A Comparison of Process Improvement between Lean and Lean-Six Sigma Approach in Outboard Plant

Engineering, Project, and Production Management

EPPM 2013 Conference Papers

A COMPARISON OF PROCESS IMPROVEMENT BETWEEN LEAN AND LEAN-SIX SIGMA APPROACH IN OUTBOARD PLANT

Kunut Suksamarnovng ¹,and Jeerapat Ngaoprasertwong²

¹ Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Rd., Patumwan, Bangkok 10330 Thailand +6684-975-3539, E-mail: eng.kunut@gmail.com
² Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Rd., Patumwan, Bangkok 10330 Thailand +6681-659-6722, E-mail: jeerapat.n@chula.ac.th

Abstract:This paper describes approaches which are popular in manufacturing include Lean approach and Six Sigma approach. Lean approach can reduce wastes on process and develop continuous flow process. Furthermore, Six Sigma approach can reduce variability in process and reduce defects to a minimum. In the other hand, the combination of Lean and Six Sigma approach is interested in a few industries. Therefore, a comparison between Lean and Lean-Six Sigma in process improvement via an outboard motor plant which is continuous process is necessary to study for identity appropriate approach in organizations. In case study of outboard motor, the first approach to process improvement is Lean. An implementation Six Sigma to Lean had done for process improvement after that. Through the improvement, production efficiency, standard time and defect rate after process improvement by Lean approach were 92.56%, 106.29 seconds, 0.88% respectively and by Lean-Six Sigma approach were 93.55%, 102.74 seconds, 0.43% respectively.

Keywords:Process improvement, Continuous flow, Lean, Lean-Six Sigma