They need to focus on processes that have critical impacts on enhancing product quality performance (PQP) and business performance.
Reminiscent of most "new" operations management practices, it is the manufacturing sector that has adopted SCM principles at a much faster pace compared with other sectors including that of services. In developed countries in particular production concepts such as SCM and total quality management (TQM) were adopted by the manufacturing sector around the early 1990s. This is...