As the philosophy of doing business shift from sell what you can produce to produce what you can sell so do the customers’ specification continuously become a vital tool during product development process, hence increasing the volatility of the business environment. The objective of this thesis is to thoroughly review literature to be supported by cases why most companies fail in sustaining improvement programs then map out a pathway that will leads to successful implementation. A series of reasons were found which impedes the successful implementation of improvement programs which includes; management is unable to define the problem to be solve and the method of measurement, implementers choose wrong parameters for improvement, implementers sub-optimize or may not involve everyone that will be affected by the program, top management gives little or no attention to improvement programs and at times they may even loose focus, so many concurrent improvement programs are executed which will result to resource overloading, teams members most often lack data integrity, and teams members are often scared to try new ideas hence prohibiting the chances of innovation. To minimize this cankerworm, a number of steps has been mentioned. The steps were divided into two phases, the selection phase and the implementation. The selection process includes; defining the program, focus program on improving shareholders’ value and choose program base on a holistic perspective. The implementation phase includes; commitment of top management, prioritize projects, use critical chain project management to plan and execute project, lay emphasis on quality data, minimize the number of concurrent projects, encourage risk taking, and spend time and resources on value adding activities.

The purpose of thesis was to investigate and compare how two companies within pharmaceutical industry and nuclear power industry are currently working with quality development regarding continuous improvement and Lessons Learned in business processes. In addition, a simple comparison was made with the automotiveindustry. McNeil AB are improving their processes continuously and are according to the findings of this report performing well in their pursuit of world-class pharmaceutical production. They have a well functioning process regarding improvements proposed in weekly improvement meetings engaging all employees. However, during interviews it was made clear that the functionality of the process which administer improvement proposals generated in addition to, or beside the weekly improvement meetings, were inadequate. McNeil AB is proposed to administer this through an IT solution instead of by paper and e-mail, that simplifies the process of adding, implementing and follow up an improvement proposal. The nuclear power plant Ringhals AB recently made major improvements in their business processes as well as the plant itself. In a short period of time, several major modernization projects have been carried out and the project department have been put to the test. In order to drive changes in the plant, a plant modification process is used which is highly appreciated by the employees. However, when compared to McNeil AB and the automotive industry’s processes the plant modification process was found to lack in Lessons Learned. Ringhals AB is therefore proposed to implement Lessons Learned methodologies in check points throughout the projects lifecycle.

<p>In today’s society we are surrounded by large amounts of information, quick decisions and high expectations to perform successfully in everything we do. As a statistical agency, Statistics Sweden is responsible for producing some of the information that is used for decision-making in society and is therefore under constant internal and external pressure to perform well. The responsibility to produce high-quality statistics to all customers and users is not simple. What is the quality of the statistics produced? How do we assure and control the quality of the statistics? Do we use our resources efficiently? These are important questions, which need to be addressed.</p><p>One way of addressing these and other issues is to work with quality in a systematic fashion. Thus there is a need for a Quality Management System, i.e., a systematic way to handle quality issues of all kinds in all parts of the organization, and to continue the journey towards the vision of being a “world class statistical agency”.</p><p>This Masters thesis is a description and discussion of the efforts to find a suitable Quality Management System. The thesis starts with a discussion about the vague quality concept, continues with a description of numerous frameworks, methods and systems related to quality management as well as their pros and cons and ends with a recommendation for Statistics Sweden. The recommendation is to use the EFQM Excellence Model as a quality framework, Six Sigma as a tool-box for improvement projects and modern internal auditing methods for evaluation and follow-up. Finally, issues related to the implementation of the system are discussed.</p>

Die Produktqualität und Kosten sind ein eindeutiger Indikator für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit innovativer Produkte. Toleranzen steuern hier nicht nur die Prozesskosten in der Fertigung und Montage, sondern auch die endgültige Produktqualität. Mit der statistischen Toleranzanalyse werden diese Indikatoren vorhersagbar. Eine fertigungsprozessorientierte Toleranzvergabe ist heute unabdingbar, um Produkte schon frühzeitig in der Produktentwicklung mit den Mitteln der CAD-Umgebung robust nach den Grundsätzen von Design for Six Sigma auszulegen (DfSS=kein Ausschuss bei hoher Funktionalität). Viele innovative Produkte und Funktionsprinzipien würden ohne diese Vorgehensweise am Markt nicht bestehen können. Einige Beispiele aus der Praxis werden das im Rahmen dieses Vortrages aufzeigen.

This thesis concerns the question, "Why is the performance of Six Sigma within The Ford Motor Company below that experienced in other companies, and what can be done to improve it?" The aim of the thesis was to make recommendations that would improve the performance of Six Sigma within the Ford Motor Company. Results from the literature were categorised according to headings found in the European Foundation for Quality Model (EFQM): strategy, people, process and leadership. The key factors identified from the literature review as being significant for a successful Six Sigma deployment were that projects were aligned to the strategy of the organisation, individuals were clear on their role and had appropriate skills, processes were well defined and understood and leadership team was committed to Six Sigma. The research started with a review of the results from two employee surveys. The first was given to Black Belts and asked questions concerning Six Sigma. The second was given to all the employees in the organisation. The survey data failed to identify the cause of lower than expected results, and so the investigation followed with a series of twelve interviews. When these also failed to identify the factor or factors responsible for deployment performance, the project database was reviewed. The Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control steps (DMAIC) were then analysed using Gardner’s Model of Process Maturity. The thesis concluded that the main influence driving Six Sigma performance was the low process maturity of the project selection and scoping processes and this gave rise to variable project performance. The thesis then presents material to improve project performance including a process map, a process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) of the project selection and scoping process, a control plan that ensures that the projects are on track and a macro using Excel and Minitab that works within the Ford Motor Company system to provide automatic evaluation of projects.

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School. / In their attempt to continuously improve their operations, Sasol Mining has since 1998 embarked on several different improvement initiatives including Operation Excellence with the improvement Lean Six Sigma in 2008. The main reason for choosing Lean Six Sigma was that the latter is a general, standard, well-documented improvement methodology, which is not dependent on any specific consultancy group to ensure successful and sustainable implementation. For sustainable Lean Six Sigma programme implementation, Sasol Mining has to ensure that human resources skills development and motivation enabling systems such as training and reward systems are in place. This research focuses on the assessment of the extent to which Operation Excellence employees perceive that there are benefits associated with their participation in the Lean Six Sigma programme during 2010 at Sasol Mining. In particular, how these perceptions could be effectively used by management as a basis for creating the environment where people are content and motivated to perform their best. The research investigates employee perceptions of various levels of Lean Six Sigma training within the context of categories of rewards most frequently associated with Lean Six Sigma; extrinsic, intrinsic, organisational and social rewards.

Many companies around the world have implemented Six Sigma as a problem solving methodology especially useful for dealing with recurring problems in business processes. Since the 1980s when it was developed at Motorola, many companies have tried to implement Six Sigma to fit their own company’s culture and goals. This thesis presents a longitudinal case study describing the evolution of ‘Six Sigma Management’ at Siemens in Sweden. The success of the programme was to a large degree built on previous failures, confirming Juran’s old saying ‘Failure is a gold mine’. From the case study, success factors for implementing Six Sigma at Siemens are identified and compared to those given in the literature. Some of the most critical success factors identified at Siemens had not been mentioned as such in the literature before. The main conclusion of the study is that, in order to succeed and get sustainable results from a Six Sigma programme, Six Sigma should be integrated with Process Management, instead of just running Six Sigma as a separate initiative in an organisation. Furthermore, the thesis includes papers presenting methods and tools to be used in a Six Sigma programme or in Six Sigma projects. They deal with: how to identify suitable Six Sigma projects, how to select which Six Sigma methodology to use, how to find hidden misunderstandings between people from different knowledge domains, and how to simulate the impact of improvements to iterative processes. All these methods and tools have been developed and tested at Siemens. This has been an action research project, where the author has been employed by the company under investigation for eleven years and has actively influenced the changes in the company based on knowledge gained at the company as well as on research studies conducted at universities. In action research the change initiative under investigation is conducted and analysed in a single context. The readers are invited to draw their own conclusions on the applicability of the results to their own specific cases. In addition to this, some conclusions derived using analytical generalisation, applicable to a more general case, are presented in the thesis. / <p>Defended att Chalmers University of Technolgy in 2007.</p>

This dissertation reports on the research work of a new business improvement methodology called the design for Six Sigma (DFSS) conducted within a global resources company with specific reference to Manganese Metal Company (MMC), a subsidiary of BHP Billiton (BHPB). The aim of this research was by means of a case study, through action research, to investigate, analyse and evaluate the "Define, Measure, Analyse, Design and Verify" (DMADV) model proposed by Picard (2004) with specific reference to a new product design. The study was concerned with identifying the BHPB strategic business reasons, effects and analysing the financial impact of implementing a DFSS project pertaining to a new product design at MMC. The literature review highlighted that DFSS enhances revenue growth, quality and reliability for a new product. The key findings were that DFSS does not exist within MMC and BHPB, the DFSS methodology could improve and enhance the revenue for a new product design at MMC and none of the BHPB customer sector groups are reporting any operating excellence (OE) annualised cost improvement benefits for DFSS projects. The main recommendation emerging from this research is that an integrated DFSS process will enable BHPB to identify critical leverage points for improving the overall financial performance in achieving the FY09 OE objective of $1 billion in annualised cost improvement benefits thus achieving the world class benchmark standard set by General Electric Corporation.

One of the major challenges for organisations operating in today's global business environment is to improve productivity, reduce costs and enhance customer service. Six Sigma methodology has become a popular approach in a number of organisations as a business improvement tool. This research presented Six Sigma as a business transformation methodology within Lonmin operations. The purpose of this research was to identify the primary factors in the Six Sigma framework, and to evaluate the relationship between these factors in the framework and their contribution towards transformation in terms of business improvement. This research critically evaluated the application of Six Sigma within Lonmin in the South African context. Quantitative data was obtained from questionnaires distributed to the different Six Sigma role players within Lonmin. A probability sample was used; sixty five (65) Six Sigma candidates were drawn from Lonmin with a Six Sigma population size of one hundred and twenty (120) employees listed in the Six Sigma database. Data was collected using an e-mail based questionnaire developed by the researcher. The main contributions of this study showed that communication and organisational culture were the most important factors to transform business performance when Six Sigma was integrated with business principles. The study revealed that project selection was a vital element in the process that determined the value towards business improvement. Six Sigma must be supplemented by other programmes (Theory of Constraints, Design For Six Sigma) in order to be more effective in attaining business performance. This research will benefit management to evaluate and structure an aligned methodology for transformation. Employees will be motivated to attain greater knowledge and skill. Research will prove beneficial to organisations that need to transform their organisation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

"We fail more often not because we fail to solve the problem we face but because we fail to face the right problem." (Russell L. Ackoff) Although centralisation of support functions causes initial cost savings, benefits may not improve unless there is continuous enhancement of product offerings and service quality. Commonly tension arises between the shared services centre and the business units, and this is exacerbated when business units do not understand the level of service they receive, or the service centres do not understand the level of quality they offer. This ultimately leads to confusion, lowered morale and loss of workers. Six Sigma is a business strategy and a systematic methodology, use of which leads to breakthrough in profitability through quantum gains in product / service quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. The concept of implementing Six Sigma was pioneered at Motorola in the 1980's and the objective was to reduce the number of defects to as few as 3.4 parts per million opportunities. For effective implementation of Six Sigma projects in organisations, one must understand the critical success factors that will make the application successful. This dissertation attempts to understand the underlying principles of Six Sigma and its applicability to the Gauteng Shared Services Centre, in order to achieve quantum gains in service quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.