Integration of Lean Six Sigma with Industry 4.0 to Augment Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness

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Journal
International Journal of Lean Six Sigma

Submissions now open

Submissions deadline: 31 December 2023

Overview

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a powerful methodology which integrates two most powerful operational excellence methodologies for achieving both efficiency and effectiveness in business processes. Six Sigma focuses more on variation reduction within processes whereas Lean approach aims to reduce different forms of wastes in processes. These two disciplines have proven to be successful when working together, and a great success in a variety of industries has led to the fact that its application is not limited only to the manufacturing sector but is extended to service and public sector organizations. But over time with the advent of Industry 4.0, there is an increase in connectivity between machine and humans. In this context, the applicability of LSS needs to be contextualized to accelerate the process of extracting key insights from Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) etc. also how these entities could bring insights to projects requiring the use of LSS. Some of the challenges faced by LSS in this emerging context are: Customers becoming more demanding with improved quality; Exponential utilization of Information Technology and so on.

To overcome these challenges one of the solutions is to integrate Industry 4.0 with LSS. The power of advanced analytics improves the performance of LSS projects: in particular, the time of the data collection, availability of data, speed of data collection and the relative analysis of the phenomenon is faster using the powerful technology of Industry 4.0. Most of the LSS tools are based on data to analyze the problem and data is very essential part to make any process improvement. Industry 4.0 helps in eliminating human error in data collection process and therefore better and faster reliable decisions can be made. For instance, IoT can aid LSS tools in analyzing and validating the root causes of problem in a much efficient and effective manner.

 Industry 4.0 provides the infrastructure to potentially enhance the Lean/Six Sigma capability of an organization both at the operational and enterprise level. At the operational level, performance and operational data metrics can transmit in real time through the Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) network enabling enhancements at the operational level. By LSS and Industry 4.0, numerous benefits have been identified like forecasting process defects in complex processes, enhancement of product and service quality and significant cost reduction.

Aligned with the above thought process, this Special Issue likes to explore further the current state of research linking Industry 4.0 and LSS, what perceived benefits are derived from this integration or what challenges are envisaged for this integration. The aim of this SI is to explore and understand the integration of two most advanced methodologies – LSS and Industry 4.0 and the challenges involved in the integration, benefits as well as the success factors for the implementation and sustainability of the integrated approach. As guest editors, we would like to invite authors to submit their research papers relevant to the following themes of this Special issue.

Potential Themes of Special Issue

•    LSS and Industry 4.0 in the Automotive Industry

  • LSS and its impact on Performance with Industry 4.0 as the moderator
  • LSS and Industry 4.0 in the Healthcare sector
  • Industry 4.0 technologies (Automation, CPS, Big Data etc.) and their integration with LSS for achieving superior performance and quality
  • LSS and Industry 4.0 in the Banking and Finance Sector
  • Lean and Industry 4.0 in the Pharmaceutical sector
  • Lean and Industry 4.0 in High-Tech Digital companies, etc.
  • Lean and Industry 4.0 in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • Drivers and barriers of LSS integration with Industry 4.0
  • Case studies of LSS integration with Industry 4.0

* The topics not listed here but relevant to the context can also be considered.

Submission Information

All manuscripts to be submitted via the IJLSS ScholarOne submission portal, please select the special issue “Integration of Lean Six Sigma with Industry 4.0 to Augment Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness” and authors to follow journal guidelines found here

Guest Editors

Professor Jiju Antony

Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi

UAE

Email: [email protected]

 

Dr S Vinodh

Associate Professor

Department of Production Engineering,

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India

Email: [email protected]

 

Dr Ayon Chakraborty

Associate Professor

School of Engineering, Information Technology and Physical Sciences, Federation University, Campus Mt. Helen, Australia.

Email: [email protected]

Key References

Arcidiacono, G., & Pieroni, A. (2018). The Revolution Lean Six Sigma 4.0. International Journal on Advanced Science Engineering Information Technology, 8(1), 141-149.

Kim, K. H. (2017). A Study on the Development of the Key Promoting Talent in the 4th Industrial Revolution-Utilizing Six Sigma MBB competency. Journal of the Korean Society for Quality Management, 45(4), 677-696.

Jayaram, A. (2016, December). Lean six sigma approach for global supply chain management using industry 4.0 and IIoT. In 2016 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Computing and Informatics (IC3I) (pp. 89-94). IEEE