Deployment of Lean Six Sigma in Practice, Challenges and Critical Success Factors

Abstract

This paper presents an inclusive review on the application of Lean Six Sigma as a methodology to execute strategic business process transformation in an organization. The company under study has enjoyed steady growth for almost twenty years in the business. However, in the last three years, it becomes apparent that the organization needs to review its internal business processes in order to operate at its optimum level and remains competitive. In this study, the authors attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of Lean Six Sigma to meet the said objective. The research also explores in depth the characteristics of Lean Six Sigma methodology and the factors those may influence its implementation. There are suggestions that the Lean Six Sigma concept can be implemented to any kind of industry. However, there are also studies suggested that there are still many non-manufacturing organizations those perceive that Six Sigma will not work the best for them. In this review, the authors examine a number of Lean Six Sigma projects executed. During the deployment of Lean Six Sigma in the said organization, some projects were found successful while a number of other projects cannot progress as expected. Factors those contributed to the success as well as failure of these projects were reviewed and discussed. The problems faced during the journey were examined to identify the limitations of the Lean Six Sigma methodology and how these can be addressed.