International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=101&year=2012&vol=7&issue=1 Inderscience Publishers Ltd en-uk International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage 1479-2494 1479-2753 © 2012 Inderscience Publishers Ltd editor@inderscience.com https://www.inderscience.com/images/files/coverImgs/ijssca_scoverijssca.jpg http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=101&year=2012&vol=7&issue=1 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45260 This paper studies the application of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in the medication process at Skaraborg Hospital, Sweden. The study concluded that DFSS was beneficial in designing the medication process in the sense that it generated concrete operational improvements, but also led to the establishment of a process organisation that was responsible for continuous development of the process. A further benefit was a greater understanding of the complexity of several customer groups with variation between and within groups. However, the challenges in applying DFSS in a healthcare setting included assessing implicit patient needs and the need for organisational maturity in order to support the DFSS project and handle project results. The medication process – a design for Six Sigma project
Ida Gremyr; Susanne Gustavsson; Anette Gideberg
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 1 - 11
This paper studies the application of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) in the medication process at Skaraborg Hospital, Sweden. The study concluded that DFSS was beneficial in designing the medication process in the sense that it generated concrete operational improvements, but also led to the establishment of a process organisation that was responsible for continuous development of the process. A further benefit was a greater understanding of the complexity of several customer groups with variation between and within groups. However, the challenges in applying DFSS in a healthcare setting included assessing implicit patient needs and the need for organisational maturity in order to support the DFSS project and handle project results.

]]> 10.1504/IJSSCA.2012.045260 International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 1 - 11 Ida Gremyr; Susanne Gustavsson; Anette Gideberg CHI-Centre for Healthcare Improvement, Division of Quality Sciences, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden. ' CHI-Centre for Healthcare Improvement, Division of Quality Sciences, Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden; Skaraborg Hospital, 54185 Skövde, Sweden. ' CHI-Centre for Healthcare Improvement, The Division of Internal Medicine, Skaraborg Hospital, 54185 Skövde, Sweden medication process patient process design for six sigma DFSS process management healthcare management customer focus robustness competitive advantage Sweden hospitals implicit needs patient needs organisational maturity. 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 7 1 1 11 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45261 For global competitiveness, Indian industries are striving to achieve overall operational excellence in their business (Snee, 2009). Six Sigma has evolved into a powerful business improvement methodology in many Indian industries and its importance is growing (Antony and Fergusson, 2004). Within Indian SMEs, this paper has validated the concept of Six Sigma successfully by unveiling a tested DMAIC methodology, especially for foundry SMEs. A thorough literature survey has been performed to highlight the status of foundry industry at global level and position of India in context to other countries has been found. The present Indian foundry scenario has been reviewed in terms of types of foundries, their production trend and geographical clusterification. The concept of Six Sigma has been defined and further surveyed deeply with respect to more frequently used themes. The proposed approach has been tested and validated by performing a case study in a medium scale die-casting foundry. Ambience of Six Sigma in Indian foundries – an empirical investigation
Bikram Jit Singh; Dinesh Khanduja
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 12 - 40
For global competitiveness, Indian industries are striving to achieve overall operational excellence in their business (Snee, 2009). Six Sigma has evolved into a powerful business improvement methodology in many Indian industries and its importance is growing (Antony and Fergusson, 2004). Within Indian SMEs, this paper has validated the concept of Six Sigma successfully by unveiling a tested DMAIC methodology, especially for foundry SMEs. A thorough literature survey has been performed to highlight the status of foundry industry at global level and position of India in context to other countries has been found. The present Indian foundry scenario has been reviewed in terms of types of foundries, their production trend and geographical clusterification. The concept of Six Sigma has been defined and further surveyed deeply with respect to more frequently used themes. The proposed approach has been tested and validated by performing a case study in a medium scale die-casting foundry.

]]> 10.1504/IJSSCA.2012.045261 International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 12 - 40 Bikram Jit Singh; Dinesh Khanduja Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, Haryana, India. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, Haryana, India six sigma DMAIC project scrap rework analysis of variance ANOVA design of experiments DOE process audit sheets India foundries foundry industry SMEs small and medium-sized enterprises die casting. 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 7 1 12 40 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45262 Seaport terminals recognise the need to change current practices in order to improve regional air quality while enhancing their terminals' competitiveness. One area that terminals can do better at is to improve their yard crane operations and in turn reduce the trucks in-terminal delay. This study examines various container rehandling strategies by the yard cranes with the goal of improving the time it takes for a drayage truck to pick up an import container and hence reducing the time of engine idling and the stop-and-go lugging. Simulation results highlight the benefit of having truck arrival information, and they indicate that this study's proposed rehandling methods, which take advantage of truck arrival information, perform well compared to other methods. Also, the proposed backfilling method appears to be quite effective in reducing truck wait time. Performance assessment and improvement of yard crane rehandling strategies for improving port drayage operations
Nathan Huynh; Jose M. Vidal; Narges Kaveshgar; Omor Sharif
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 41 - 61
Seaport terminals recognise the need to change current practices in order to improve regional air quality while enhancing their terminals' competitiveness. One area that terminals can do better at is to improve their yard crane operations and in turn reduce the trucks in-terminal delay. This study examines various container rehandling strategies by the yard cranes with the goal of improving the time it takes for a drayage truck to pick up an import container and hence reducing the time of engine idling and the stop-and-go lugging. Simulation results highlight the benefit of having truck arrival information, and they indicate that this study's proposed rehandling methods, which take advantage of truck arrival information, perform well compared to other methods. Also, the proposed backfilling method appears to be quite effective in reducing truck wait time.

]]> 10.1504/IJSSCA.2012.045262 International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 41 - 61 Nathan Huynh; Jose M. Vidal; Narges Kaveshgar; Omor Sharif Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main St. Columbia, SC 29208, USA. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Swearingen Engineering Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main St. Columbia, SC 29208, USA. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main St. Columbia, SC 29208, USA seaport container terminals simulation yard crane services service strategies service improvement terminal efficiency port drayage efficiency environmental stewardship container rehandling performance evaluation in-terminal delays yard cranes simulation truck arrival information truck wait times. 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 7 1 41 61 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45265 This paper addresses the need by terminal operators to optimise the yard crane operations at seaport terminals. It introduces a novel agent-based approach to model yard cranes, where each crane acts as an autonomous agent that seeks to maximise its utility. A key component of the proposed agent-based simulation model is a set of utility functions that properly capture the essential decision making attributes of crane operators in choosing the next truck to serve. Simulation results reveal important insights about distance-based service strategy and time-based service strategy and how they can be used together to accomplish the terminal's operational objectives. The developed simulation tool can be used by terminal management to make strategic planning and/or real-time operational decisions to improve and optimise yard crane operations. A novel methodology for modelling yard cranes at seaport terminals to support planning and real-time decision making
Nathan Huynh; Jose M. Vidal
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 62 - 91
This paper addresses the need by terminal operators to optimise the yard crane operations at seaport terminals. It introduces a novel agent-based approach to model yard cranes, where each crane acts as an autonomous agent that seeks to maximise its utility. A key component of the proposed agent-based simulation model is a set of utility functions that properly capture the essential decision making attributes of crane operators in choosing the next truck to serve. Simulation results reveal important insights about distance-based service strategy and time-based service strategy and how they can be used together to accomplish the terminal's operational objectives. The developed simulation tool can be used by terminal management to make strategic planning and/or real-time operational decisions to improve and optimise yard crane operations.

]]> 10.1504/IJSSCA.2012.045265 International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 62 - 91 Nathan Huynh; Jose M. Vidal Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA. ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Swearingen Engineering Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA seaport container terminals simulation yard cranes optimisation truck services service improvement agent-based systems multi-agent systems autonomous agents modelling operational decision making crane operators terminal management strategic planning. 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 7 1 62 91 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=45266 To respond to the fast changing economic conditions and customer needs various industrial engineering and quality management strategic such as ISO 9000, TQM, KAIZEN, JIT manufacturing, enterprises resources planning, lean management, business process reengineering (BPR), etc., have been developed. A new paradigm in this area of manufacturing strategies is Six Sigma. From last many years, the Six Sigma define-measure-analyse-improvecontrol (DMAIC) methodology is being used in many manufacturing industries to solve the problems related to the quality and productivity. The paper discusses the real life case where Six Sigma has been successfully applied at one of the Indian small-scale units to improve rejection rate in manufacturing of components in batch production. This paper explains phase wise application of all the phases of define-measure-analyse-improvecontrol (DMAIC), and ultimately shows how Six Sigma can help improving quality and profitability. Reduction of rework the Six Sigma way: case study of an Indian small scale industry
Prasenjeet C. Gholap; Tushar N. Desai
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 92 - 116
To respond to the fast changing economic conditions and customer needs various industrial engineering and quality management strategic such as ISO 9000, TQM, KAIZEN, JIT manufacturing, enterprises resources planning, lean management, business process reengineering (BPR), etc., have been developed. A new paradigm in this area of manufacturing strategies is Six Sigma. From last many years, the Six Sigma define-measure-analyse-improvecontrol (DMAIC) methodology is being used in many manufacturing industries to solve the problems related to the quality and productivity. The paper discusses the real life case where Six Sigma has been successfully applied at one of the Indian small-scale units to improve rejection rate in manufacturing of components in batch production. This paper explains phase wise application of all the phases of define-measure-analyse-improvecontrol (DMAIC), and ultimately shows how Six Sigma can help improving quality and profitability.

]]> 10.1504/IJSSCA.2012.045266 International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2012) pp. 92 - 116 Prasenjeet C. Gholap; Tushar N. Desai Department of Mechanical Engineering, Satara College of Engineering, Satara-415001, Dist.Satara, Maharashtra, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saradar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat-395007, Dist.Surat, Gujarat, India six sigma batch production quality productivity profitability small-scale industry define measure analyse improve control DMAIC India component manufacturing rejection rate. 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00 7 1 92 116 2012-02-03T23:20:50-05:00