Lean production, six sigma quality, TQM and company culture

TLDR

The paper provides a detailed historical analysis of six sigma quality, lean production, and TQM, emphasizing the human factor and required corporate culture. The authors analyze and compare lean production, six sigma quality, and TQM principles, and discuss how to build the necessary company culture for success. The study uses a literature review and comparative analysis, supplemented by a Danish case on core process wastage. The findings show that lean production and six sigma share the same roots in Japanese TQM, that DMAIC is a condensed version of the Quality Story, and that both roadmaps are new TQM alternatives, but both overemphasize training tools while neglecting the human factor.

Abstract

Purpose The authors analyze the principles and results of lean production and compare the lean production philosophy with the six sigma quality process and the principles of total quality management (TQM). At the end of the paper, it is discussed how to build the necessary company culture for having success with these principles/management philosophies. Design/methodology/approach Literature search and comparative analysis complemented with a Danish case on wastage in a core process. Findings It is shown that the lean production philosophy and the six sigma steps are essentially the same and both have developed from the same root – the Japanese TQM practices. The improvement process from six sigma, the DMAIC process, can be regarded as a short version of the Quality Story , which was developed in Japan in the 1960s as a standard for QC‐circle presentations. We conclude that the roadmaps of lean production and six sigma quality are examples of new alternative TQM roadmaps. We also conclude that especially with lean production and six sigma quality there seems to be too much focus on training people intools and techniques and at the same time too little focus on understanding the human factor, i.e. how to build the right company culture. Originality/value The detailed and historical analysis of six sigma quality, lean production and TQM combined with a focus on the human factor and the needed corporate culture.