Title: Implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in supply chain management (SCM): an integrated management philosophy

Authors: Souraj Salah, Abdur Rahim, Juan A. Carretero

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada. ' Faculty of Business Administration, University of New Brunswick, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada; Department of Systems Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada

Abstract: Supply chain management (SCM) is essential for any company to survive the increasing pressures of global competition. There have been continuous changes in global manufacturing and service markets, causing supply chain (SC) members to reassess their effectiveness individually and as a whole. A new evolution in quality management (QM) is Lean Six Sigma (LSS), which is a continuous improvement (CI) methodology that aims at customer satisfaction and system waste reduction. SCM can utilise the QM concepts as well as the LSS tools and CI principles to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction regarding cost, quality and delivery. Researchers have considered the integration of Lean and Six Sigma with SCM. This research extends the previous works and proposes the implementation of LSS in SCM. A case study provides an example of how LSS, utilising value stream mapping (VSM), can be used to improve an SC.

Keywords: supply chain management; SCM; quality management; QMS; just-in-time; JIT; continuous improvement; lean six sigma; LSS; value stream mapping; VSM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIS.2011.039622

International Journal of Transitions and Innovation Systems, 2011 Vol.1 No.2, pp.138 - 162

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article