Evaluating the sustainability of the gray-whale-watching industry along the pacific coast of North America

This paper reports on the first study to critically examine the sustainability of whale-watching practices along the entire migratory range of a pelagic baleen whale species, the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). Commercial boat-based whale-watching operations along the west coast of North America were observed for sustainable practices. Data recorded aboard whale-watching vessels and collected via an online survey were integrated into the Lean Six Sigma quality-improvement tool, in order to review business processes and identify where inefficiency or ineffectiveness exists in specific phases within a process. Whale-watching practices were analyzed using this method for 24 whale-watching companies operating in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The results show a high level of variation in management regimes, and operator non-compliance with guidelines, and highlight avenues to eliminate, revise or reduce inefficiency, and improve practices in the interests of high-quality and sustainable operations. We recommend more specific and operational guidelines that allow operators to focus on high compliance with the most critical aspects of their business operation in order to build the sustainability of commercial tourist interactions with gray whales in their migratory range.     

现代产品的质量改进和六西格玛管理

高度自动化是现代制造系统的主要特征,自动化设备的广泛采用对质量提出了越来越高的要求。这就要求产品的质量不断的改进和提高,而六西格玛(6σ)理论是一套建立在统计学基础上的质量管理系统模式。它的本质是不断减少偏差,持续追求高品质。文中综述了现代产品的质量研究改进和六西格玛管理理论。     

Order in the courts: propagating a culture of efficiency within the Irish Court Services

This paper exposes two 5S style experiments that introduced Lean Six Sigma (LSS) techniques to the Irish Court Services Dublin Circuit Court. Manufacturing concepts were adapted to the service industry, including a new definition of ‘informational workpiece’, to minimize waste and process variation reduction. Senior management subsequently embraced the authors’ recommendations of change management using a bottom-up approach. Other post-project outcomes include improved staff morale, decreased risk, and the simplification of complex processes.     

Implementing Lean Six Sigma in healthcare: issues from Italy

Lean Six Sigma is a method for strategic process improvement that aims to improve operational uniformity and quality, and reduce variations and waste. Lean thinking and Six Sigma have traditionally been applied to manufacturing. This paper examines ways of using Lean Six Sigma in healthcare organizations. The authors discuss the implications of their research for practitioners (managers and physicians) and present an agenda for future research.     

Making the foreign familiar: The influence of top management team and board of directors characteristics on the adoption of foreign practices

This paper examines the firm-level antecedents of Six Sigma adoption in Korea. Our results indicate that firms with top executives and board members having work experience in the foreign country where the focal management practice originated and was popularized are more likely to adopt this practice. Furthermore, firms’ exposure to foreign investors exerts a direct effect and also moderates the impact of foreign work experience on adoption. Prior work experience in the country of practice origin reduces the uncertainty inherent in cross-border adoption by providing executives and board members with greater insight into the presumed benefits of the focal practice.     

美军训练开发流程及其优化研究

训练开发是促进美军战斗力提升的重要手段。本文简要介绍美军训练开发流程,研究其如何利用精益六西格玛原理进行流程优化,最后提出对我军改进训练工作的建议。     

The application of Green Lean Six Sigma

Green Lean Six Sigma has been recently clarified to improve the environmental sustainability performance of operations, but it seems glaringly scarce and in need of cutting-edge studies to integrate the concepts of green, lean, and Six Sigma into one unified application. This paper is accordingly aimed at constituting the application of Green Lean Six Sigma as a cleaner production. In doing so, a Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC)-based approach that is one of Six Sigma's well-known methods was proposed to systematize a Green Lean tool—environmental value stream mapping. Thus, this paper as one of the preliminary studies aligns environmental value stream mapping with DMAIC through presenting the proposed methodological approach, which relies on the five DMAIC phases—Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control—and considers green wastes in each phase simultaneously. To support the narrow body of knowledge, this proposed approach was validated via the action research-oriented case study implemented in the substrate manufacturing system that seeks to develop the environmental sustainability of its production processes and subsequently its general competitiveness. The findings indicated the effectiveness of a DMAIC-based approach in systematizing environmental value stream mapping and improving its efficacy to achieve environmental sustainability. The case analysis revealed that the application can significantly lessen the consumption of chemicals and energy in the system by 28% and 21%, respectively.     

Six Sigma: Definition and underlying theory

Six Sigma has been gaining momentum in industry; however, academics have conducted little research on this emerging phenomenon. Understanding Six Sigma first requires providing a conceptual definition and identifying an underlying theory. In this paper we use the grounded theory approach and the scant literature available to propose an initial definition and theory of Six Sigma. Our research argues that although the tools and techniques in Six Sigma are strikingly similar to prior approaches to quality management, it provides an organizational structure not previously seen. This emergent structure for quality management helps organizations more rigorously control process improvement activities, while at the same time creating a context that enables problem exploration between disparate organizational members. Although Six Sigma provides benefits over prior approaches to quality management, it also creates new challenges for researchers and practitioners.     

论六西格玛文化及其构建

六西格玛(6σ)管理已经成为全球性的管理浪潮。企业要成功地实施6σ管理就必须构建与之相适应的企业文化———6σ文化。根据6σ和6σ文化的定义、主要特征及构建6σ文化的重要意义,同时在分析影响企业文化的主要因素的基础上,论述了构建6σ文化应注意的问题。     

中小企业推行六西格玛管理研究与分析

根据目前中国企业实施6σ管理的现状,从我国中小企业的现状和特点出发,运用SWOT分析法来说明我国中小企业实施6σ管理的必要性和可行性,运用动态演进的方法导入6σ管理并建立管理体系。