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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 21

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S

Lean Six Sigma in Food Industry

Kostic-Nikoli. S.

1

, Nikolic, I.

2

.

Megatrend University, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia skocticnikolic@gmail.com, ivanakinikolic@gmail.com Abstract— It has been widely investigated that the

application of operations management techniques is not only based on technical factors, but it is mainly associated with organizational factors such as culture, previous policies and procedures, etc. A very good example of promisng operations practices is Lean Six Sigma (L6σ). The main research question for L6σ is related to its liabilities regarding its implementation and how to do it in food industry. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the impact of the new tool L6s and explain what are the critical factors related to applying L6σ. The context of the analysis is in the general view of food industry. Since it seems that it has been neglected from the literature that mainly focuses is on manufacturing and service sector (telecommunication; healthcare and airline industry). The methodology was based on the structure interviews, of the 16 companies in Europe in food sector. The 16 top- managers will be exanimated on adequate way.

The findings and results will help to give appropriate justifications, such as why food industries must apply L6σ. And also give occasion to compare with the literature review and theory. On the end it will show that there are ten (10) particular factors that influence the implementation of L6σ in food industry.

Index Term- Lean Six Sigma, Key-Success Factors, Managers, Food Industry

I. INTRODUCTION

In new dynamic world of global competition, where the knowledge is most important, companies should follow and adopt new technology, tools and trends on market and continuously innovate and create new products and services. With this approach they will be able to survive on the market and lead the battle and win competition (Vince, 2008; Jenica et al, 2010). Today‟s big marketplace, followed by globalization, continuously technological advances, it could be said that the innovation is key for success for many companies (Sunhilde & Simona, 2007). To survive in this world, industries has to apply new ideas and processes and also pay good attention to agility while they try to constantly focus on quality, cost and efficiency (Edward et al, 2010).

Traditional management tools and mentalities cannot cope effectively and efficiently with current business demands (Itkin, 2008; Chee, 2008). This is the reason that large industrial entites continuously develop and implement management tools and systems (Saravanan, 2006; Chang, 2006). However, whether organizations in different sectors and different places with different cultures can really adopt promising quality management practices is still under investigation. A prime example of such promisng practices is Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) which is a synthesis of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing/Management. Similar to other management tools, the main question for L6σ is related to liabilities and/or constrains regarding its implementation in different organizational and sector contexts. It has been

widely investigated that the application of operations management techniques is not only based on technical factors, but it is mainly associated with organizational factors such as culture, previous policies and procedures, and etc. (Hope and Mϋhlemman, 2001; Noronha, 2003; Ayoob, et al., 2003; Psychogios & Wilkinson, 2007).

In this respect the purpose of this paper is to explore the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that are related to the application and implementation of L6σ in food industry. The context of the analysis is food industry since it has been neglected from the international literature of L6σ that mainly focusing on manufacturing industry (Psychogios et al, 2012).

Generally the Lean Six Sigma (L6σ) is a methodology of business improvement that maximizes shareholder value by achieving faster rate of improvements in customer satisfaction and behavior, cost quality, process speed and investment capital (Sunhilde & Simona, 2007; Hill et al, 2011). New tools bring changes and opportunities that go with a new approach, as is L6σ. Using and implementing this methodology; companies could improve business environment and therefore performance. It could be a management approach that is focused on quality and continuous improvement, based on participation of all employees to get success on long term (Lubowe & Blitz, 2008). The tool has been successful applied in manufacturing industry – production and service and get good results in both, increasing efficiency of procedures and improving product quality (Bowen & Youngdahl, 1998; Engelund et al, 2009).

Having all this in mind and along with the fact that the recourses, sometime are limited for this research, the research is separated into two parts; that is the investigation of managers‟ behaviors and the analysis of articles from well-known journals about this topic for the period of 2003 until now. Starting with the philosophy about what is L6σ and from what parts it is made.

Most of people don‟t have enough knowledge about this new approach but according to what is discovered here, L6σ is connected with many ordinary things. The part of findings will explain and give opportunity to understand connection between L6s and CSF, with training courses, innovation and etc. Training courses are equally important for both the managers and the employees. With these courses they will get new experience, knowledge, and improve their skills. With new training courses comes also and innovation (in the way how to implement new tools/ techniques and programs).

However obtaining only the knowledge behind L6σ methodology is not enough. After evaluation of the literature review, it is discovered that the implementation of L6σ, highly depends on several CSFs, which are mainly responsible for success of the implementation. These factors are: strong organizational culture, quality improvements, customer satisfaction, tools and techniquesand innovations.

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 22

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S appropriate methodology, it will be discussed about findings

and results in the charts with appropriate explanation. From these explanations, it could be realized that the companies will start to apply this approach because it will give opportunity to resolve some problems that already exists in the companies. Evaluation on the findings could bring conclusion, with the overall analysis. It will give good opportunity to bring good explanation of implementation L6σ with appropriate CSFs in service industry and also on the end it will give good recommendations for the future research.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW II.1. LEAN OPERATION

The Lean production or Lean philosophy/thinking is focused on achieving improvements in most economical way with special focus on reducing waste (muda - Japanese word) (Dahlgaard & Dahlgaard-Park, 2006). Also it involves the speed of the process and how products can be delivered quicker to customers by eliminating waste and also by using fewer materials in the actual assembly of the products (Cooper, 2008; Lane, 2008).

„‟The origin of Lean production is Japan.‟‟ (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006, p. 264.)

According to Bendell (2006) the first who employed the word “Lean”, to describe the new techniques introduced by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota, is John Krafcik. His researched was published in book “The Machine that Changed the World” (Womack et al., 1990). In the book “Lean Thinking”, the author explains that the muda is everywhere and it is very important to observe not only in relation with lean but also with TQM (Womack and Jones, 1996). The concept of muda become one of the most important concepts in quality improvement activities which is found by Taiichi Ohno‟s, famous Toyota philosophy from early 1950s , (Bendell, 2006, Dahlgaard & Dahlgaard-Park, 2006, Stevenson, 2009). This philosophy is widely called Toyota production system (TPS) in Japan and provide lean production as an well-known term that attract together the five elements „‟the product development process, the supplier management process, the customer management process and the policy focusing process for the whole enterprise‟‟ (Arnheiter & Maleyeff, 2005; Pepper & Spedding, 2010).

The goal, which Toyota describes Lean operation is “to get right things to right place in right time, the first time, while minimizing the waste and being open for change‟‟ (Cuc & Tripa, 2007, p. 2527). Engineer Ohno discover that Lean could be presented as mathematical result, known as Little‟s Law (Gerst, 2004).

The Lean Time presents the amount of time that is taken between the phase when work enter to the process and last phase when work enter from process. For the Things in Process we use numbers of requisitions, in product development it will be number of Projects in Process and in manufacturing the amount of the Work in Process.

Lean philosophy has been market as a new organizational change and improvement method, a cost reduction mechanism (Achanga, 2006; Näslund, 2008). The vision is to focus on the individual products and its value stream (trying to identify value-added and non-value added activities), and to eliminate all waste (muda) in all areas and functions with systems. The

waste is everything that increase cost without adding value for the customer (Dahlagaard & Dahlagaars-Park, 2006). That is the main target of lean thinking.

II.2. SIX SIGMA OPERATION

In middle of 1980s, Motorola Inc., was the first company how launch the Six Sigma program (Anderson et al, 2006; Mc Carty & Fisher, 2007; Mossa & Sajid, 2010; Schon et al, 2010; Psychogios & Tsironis, 2012). It was developed by efforts of Bill Smith, how was reliability engineer in Motorola. In 1988, Motorola received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, using Six Sigma methodology which increases interest from other organizations to start to procedure this. Motorola manage to save, in period from 1986 to 1990, by using “the Six Steps”, about 1.5$ billion in manufacturing and additional 1$ billion in non-manufacturing. The concept of Motorola‟s “Six Steps to Six Sigma” is present in Table I.

Table I

Motorola‟s quality improvement process “Six Steps to Six Sigma”

(Source: Dahlgaard & Dahlgaard- Park, 2006)

Additionally, 6σ is a quality improvement method that seeks to eliminate variations in the production process that can be measured, controlled and improved by applying statistical process control (Chang-Tseh, 2007).

Beyond the positive results that can be achieved, Lean Operations cannot bring a process under statistical control, while 6σ alone cannot dramatically improve the speed of the production process and reduce invested capital (Carreira, 2005). A combination between the two methods is required. These two concepts are complementary (Ferguson, 2007). II. 3. LEAN SIX SIGMA OPERATIONS

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 23

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S There is a lot of literature data that explain this integration,

creating a new tool with the goal to achieve more together than they could do separately. Table II summarizes the synergy of the key steps from Lean along with Six Sigma tools that can be used as a utility to achieve each task (Andersson et al, 2006).

Table II

Synergy of Lean and Six Sigma

Concepts Six Sigma Lean

Origin The quality evolution in Japan and Motorola

The quality evolution in Japan and Toyota

Theory No defects Remove waste

Process view Reduce variation and improve defects

Improve flow in processes

Approach Project management Project management

Methodologie s

Define, measure, analyze, improve (or design), control(or verify)

Understanding customer value, value stream, analysis, flow, pull, perfection

Tools Advance statistical and analytical tools

Analytical tool

Primary effects

Save money Reduce lead time

Secondary effects

Achieves business goals and improves financial performance

Reduce inventory, increase productivity and customer satisfaction

Criticism Does not involve everybody, doesn‟t improve customer satisfaction, doesn‟t have a system view

Reduce flexibility, causes congestion in the supply chain, not applicable in all industries

(Source: Adapted from Pepper and Spedding (2010))

It can be seen here, that Lean and Six Sigma, fit one into the other and like that it could be used for incorporating new methodology, the methodology that have key elements of both and with the goal to achieve more together than they could do separately (Nabhani, 2009; Burgess, 2010; Jenica et al, 2010).Each stage can be follow by the Six Sigma five steps: define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC model).

In the respect to all, L6σ concept emerged as a balanced approach between Lean Operation and Six Sigma, attempting to create a synergy between their functionalities (Arnheiter et al, 2005; Ferguson, 2007) and create extra value to organizations. In other words, L6σ integrates 6σ and Lean processes, where Lean aims on cycle time and waste elimination while 6σ seeks to eliminate defects and reduce variation (Lubowe and Blitz, 2008). The integration is made because Lean principles can‟t achieve good process control, only goal is on cycle time and elimination of waste while Six Sigma can‟t alone achieve process speed and flow because it focuses on elimination of defects and reduce variation (Lubowe & Blitz, 2008; Stivenson, 2009; Psychogios & Tsironis, 2012).

L6σ methodology is not a standardized procedure so it can

be used in various sectors. Also, according to the literature (Pande, et al. 2000; Cross, 2007; Dreachslin, 2007) there are variety of methods used in order to apply the L6σ. Also, There are several sectors and industries where L6σ has been applied.

Manufacturing and service industries are both aware of the fact that in this era of new technologies, they must be able to react fast in the changing world, embrace innovation and become smarter than in the past. This refers on new customer‟s demands and also on market completion (Donovan, 2009). Many companies feel a pressure since they think that competition will overcome them or that they will be able to survive in market. For that reason many companies try to apply Lean Six Sigma since they believe that with this new approach it will be able to avoid risk of losing business, get lower cost and be better than competition (Nashiappan et al, 2009).

Successful stories of L6σ implementation are common in general industry. It can be used in various sectors. According to the literature (Psychogios and Tsironis, 2012) there are variety of sectors and industries that starts to apply L6s and until now they achieve good results. Most of examples come for the private sectors but in it could also be seen in public sectors. The first organization that applied L6σ, in 1995 was General Electrics (GE) and become one of the most successful companies in the world (achieving in first five year of implementation, more than 10$ billion. It has been lead with sentence “Why predict the future when you can create it?” and it was very proud on success, since they achieve to reduce their cycle time by 45%. It was a major success for them and they were very pride to share that with rest of the world.

However, most of the examples are coming from the manufacturing, although there are some cases from the service industry as well (Naslund, 2008; Byrne et al, 2007; Brett and Queen, 2005).

The biggest goal of L6σ is to transform the organizations from separate reactive operations, which are functionally oriented, into-cross functional process. The best result will be a customer focus, employee empowered and flexible organization. L6σ is biggest key for the corporate strategy, driven by customer and business needs and lead to achieve a good competitive advantage. The nature of competitive advantage for L6s, Lean and Six Sigma can be displayed graphically in Picture 6 (Atnheiter & Maleyeff, 2005; Pepper & Spedding, 2010).

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 24

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S All of them are mixed together. For example, quality

system requires appropriate culture change and this led to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction (Furterer & Elshennawy, 2005; Psychogios & Tsironis, 2012). Or training course and teamwork require high level of knowledge and also bigger budget, so the L6σ could be understood and implement properly (Antony et al, 2003).

Beyond the above evidence, there is a growing literature attempting to investigate the factors that influence the application of this practice. In particular, according to Psychogios et al (2012) there are both institutional and contextual factors. Also, these factors could be categorized into generic that applied in all types of organizations and sectors, as well as in organizational-specific (corporate culture, national mentality and working habits, particular PMS, quality system) and in industry-specific (services or manufacturing). Finally, the factors that have a positive impact on the implementation of L6σ are the facilitators, while the ones that present barriers to successful implementation are the inhibitors (Psychogios et. al, 2012). Another, classification can be emerged from the distinction of these factors into management-oriented and people-oriented (Psychogios and Tsironis, 2012). In particular, management-oriented factors include the integration of L6σ with business strategy (Lubowe and Blitz, 2008; Fornari and Maszle, 2004; Antony et al., 2007; Kamensky, 2008), selection and management of the right project (Antony et al., 2004; Laosirihongthong et al, 2006; Ladhar, 2007; Breyfogle, 2008), and customer satisfaction (Antony et al, 2003; Antony et al., 2007; Andel 2007; Lubowe and Blitz, 2008). The people-oriented factors include Committed leadership (Laosirihongthong et al., 2006; Maleyeff, 2007; Stuenkel and Faulkner, 2009; Carleysmith et al., 2009; Ladhar, 2007), Quality-driven Organizational Culture (Furterer and Elshennawy, 2005; Maleyeff, 2007; Lubowe and Blitz, 2008; Koning et al., 2006; Koning et al., 2008; O‟Rourke, 2005), training (Anthony et al., 2003; Ladhar, 2007; Caldwell, 2006; Antony et al., 2004; Delgado et al., 2010), teamwork (Neuhaus and Guarraia, 2007), and Supportive Technical systems (Kamensky, 2008).

In short, there is some literature that suggests factors like leadership, strategic orientation, teamwork, technical approaches (metrics-systems), and training will probably affect L6σ application. All the above are complemented by a strong organizational culture which emphasizes on quality improvement and customer satisfaction. However, the in-depth exploration of the interrelationship of these factors seems to be neglected by the literature. In other words, there is not yet an attempt to develop an integrated framework that can contribute to our understanding regarding the implementation phase of L6σ. Also, the majority of the above factors have emerged from studies conducted mainly in manufacturing industry, while service industry seems to have neglected. Therefore, there is a need to explore further the application of the above factors in service context. In this respect, the present study attempts to expand our understanding regarding the factors influencing the application of L6σ.

III. LEAN SIX SIGMA IN FOOD INDUSTRY

Starting from ancient people, thousands of years ago, it is notice that soured or contaminated food made people sick. Throughout history, several of methods and tools were implemented to preserve food and to reduce the illnesses. To ensure biological survival and prevent further degradation of

the environment, man came to the conclusion that it is necessary to produce only quality, clean and safe food (Kostic-Nikolic, 2005). These days when everything turns fast, the food industry was successfully developed from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of food products (Kovach & Cho, 2011; IFS News, 2011). However, these developments start to increase the risk of foodborne illnesses. A simple mistake in step of food production could cause a large group of people to get sick in different locations at the same time, which makes food safety one of the hottest topics in the 21 Century. (Kovach & Cho, 2011)

A new style of life provides to the consumer‟s rights to buy safety, biologically valuable food, and with the main purpose to improve the life quality/ health. Having in mind, that the customer is always right, especially when the topic is food (Iwaarden et al, 2008; Kovach & Cho, 2011). They want always use safety and healthy food both at home and on abroad. Usage of food additives and ingredients is more complex and responsive starting form technological, economic, and environmental, health and normative aspects. With this starts to appears the problem/question of whether consumption of current food takes a risk to the health of consumers. Problem could be resolve looking at the current process and products used in procedure (Kovach & Cho, 2011).

The food industry is extremely huge, collective, varied business with complex network –from farming to production to packing to distribution (Kovach & Cho, 2011). Because of that, food companies couldn‟t be focused only on quality of the product (Ferguson, 2007; Lane, 2008). Every single company, no matter which sector they are, work on that to rebound economy. Most of them try to find a way in optimization of the process creating competitors advantage, diversification by planning new strategy, making new choices and minimalizing costs (Burgess, 2010). This is one of the reasons why large industries, such as food industry, try to improve and implement new tools and quality programs (Psychogios & Tsironis, 2012). Implementing the L6s could easily to improve efficiency and quality in many area of company and keep the competitive advantage in food industry (Hostetler, 2010).

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 25

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S Table III

Quality criteria classification in food industry,

Quality criteria classification in food industry

Criteria Description

1 Safety/ Reliability

Food for human consumption has to be safe for the health.

2 Compliance Product and food processing must comply to the national food laws

3

Product mensuration

Food industries have to deliver food packaging respecting the announced measures such as weight, size, trace element composition, fat content…

4

Product nutritive quality

Processed food must be delivered with its original vitamins, proteins, trace elements and all other components for a balanced diet.

5

Appetizing product

Smell, colors and texture have to be attractive and compliant to the local usage.

6

Ease of use and packaging

Ease of use is going from cooking information, prepared food to manageable packages.

7

Product information

All legal and practical information on the product must be available (on the package, website…)

8

Processed in respect of SRE

All precaution for environment protection and waste management are taken during processing and for the raw material.

Source: IFS News, 2011

A quality criterion is very important because it represents what customers expecting and from other hand what public authorities control. The customers are looking for variety of food, pleasant tastes easy to prepare (comfort criteria) but most of them look for food that will not damage the health (safety criteria) (Kovach, & Cho, 2011). Due of L6σ`s importance, all industries are leaving the traditional way of operating and start to apply these new tools (Burgess, 2010; Kamran & Sajid, 2010).

But some sectors from food industries try to keep the traditional way of producing in hope that they will be different from competitors. Picture, shows the major L6σ elements in food industry.

Picture 1. Major Six Sigma elements in the food industry Source: Lean Six Sigma in Food Processing, 2011

The main task of the food industry becomes development, and implementation of scientific achievements goes when elements of customer satisfaction, expected quality attributes, process control, equipment capability and commodity. If some of these elements miss, the product will suffer and that will have big effect on customer satisfaction, complains, vague quality expectations, missing or wrong process check, high levels of waste or downtime in production, declining profitability.

Some research explored that approximately 30% to 50% of the costs in food industry are due to costs related to the slow processing speed or performance to meet customer needs and demand. Process cycle efficiency (PCE) was improved from 5.02% to 17.46% due to the implementation of Lean practices. The data demonstrates that L6σ tools will contribute to the implementation of the food safety system to minimize risk, improve productivity and quality of products, and reduce unnecessary waste and time.

Also using L6σ tools provide lowest costs; process can be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, controlled and finally benchmarked through other facilities. It creates the speed of the process (reducing cycle time) and efficiency (minimum time and cost of invested capital). It reduces defects and variations in the process (Collier & Evans, 2007). So when the defects are reducing by 10%, the speed of process will increase for 40%. In other words, design of L6σ is a technique that is specially focuses on supporting design and delivery of new technology. It would reduce variations, increase profit and eliminate defects and waste will consider form, fit and functions.

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 26

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S Table IV

Food companies that introduce some quality operations

Food industries

Company Quality

Management Tool

Sector

Kellogg’s Six Sigma on packaging

Britvic Soft Drink

Six Sigma on packaging and logistics

Mars Six Sigma on packaging

Twining Lean and Six Sigma on conditioning and packaging

Virgin Drink Lean Logistics

Socopa Traceability and Lean Management

meat processing

Fleury’s Michon

Six Sigma diagnostic through Consumer Help

Desk

/

Euroserum (Entremont)

Traceability and Six Sigma management

milk processing

Hero France Traceability and Lean Management

canning industry

Coop de France Lean Management Agriculture Rung’s fishery Quality Management

and Lean Management /

Source: Pratiques Lean et Six Sigma-L6σ in Food Industry, 2011 According to some research, business improvements that L6σ will bring in food industry are:

 to focus on quality criteria expected from the market  to benchmark it is quality and efficiency level and to compare it with the European level

 to link financial and operational objectives through the quality criteria

 to use the future LSS ISO standard (ISO 13035) Experiences of using L6σ as an improvement method have demonstrated decrease in general costs from 25 to 40% without new investment. Knowing the type of criteria and level of quality that are expected, food companies can make a business plan that will take advantage and easily enter to new markets. The quality of business plan should be built on principles of L6σ.

According to Kovach & Cho (2011), the four major sources of variations in processes, which L6σ in food industry, will reduce are:

1. Insufficient design margins (poor design machinery and operating environments)

2. Inherent variability of any manufacturing process (the 5 Ms- machine, methods, materials, man and measurement)

3. The measurement system‟s inherent variability, which could cause up to 25% of the problems and defections in productions

4. Variable productions provided by subcontractors and vendors

Cooperation between producers and other partners interested in opening a number of innovation issues that are still looking for answers. One of the outstanding issues raised in the study: the question of the justification for further development. Justification, which is at the heart of this work, should include not only economic but also social, ethical and

environmental standards. By establishing direct ties with the consumer/customer, i.e. the creation of partnerships in the network of associates, some criteria of justification may not be acceptable to all participants: required selection criteria for each individual network members.

IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study introduces the newly wide spread tool L6σ, and all the knowledge, tools, and understanding that surround it. Moreover, the feasibility to apply its methodology as well as an overview of the industries it can be applied along with the critical success factors for each industry are being discussed. The work is also focusing on management innovation, giving special emphasis on published research, articles and development activities, opportunities and changes according to many authors. According to the literature review, the points of importance for worldwide organizations to use this innovation, L6σ, are the higher positioning and credibility that companies receive; that is to go one step ahead in the highly competitive markets and improve their level. And that is because they face every day with poor process executions that directly affect client service and satisfaction; something important to avoid. Following up from the literature review, the purpose of the research is to investigate the theoretical understanding of L6σ and any possible ways of linking it with practice. The research consists of two parts. The research will investigate generic – theoretical purpose of L6s, according to theory and literature. The practical part, will follow the discoveries from the literature review by exploring whether and how companies in the food industry use a process quality management tool like L6σ in order to improve their production or service. L6σ is very recently introduced in the food industry, and there are little evidence found in the literature that concerns its applications and critical success factors. The companies involved in the research are from Europe.

As was revealed in literature review, the main objectives in this work is to analyze what are the critical success factors for L6σ implementation and also to investigate how they impact on quality management towards company performance in multinational food manufacturing industries in order to improve better production or service.

IV.1 METHODOLOGY APPROACH

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 27

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S V. FINDINGS

In this section the 16 structured interviewees‟ will be classified by the overall knowledge that is discovered in literature review. Analyzing the answers from the interviewees will give opportunity to answer the main question for this research and also give opportunity to answer some basic research questions that are important for the research. Considering basic questions, it will be easy to find objectives. In the first step, the general data about companies are presented in charts and it will give opportunities to statistically interpret. The charts will be classified in order to present the number of the companies according to the place that they take in the world, sectors that they operate, organizational size and the last the level of the education background and the position of the managers that are examined.

Fig. 1. Type of Organizations

According to the Figure 1 it could be seen that just12% of total are SME National companies, 44% are Large National companies, other 33% is SME National companies and 13% of all companies is Multinational. From this it could be seen that the Multinational companies either do not know about the new methodology L6σ or they does not have enough knowledge about this approach. Also the companies could be presented in Figure 2, from the part of the sectors that are in their filed.

Fig. 2. Sectors of the companies

What was discovered and very interesting for the research are the age-group, the educational background of the examiners and their position in the organization. About 67% of examiners are in the group age from 30-39. Small part, just some 11% belongs to the group of 50-59 ages.

According to this the percent of the people with high education (University and Postgraduate – MSc) is about 67% and number of the people how are with high school is 33%. About the work place just 14% is in the place of Director (CEO), about 58% is on the place of the First-Line Manager and Middle Manager and the percent of the people how works as First-Line Employee and Supervisor is 28%.

The second step will present according to the most important CSFs that are found in the literature review, the opportunity to make connection with the answers that are mangers presented on this topic. As was mentioned before, the second section of the interview is about strategic planning, capacity of the quality projects and applications of the quality. The results from the questions will be sorted regarding to the research questions and presented in the Table VIII. Furthermore, it will give opportunity to the find better way to reach research objectives. The begging of this section is the section regarding the current situation in the company. The responses from questions will give the ability to explore and see the current situation of the companies that are examined, since they provide answers on the questions about measurement, tools and improvement of the process/ products and also it will consider the problems that companies face in this time.

The analysis of qualitative data gathered through in-depth interviews with managers in all three cases resulted in the emergence of ten (10) key success factors regarding L6σ implementation in service industry. These factors are summarized in table I.

Table I

10 Key Success Factors of L6σ Application in Service Industry

1. Top management commitment, involvement & support 2. Quality-driven organizational culture

3. Quality-driven training 4. Teamwork in problem solving

5. Direct link between L6σ and Customer satisfaction 6. Strategic orientation of L6σ

7. Supportive technical systems (Tools & Techniques) 8. Clear Selection of L6σ projects

9. Prior implementation of other quality improvement programs 10. Supportive performance management system

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International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences IJBAS-IJENS Vol:13 No:06 28

135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S Table II

10 Key Success Factors of L6σ across the research

Key success factors of L6σ identified in other studies

1. Top management commitment, involvement & support

2. Quality-driven organizational culture

3. Quality-driven training 4. Teamwork in problem solving 5. Direct link between L6σ and Customer satisfaction

6. Strategic orientation of L6σ 7. Supportive Technical systems (Tools, Techniques & IT)

8. Clear Selection of L6σ projects

2 Key success factors of L6σ identified in the current study

9. Prior implementation of other quality improvement programs

10. Supportive performance management system

VI. CONCLUSION

The previous chapter presented the findings of the research, and give opportunities to present appropriate answers. However, the overall picture will present in this part and with critical discussion of the key points that are discovered in the findings and as well in the literature review. The chapter will try to present the conclusions based on the analysis of received data from the qualitative exploration of three case studies.

VI.1. THE COMPARISON OF THE FINDINGS WITH THE EXISTING THEORY

According to the literature review, there are the evidences that the development of the L6σ in manufacturing and service industries brought important benefits to the business of the company, and then continuing with employees, managers, supply chain, and on the end with customers. It could be seen that for the successful implementation of the L6σ are need for the good company management and commitment are the key for the successful implementation of Lean and Six Sigma and also continuously improvement. Organizational culture by the strategy that company has already will try to focus on developing and implementing the right methodology, tools, techniques in way to manage better conditions and opportunities for the new business challenges.

The main expectation from this study is to identify the outcomes, which are categories with CSFs that are identified in the literature review and are responsible, according to the large number of authors for successful implementation of L6σ

in service and manufacturing industry. In this case, it will also be seen what action should be taken to implement L6σ according to the level of the CSFs, which are found, in the service industry.

The approach of this study was designed to explore the existing literature review and discover ways to successfully implement L6σ, and what are in general the CSFs for implementation in different industries. In addition it will attempt to reveal why L6σ isn‟t still applied in the service industry.

This cooperation is made to ensure that the application of the L6σ will bring successful results and have good influence in the customer satisfaction, improvement of employees‟ performance with the new training courses and on the end have big influence in the products and processes.

As is it could be seen L6σ start to be the philosophy of the business as well as the new strategy that helps companies to gain the competitive advantage and be ahead of their competitors in this cruel world of globalization. It will bring the competition thorough the reduction of the waste, defects in processes and products, improvement in employee‟s performance, bring company in high level from economic part of way and on the end bring high level in the eyes of the customers.

VI.3 OBSERVATION

The literature review conducted for this study provides the understanding of the evolution of L6σ. Trough Quality Management, Lean Operations and Six Sigma it has been made one new approach L6σ. Every of these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages but some of them are not able to bring good results alone.

This study has four major advantages. Firstly, it expands our understanding regarding the implementation of L6σ in food industries, in which the application of management models is more complex and problematic. Secondly, it focuses on the responses of managers, who always play the most significant role in the adoption of such techniques. Thirdly, supports current literature on the key success factors of L6σ application. Finally, it contributes two more factors that need to be considered in L6σ process. The main limitation of the study is the fact that only managers and top-administrators were approached. Frontline employees who are also directly involved in L6σ approach, may offer a more clear view on issues related to the impact of critical factors on L6σ application. Therefore, it is critical future studies to investigate first-line employees that always play an equally substantial role in the application of integrated quality management initiatives like L6σ (Psychogios et al. 2009).

VI.2. RECOMMENDATIONS

The responses that are received from examiners and with relevant literature that is found and presented give the opportunity to identify benefits, opportunities and CSFs for implementation of L6σ according to initiatives.

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135906-8484- IJBAS-IJENS @ December 2013 IJENS I J E N S implementation of L6σ is recommended for the further

research.

Food companies need to learn more about improvements in the area of the Quality Management, be more carefully about their characteristics, try to increase their view and include additional development such as L6σ. Although the time is bumpy, the government should support and promote several new methods / tools all over the country, and should also inspire companies to consider about development of L6σ, even if they belong in public or private sectors.

The benefits and capabilities of L6σ will present consideration for a possible future implementation. Because the traditional way of the production that most companies still use will slowly start to go down.

Food companies begin to realize that the quality of the services is something that really provides real competitive advantage and good place in the market. They always have in mind that quality is the basic strength of competitive advantage and differentiation in domestic and international markets (Ehigie & Mc Andrew, 2005; Djekic, & Jovanovic, 2010; Psychogios et al, forthcoming). It is represented as ability of enterprises to reduce operational costs, increase productivity and uses innovative technology to meet the needs of customers whose long-term confidence is expected (Djekic, & Jovanovic, 2010). Continuous improvement of quality system is the key of business success of every company, ability to survive in the market and get cooperation in the world.

Modern approach, in this dynamic world is to manage the innovation process that involves multidisciplinary knowledge and research simultaneously: from ideas, inventions and commercial applications, all members are included in the value chain (from supplier to consumer/customer) (Knowles et al, 2005).

The starting point for the L6s methodology was the idea that the service companies tries to apply this approach because of benefits that they will get: become faster and more responsive to the customers‟ demands; increase the customer satisfaction; operate at lowest costs of poor quality; achieve greater flexibility and increase the employee performance and manage to have more knowledge about L6s and quality and on the end to train people with appropriate training courses and projects (Wang & Chan, 2010).

Finally, after detailed research that is done and professional experience on the Quality Management, it is recommended that food companies which have enough level of resource, capabilities and knowledge, could consider implementation of the L6σ as their better Quality program.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the companies - managers that are willing to answer to our research.

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Figure

Table II  Synergy of Lean and Six Sigma
Fig. 2. Sectors of the companies

References

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