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.

This paper describes a study designed to determine average labor and machine times required to implement erosion control and revegetation best management practices (BMPs) for skid trails in Kentucky. Labor and machine activities were recorded for 14,400 feet of skid trail on 10 nonindustrial private logging sites. Water bar construction and reshaping activities such as filling ruts and berm removal were filmed continuously with a video camera and then analyzed using time-motion study techniques. Labor activities for revegetation such as seeding and application of fertilizer were also timed. The average total machine time for retirement activities per 1000 feet was 51 minutes for sites using dozers and 52 minutes for sites using skidders. The average water bar construction time using a bulldozer was 1.5 minutes (n=112) while the average construction time using a skidder was 3.5 minutes (n = 21). The average amount of labor time required to seed 1000 feet of skid trail was 23 minutes (n = 5). Three methods of water bar construction were observed and analyzed to identify differences among them. While there were significant differences among the three methods, the data suggest that skid trail percent slope may have the greatest effect on water bar construction times.

Interruptions in time-critical, dynamic, and collaborative environments, such as air traffic control (ATC), can provide valuable, task-relevant information. However, they also negatively impact task performance by distracting the operator from on-going tasks and consuming attention resources. This thesis develops and assesses a tool to assist radar air traffic controllers in managing interruptions. Field observations and interviews with air traffic controllers were utilized to develop an understanding of how interruptions occur in real ATC environments, and to identify where opportunities exist to use technology to support the interruption management process. It was identified that operators in these environments could better manage the effects of interruptions if there were indications to one operator of the availability of a collaborator and the urgency of an interruption from a collaborator. Present communication systems do not facilitate the awareness of these functionalities. An initial prototype for providing these functionalities in operational ATC displays was designed. Feedback on the prototypes was solicited through Participatory Design (PD) sessions with air traffic controllers. Based on the refinement of these prototypes, the Working Awareness Interruption Tool (WAIT) was developed to support more efficient and appropriate interruption timing in the context of complex, real-time, distributed, human operator interactions. Variations of the tool demonstrated several ways of showing the availability of the controller to be interrupted (either through manual settings or automatic detection) as well as incorporating a means of conveying the urgency level of the interruption. In order to examine the utility of the tool and to assess the importance and validity of its features, an experiment was conducted in a laboratory-based setting. The results of the experiment show the potential of this tool in an environment representative of air traffic control tasks and communication. Although the sample size was limited, the WAIT facilitated improved performance on both objective measures and self-reported measures, and reduced the distraction effects of interruptions from other operators. These improvements occurred without affecting perceptions of the effectiveness of communications. Questionnaire and interview results showed that participants appear to prefer an automated setting of availability to be shown to other collaborators. Identifying two examples of key features supporting interruption management (communicating availability and urgency) in air traffic control is one of the key contributions of this work. The work also makes a contribution by demonstrating that providing a tool incorporating these features can improve performance in an environment representative of ATC, albeit with naïve participants. Finally, the research makes a contribution by presenting the challenges associated with evaluating interruption management tools that require collaboration between operators in a system.

Diss. (sammanfattning). Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2005. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), 1996. / In English, with summary in Dutch.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-291).

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Rosemery Nelson-Gray; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Apr. 13, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-42).

p. 1-123 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-03-14T20:08:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2222a.pdf: 706464 bytes, checksum: 692cd17914ebec5a52ff4de46eab43d1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima(tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2013-03-15T18:27:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2222a.pdf: 706464 bytes, checksum: 692cd17914ebec5a52ff4de46eab43d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-15T18:27:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2222a.pdf: 706464 bytes, checksum: 692cd17914ebec5a52ff4de46eab43d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Este trabalho versa sobre o melhor desempenho empresarial que pode ser obtido pelas pequenas e médias empresas do varejo de supermercados através da utilização de sistemas informatizados para a reposição dos estoques. Adota-se como fio condutor a importância do controle e gestão dos estoques de mercadorias no varejo de supermercados, especificamente na pequena e média empresa que atua nesse segmento. Analisam-se as principais questões relacionadas com o gerenciamento da cadeia de suprimentos no canal de distribuição do varejo, tendo como eixo principal a utilização da tecnologia da informação como ferramenta estratégica no processo de tomada de decisão. O estudo focaliza a pequena e média empresa de supermercado em Salvador, Bahia, suas estratégias e modos de operação, e procura relacionar determinados indicadores de desempenho empresarial com o nível de utilização de sistemas informatizados de reposição dos estoques de mercadorias em cada empresa da amostra estudada. / Salvador

The diploma thesis is about management control system. The first part contains the analysis of the subject, the factors, components and tools of management control. In the second part is about the difference of management control in profit and non-profit organizations.