Manufacturing Production Companies Can Gain Strategic Global Advantage Using Lean Six Sigma

Manufacturing Production Companies Can Gain Strategic Global Advantage Using Lean Six Sigma

Alton L. Kornegay
Copyright: © 2015 |Pages: 28
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-7320-5.ch007
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Abstract

How the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing production companies in the global environment can positively affect innovation, quality, education, productivity, standard of living, and ethics is discussed in this chapter. Examples by notables like Dr. W. Edwards Deming and the Chegg Study point out a serious misalignment between what is actually needed in manufacturing production worker skill sets and what is available. The chapter demonstrates the interconnectivity of, and responsibility for, the welfare of citizens of the world. It shows how Lean Six Sigma implementation can influence Gross National Product and Gross Domestic Product, which in turn determine quality of life for a nation's citizens. The chapter offers solutions like fostering industry, academics, and government relationships for the abatement of problems such as less government funding for public education and equipping college students with the right skill sets for more complex jobs in manufacturing production industries.
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What Is Lean Six Sigma? And What Benefits Can Organizations Expect From Implementing Lean Six Sigma?

There appear to be varying descriptions and much discussion among manufacturing industry leaders as to what exactly Lean Six Sigma is. Also, as to what is the difference between “Lean” and “Six Sigma” Strupe (2009)? According to Strupe (2009) the term Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that combines process speed with quality. However, the term Lean Six Sigma can be reduced to its individual parts, which are Lean and Six Sigma, and each separate part has its own definition. Lean Six Sigma is about continuous improvement to drive up quality and drive cost down. It’s about the relentless pursuit of perfection. Conventional wisdom seems to state that the organization that comes closest to perfection in product or service, at the lowest cost, will dominate the industry. Over the last few centuries manufacturing production innovations have made tremendous progressive contributions to the industry.

Historical Innovative Milestones in Manufacturing

During the course of history people have strived and changed manufacturing dramatically. From the water wheel to the spinning wheel, and into the First Industrial Revolution, it was people who made dramatic changes along the way. A customer focus for quality in products seems to have always driven productivity though innovations.

The Industrial Revolution, covering the period from 1760 to 1830, is usually credited with the most significant increase in productivity up until the time of its introduction (Industrial Revolution, 2014). This initiative is believed to have started in Great Britain. Its main innovative feature of productivity improvement was the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture (2014). The invention of the cotton gin and the steam engine characterized innovations of the Industrial Revolution.

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