International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE) Increasing of Customer Satisfaction in Sepahan Oil Company Using Six Sigma Methodology

Masoud Hekmatpanah, Arash Shahin and Natraj Ravichandran

Abstract—Both public and private sectors have given much One major quality concept that is making this cross-sector attention to the concept of customer satisfaction in the past couple of transition is Six Sigma and its philosophy of continuous decades. Naturally, administrators have requested their staff to do improvement. Six Sigma is a data-driven quality improvement customer satisfaction studies for their own organizations. A key philosophy that emphasizes defect prevention over defect motivation for the growing emphasis on customer satisfaction is that detection by focusing on improving process inputs to improve highly satisfied customers can lead to a stronger competitive resulting in higher market share and profit. service quality is one of process outputs. Six Sigma practitioners view all work as the major issues facing operations managers but it is an area processes that can be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, characterized by debate concerning the need for assessing customer and controlled (DMAIC) (Chow et al., 2010). expectations and service quality assessment. The rationale for the implementation of Six Sigma in SOC Six Sigma is a data-driven quality improvement philosophy that was agreed as cost reduction through reduction of wastage in emphasizes defect prevention over defect detection by focusing on 4-litre can production. This was expected in turn to lead to an improving process inputs to improve process outputs. The ultimate goal of Six Sigma is flawless performance, zero defects, with a defect optimal production line with high productivity, thus bringing defined as anything that results in customer dissatisfaction with using in profit to SOC. It was noted that such improvement would the six sigma technique and SPC tools is used to demonstrate how to inevitably result in customer satisfaction. relate potential causes of a major presenting problem in Sepahan oil company. For this purpose, the four liter production line of the II. METHOD AND MATERIAL company has been selected for investigation. The findings imply that the application of SPC tools has reduced the scraps and increase the A. Six Sigma methodology customer satisfaction from 66.3% to 94.5%. The quality revolution of the past three decades has evolved

from its origins of mass production quality control, through Keywords—Quality, Customer satisfaction, Six Sigma, the various stages of quality assurance, total quality Management, SPC. management, business excellence, continuous improvement I. INTRODUCTION and, latterly, Six Sigma (Armitage and Keeble-Allen, 2007). The concept of implementation of Six Sigma methodology The first and most important principle is customer focus. was pioneered at Motorola in the 1980s with the aim of Measuring performance level in Six Sigma starts with the reducing quality costs, i.e. costs of not doing things right first customer. Improvements are defined by their impact on time, costs of not meeting customer requirements, etc. customer satisfaction and the creation of value. This principle (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). leads it to use voice-of-the-customer (VOC) and voice-of-the- Six Sigma stresses the application of statistical and marketplace data as the main driver of its activities. (Javier problem-solving tools and techniques in a methodical and llore et al., 2006). In today’s competitive business systematic fashion to gain knowledge that leads to environments, firms are under intense pressure to breakthrough improvements with dramatic impact on the systematically produce tangible quality achievements, control bottom-line results (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). Within the quality standards and generate positive bottom line results. Six Six Sigma regime, it straightly follows a formal and Sigma has been adopted by many organizations to develop disciplined methodology for improving organizations’ and strive for excellence in quality standards and innovations processes, based on rigorous data gathering and analysis, (Teck-Yong, 2011). following the well-known strategy – “define-measure-analyze-

improve-control” process. The strategy takes an organization’s

key business processes through five phases to deliver

breakthroughs in performance:

(1) Phase 1. Define – involves defining the scope and goals

Masoud Hekmatpanah, Ardestan Branch, Islamic Azad University, of the improvement project in terms of customer requirements Ardestan, (corresponding author to provide phone: +989132051162; fax: and the process that delivers these requirements. +983625242047; e-mail: [email protected]). (2) Phase 2. Measure – involves measuring the current Arash Shahin: Department of Management, University of , Isfahan, Iran (e-mail: [email protected]). process performance – input, output and process – and Natraj Ravichandran: Department of Management, Jamia Hamdard calculating the sigma capability for - and longer-term University, New Delhi, India (e-mail: [email protected]). process capability. (3) Phase 3. Analyze – involves identifying the gap between

329 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE) the current and desired performance, prioritizing problems and process, equipment, personnel, etc., that can affect the identifying root causes of problems. Benchmarking the product. It represents a summary of the empirical process outputs, products or services, against recognized quantification of the variability that exists within the product benchmark standards of performance may also be carried out. manufacturing process (Breyfogle III et al, 2001). Breyfogle (4) Phase 4. Improve – involves generating the described the variability as follows: The tabular information in improvement solutions and fixing problems to prevent them Figure 1 indicates the percentage of the area under the normal from re-occurring so that the required financial and other curve that can be found within ±1σ units throughout ±6σ units performance goals are met. centered about the mean, where σ represents true population (5) Phase 5. Control – involves implementing the improved standard deviation. For instance, ±3σ units of standard process in a way that “holds the gains”. Standards of operation deviation represent 99.73% of the total area under the normal will be documented in systems such as ISO 9000 and distribution curve (100%). The difference of 0.27% (i.e., standards of performance will be established using techniques 100% − 99.73%) is the probability of a plant production like SPC. whose product is outside of ±3σ units of standard deviation. If a process is centered, for every 100 product units, 99.73 % of B. Quality levels and specification limits them, approximately 98 products, will have desired Specification limits are the tolerance or performance ranges characteristics that fall within ±3σ. Figure 2.5 indicates that that customers demand of the products or services they are this corresponds to 2,700 defective parts per million (ppm) of purchasing. Because variability is so inevitable, specification the products at ±3σ. At ±6σ there are 0.002 defective parts per limits should be set in a way that takes into account some million (Lalovic, 2002). degree of imprecision in the work done. Figure 1 illustrates C. Six Sigma and firm performance specification limits as the two major vertical lines in the figure. The target value, shown in the figure as , is naturally The degree to which Six Sigma programs are effective can at the exact centre between the upper and lower specification be contingent upon the stability of the customer base or the limits. These specification limits are independent푋� of the bell- environment. When organizations are serving a specific shaped curve of the normal distribution, also shown in the customer base and the customer base is expected to remain figure. The customer expects the result to fall somewhere stable over time, Six Sigma programs can maintain a strong between the upper and lower specification limits; if not focus on translating the voice of customers into improvement exactly in the center .It is up to the customer to decide projects. This is due to the fact that within stable customer whether or not the extreme values at the specification limits base, customer requirements are expected to remain stable are acceptable quality levels.푋� The values outside the customer over time (Mellat Parast, 2010). specification limits are considered defects, failures, or nonconformities. (Lalovic, 2002)

Fig 2. The effect of Six Sigma projects on firm performance

D. Customer Satisfaction Porter (1985) suggested that a competitive advantage exists when an organization maintains an edge over its rivals in retaining customers and in positioning itself to take advantage of environmental changes. Under these circumstances, successful service organizations realize the importance of Fig 1. Normal Distribution between Six Sigma Limits carefully monitoring and managing of customer satisfaction Source: Lalovic (2002) (Bitner et al., 1994). Satisfaction is an “overall customer attitude towards a service The bell-shaped curve in Figure 1, also known as a provider” (Levesque and McDougall, 1996) or according to Gaussian curve, is called the normal distribution,. It has a Zineldin (2000) an emotional reaction to the difference number of properties that make it an extremely useful and between what customers anticipate and what they receive. valuable tool in both the statistical and quality worlds. The When customers are satisfied, they are more likely to return, normal curve is independent of specification limits described while dissatisfied customers are more likely to go elsewhere above. The shape of the normal curve depends solely on the (Heskett et al., 1994; Strauss et al., 2001; Zairi, 2000).

330 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

E. Customer satisfaction in service industries Basic needs are those that are expected by the customer to be fulfilled by the product or service provider. As shown in To survive in highly competitive markets, organisations Figure 4, meeting a customer’s basic needs has a neutral need to provide services that highly satisfied and loyal impact on satisfaction. Failure to meet basic needs, however, customers (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). As Nagel and has a significant negative impact on satisfaction. Cilliers (1990) claimed, customer satisfaction is currently “the new standard by which customers are measuring business performance”. Satisfied customers are more inclined to be loyal, producing several benefits for organizations (Asif and Sargeant, 2000). First, repeat business generates income. Second, it limits costs related to acquiring new customers, such as advertising, promotion and start-up activities. Third, satisfied customers often “spread the good news” and recommend products and services to others. Consequently, customer satisfaction is considered to be a key to organizational survival (Jones and Sasser, 1995), as well as increased market share and profitability (Heskett et al., 1994). F. Service quality and customer satisfaction

The relationship between expectation, perceived service Fig 4. Basic Needs quality and customers satisfaction have been investigated in a number of researches (Zeithaml, et al, 1988). They found that, H. Sepahan Oil Company there is very strong relationship between quality of service and customer satisfaction (Parasuraman et al, 1988). Increase in Sepahan oil company trades in and service quality of the banks can satisfy and develop attitudinal petrochemical products in the world. Today, this company loyalty which ultimately retains valued customers (Nadiri, et operates in most of the world's counties and is best known by al 2009). The higher level of perceived service quality results our familiar brand names like Exxon, Esso, and Mobil. in increased customer satisfaction. When perceived service Sepahan Oil Company makes products that drive modern quality is less than expected service quality customer will be transportation, power cities, lubricate industry and provide dissatisfied (Jain and Gupta, 2004). petrochemical building blocks that are vital to thousands of consumers. G. Linking Customer Satisfaction to Meeting the Ever since its establishment and with regard to the type of Customers’ Needs design and anticipated capacity, Sepahan Oil Company was Customer satisfaction is achieved by giving the customers considered the major supplier of in the country. what they want- meeting their needs. When addressing Sepahan Oil Company is capable of securing over 30% of customer satisfaction with Lean Six Sigma, the Kano model of approximately 600 million liters of engin oil used customer satisfaction can be helpful. Developed by Professor domestically. "Alvand" and "Arzhan" engin oils allocated the Noriaki Kano in the 1980’s, this model places customer needs highest share of the market to themselves for years, and at into three categories: basic, performance, and excitement present, special trade names of Sepahan Oil Company such as (Miskelly, 2009). "Speedy" and "Jey" rank first among domestic and foreign suppliers.

III. ANALYSIS A. Assessment of Customer Satisfaction with Implementation of Six Sigma The Customer Satisfaction Index was defined as the percentage of satisfied to total customers. A field analysis was performed for the calculation of this index and the percentage of satisfied customers before implementation of the project was estimated as 66.3%. Customer satisfaction was assessed through a questionnaire distributed to 500 individuals, comprising sales agents and end-customers. Responses were received from 80% of the

Fig 3. Kano’s "3-Dimensions of Customer Satisfaction sample; and 66.3% were evaluated on a Liekert scale. This questionnaire for the measurement of customer satisfaction was designed based on a five-point scale - from

331 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE) very satisfied to very dissatisfied. Their frequencies are demonstrated and prioritized in the

After0T 0T the0T 0T problems0T 0T stemming 0Tfrom 0T this0T section the Pareto Diagram following 0T improvements0T 0T 0Twere 0T implemented:0T 1) Quality of engine oil Pareto Chart of Cstomer Satisfaction 2) Package of oil and canning 3) Price satisfaction 100 100

4) Delivery process 80 80 5) Uneven fullness of canning 6) Shape of oil canning 60 60 C2 Percent TABLE 1. 40 40 THE COMPARATIVE BETWEEN MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BEFORE IMPROVEMENT 20 20 Questioneir Mean Std. Deviation a1 3.5825 0.96203 0 0 Cstomer Satisfaction cbafd Other a2 3.4175 0.97754 C2 38 25 15 12 6 4 a3 3.2775 1.05036 Percent 38.0 25.0 15.0 12.0 6.0 4.0 a4 3.3325 0.96658 Cum % 38.0 63.0 78.0 90.0 96.0 100.0 a5 3.2150 1.07781 Fig 6. Pareto Diagram for Customer Dissatisfaction a6 3.7150 1.10536 Overal 3.4233 0.65024

The above table shows that the six questions pertaining to C. The next set of figures is concerned with analyzing Customer Satisfaction (scale 1 to 5) showed averages of 3.58, the customer base of SOC 3.42, 3.28. 3.33, 3,21 and 3.72 respectively. In short, the mean The demographic statistics in Figures 7, 8, and 9 describe score was 3.42. gender, educational level, and age of respondents (customers) B. Causes of Dissatisfaction respectively. In order to enhance customer satisfaction, after numerous studies and analysis of customer views, the improvement team identified the causes of their dissatisfaction. These are presented in Figure 5.

Price Appearance Quality

Presence of impurities and High prices of the Unclean can non-oil materials in the cans products compared with rivals

Customer dissatisfaction Oil leakage from one damaged can Delay in Fig 7. Pie chart: Number of Respondents by Gender to all the cans on delivery Over- and under- pallets filling of the cans

The Pie chart in Figure 7 shows that more than 75% of the respondents are male. About 400 customers replied to the Packaging Delivery Oil volume date questionnaire, of which, only 100 respondents are female. Fig 5. Customer dissatisfaction Cause and Effect Diagram

These observations were arranged in the following manner: Scraps causes Percentage a) Presence of impurities and non-oil materials in 15 the cans b) Unclean cans 12 c) High prices of the products compared with 6 rivals d) Over- and under-filling of the cans 38 e) Delay in delivery 4 f) Oil leakage from one damaged can to all the cans on pallets 25

Fig 8. Respondents by level of education (in numbers)

332 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

The Bar chart in Figure 8 illustrates respondents' The0T 0T above0T table 0T shows0T the 0T average for0T the 0T questions0T 0T before0T educational levels. It can be seen that about 59% of the and 0T after0T 0T implementation0T 0T show0T s0T 0T a 0Tsignificant 0T difference,0T respondents are of graduate level; also, 23% and 18% of the moving from 3.42 before the project to 4.65 after the project. respondents are of undergraduate and postgraduate levels respectively. TABLE 4. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF THE RESPONDED OF THE CUSTOMER BEFORE AND AFTER IMPROVEMENT Maximum Minimum Deviation Variance Mean Std. Std. N

Sumbefore 400 1.17 5.00 3.4233 .65024 .423 Sumafter 396 4.00 5.00 4.6503 .22363 .050 Valid N 396 (listwise)

Wilcoxon test results from the above table show that there is a significant difference between the mean scores for pre-test Fig 9. Respondents by age (in numbers) and post-test questionnaires at level p < / 0.01. This proves that the project was able to reduce waste significantly.

As is evident, all aspects had improved. The highest change Figure 9 shows that about 31% of the respondents were was related to the net quantity in the can, with an average more than 35 years old, while a few (4%) were less than 21 value of 4.9, while the lowest was related to the quality of the years old. engine oil. The packaging of the engine oil and the canning, D. Change of Satisfaction Levels with a percentage change of 54.8, was the second highest. These are plotted in Figure : Table 2 shows the use of engine oil by the respondents before implementing Six Sigma and after the implementation of Six Sigma. As can be clearly seen, customers are fully satisfied with quality, packaging, quantity in cans, delivery, price, and shape of the oil can after the implementation of Six Sigma. TABLE 2. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF THE RESPONDED OF THE CUSTOMER AFTER IMPROVEMENT Quesioneir Mean Std. Deviation a7 4.8075 .39476 a8 4.6759 .46863 a9 4.6156 .48707 a10 4.6125 .48779 a11 4.7825 .41306 a12 4.4175 .49376 Overal after 4.6503 .22363 Fig 10. Mean Satisfaction levels before and after implementation of As the above table shows, the averages for the six questions Six Sigma in the Pre-test questionnaire were respectively 3.58, 3.41, 3.27, 3.33, 3.21 and 3.71 The corresponding figures after the project were respectively 4.80, 4.67, 4.61, 4.61, 4.78 and 4.41. E. Enhancement of Customer Satisfaction One of the critical factors in customer satisfaction is TABLE 3. PAIRED TEST COMPARING THE MEAN RESPONSES BEFORE AND AFTER guaranteed net weight and the standard filled amount (3.785 IMPLEMENTATION litre or one gallon). This is achieved by incorporating a Paired Differences Sig. magnetic weight tester after the seamer. If a can weighs less Std. Std. Error t df Mean (2-tailed) than the standard, the magnet prevents it from moving towards Deviation Mean Pair 1 a1-a7 -1.22500 1.03055 .05153 -23.774 399 .000 the packer and the production line stops completely. This Pair 2 a2-a8 -1.25628 1.03814 .05204 -24.142 397 .000 stoppage is necessary to prevent piling up and crippling of Pair 3 a3-a9 -1.34673 1.10432 .05535 -24.329 397 .000 cans. Pair 4 a4-a10 -1.28000 1.06510 .05325 -24.035 399 .000 Another critical factor is the prevention of leakage from the Pair 5 a5-a11 -1.56750 1.08784 .05439 -28.818 399 .000 filled and packed cans. To ensure this, after the packer, a Pair 6 a6-a12 -.70250 1.13676 .05684 -12.360 399 .000 shrink device was introduced to seal the cans with a plastic

layer and an air vacuum. This prevented any possible leakage

affecting other cartons while in storage during the quarantine

333 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE) period. In this way the defective carton could be separated REFERENCES from the others. [1] Antony, J. and Banuelas, R. (2002), “Key ingredients for the effective Dust and impurities in filled cans are also critical factors implementation of Six Sigma program”, Measuring Business affecting customer satisfaction. To prevent this, the cans were Excellence, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 20-7. [2] Armitage, A. and Keeble-Allen, D. (2007), “Measuring organizational kept upside down by a vertical conveyor before filling, so that success”, Quality World, pp. 32-5. air pressure could remove any dust and dirt out of the can. [3] Asif, S. and Sargeant, A. (2000), “Modelling internal communications in the financial services sector”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 299-317. IV. CONCLUSION [4] Bitner, M.J., Booms, B. and Mohr, L.A. (1994), “Critical service Six Sigma programs have been utilized as a structured encounters: the employee’s viewpoint”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, methodology to improve organizational processes. With their pp. 95-106. [5] Breyfogle III, F., Cupello, J. and Meadows, B. (2001), Managing Six focus on the viewpoint of customers, they systematically Sigma - A Practical Guide to Understanding, Assessing, and translate critical-to-quality characteristics into improvement Implementing the Strategy That Yields Bottom-Line Success, New projects. While it has been argued that Six Sigma programs York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [6] Chow, A.F., Treena Gillespie Finney and Kelly C. Woodford. (2010), enable firms to become more ambidextrous through their dual Training design and transfer: contributions of Six Sigma Department of focus on efficiency (exploitation) and innovation (exploration) Management, Mitchell College of Business, International Journal of review of the literature on process management reveals that Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 59 No. 7, pp. 624- 640. they may impede the ability of the firm for radical innovation, [7] Heskett, J.L., Jones, T.O., Loveman, G.W., Sasser, W.E. Jr and forcing the firm to pursue the current technological trajectory. Schlesinger, L.A. (1994), “Putting the service profit chain to work”, In addition, as firms heavily capitalize on their Six Sigma Harvard Business Review, March/April, pp. 105-11. [8] Jain, S.K. and Gupta, G. (2004). Measuring Service Quality: programs, their ability in indentifying, monitoring, and SERVQUAL vs. SERVPERF Scales, VIKALPA, Volume 29, No 2, understanding the needs of their future customers may be April - June 2004, pp 25-37. paralyzed. [9] Javier Llore´ns-montes, F. & LUIS M. MOLINA, (2006). Six Sigma and Management Theory: Processes, Content and Effectiveness, Total To get the best out of Six Sigma programs, organizations Quality Management, Vol. 17, No. 4, 485–506, May, Department of need to carefully address the needs of their current customers Management, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. while monitoring the formation of new markets and/or [10] Jones, T.O. and Sasser, W.E. Jr (1995), “Why satisfied customers customers. In its current form, Six Sigma programs do not defect”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73 No. 6, pp. 88-99. [11] Lalovic, M. (2002). An ABET Assessment Model Using Six Sigma guarantee a sustainable competitive advantage for the firms Methodology. Ph.D. thesis of Department ofMechanical, Industrial and due to their focus on existing processes, products, and Nuclear Engineering of the College of Engineering, University of customers. This is due to the fact that they have not been Cincinnati. [12] Levesque, T. and McDougall, G.H.G. (1996), “Determinants of developed to address radical improvement in organizational customer satisfaction in retail banking”, International Journal of Bank processes and routines. There is no doubt that organizations Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 12-20. can benefit from Six Sigma programs; however, such benefits [13] Mellat Parast, M. (2010), “The effect of Six Sigma projects of innovation and firm performance, International Journal of are not sustainable until Six Sigma programs develop Management, Vol. xxx, pp. xxx-xxx. mechanisms to address product innovation, pattern of change [14] Miskelly, H. (2009), “Improving Customer Satisfaction With Lean Six in customer base, and environmental uncertainty while Sigma, IOMA Broadcaster. [15] Nadiri, H., Kandampully, J. and Hussain, K. (2009). Zone of tolerance improving organizational processes. for banks: a diagnostic model of service quality, The Service Industries The DMAIC cycle being the basis of the proposed Journal, 29: 11, pp. 1547-1564. methodology, the phases were implemented in order of define, [16] Nagel, P. and Cilliers, W. (1990), “Customer satisfaction: a comprehensive approach”, International Journal of Physical measure, analyze, improve and control. Each phase used Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 2-46. different tools and various techniques as required. [17] Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988). SERVQUAL: Therefore, The average value of customer satisfaction was A Multiple-Item Scale For Measuring Consumer Perceptions Of measured and derived as 66.3% based on a five point Liekert Service Quality, Journal Of Retailing, Spring, Volume 64, Number 1, pp. 12- 40. scale and before improvement and 94.5% after it. [18] Porter, M.E. (1985), Competitive Advantage, The Free Press, New York, NY. TABLE 5. [19] Strauss, B., Chojnacki, K., Decker, A. and Hoffman, F. (2001), COMPARISON OF CRITERIA BEFORE AND AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF “Retention effects of a customer club”, International Journal of Service PROPOSED METHODOLOGY Industry Management, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 7-19. Criteria Before After [20] Teck-Yong, Eng, (2011), Six Sigma: insights from organizational Process capability in canning innovativeness and market orientation, International Journal of Quality (considering 1.5σ shift from the 0.6 0.9 & Reliability Management Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 252-262. process mean) [21] Westbrook, R. and Oliver, R. (1991), “The dimensionality of consumption emotion patterns and consumer satisfaction”, Journal of Process capability in filling Consumer Research, Vol. 18, pp. 84-91. (considering 1.5σ shift from the 0.810 1.155 [22] Zairi, M. (2000), “Managing customer satisfaction: a best practice process mean) perspective”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 389-94. Customer satisfaction 66.3% 94.5% [23] Zeithaml, V.A. (1988). Consumer Perception of Price, Quality and Value: A Means end Model and Synthesis of Evidence, Journal of marketing, 52, pp. 2-22. [24] Zineldin, M. 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334 International Conference on Metallurgical, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering (ICMMME'2012) December 26-27, 2012 Dubai (UAE)

Continuous Improvement of Integrated HSE and Maintenance and Repair by Multivariate Analysis

Ali. Azadeh, Mahboobe. Madine, Sara. Motevali Haghighi, Ebrahim. Mirzaei rad

equipment. On the other hand, if the equipments are not Abstract—The two subjects of “Maintenance and Repair” and maintained properly, the organization may face more frequent “Health, Safety, and Environment” have been individually equipment failures and more delays in work processes [3]. investigated several times in different studies. However, few studies Misalignment between human and machine could sacrifice have been done to integrate these two systems and provide an safety. Inappropriate design of system results in management integrated system for their implementation. In this study, there have mistakes. Management mistakes and workplace injuries lead to been efforts to improve the current Maintenance and Repair and HSE systems of Gas Transmission Company in an integrated way, human errors and safety problems which in turn adversely through using mathematical and statistical multivariate analysis affect the environment [4]. In “assessing safety culture in methods such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Principal offshore environments”, Cox and Cheyne (2000) provided a Component Analysis (PCA). First, by using the so-mentioned methodology for evaluating the safety culture of organizations methods, Decision Making Units (DMUs) are examined and ranked. based on a systems approach to safety culture [5]. Fitzgerald This is done through investigating and measuring their efficiencies by (2005) introduced an approach to safety climate assessment, using multivariate analysis methods, and identifying the inefficient by which one could identify the safety culture of the and less-efficient units. Since an increase in the number of inputs organization and improve its safety condition. The proposed does not lead to an increase in the number of outputs with the same Indicators are leadership and commitment; employee scale, an output-oriented DEA with a Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) is used. The Fuzzy DEA (FDEA) is also used in this research communication, education; employee engagement in safety to decrease uncertainty existing in qualitative indicators and human process improvement; employee responsibilities; risk-taking error. Finally, suggestions are given to improve those DMUs. The behavior; safety performance assessment and enhancement; managers and employees of Tehran Gas Transmission Company and continuous improvement [6]. In their study, Dodsworth et constitute the statistical population of the study. Desk research and al (2007) proposed a model by which the risk associated with questionnaire are the tools used here for gathering the data. any workshop was predicted according to its safety culture indicators. The indicators used by these researchers included: Keywords—Maintenance and Repair; Health, Safety, organizational culture, safety index as an organizational value, Environment (HSE); Integration; Performance Assessment; Data safety practices within the organization, engagement of Envelopment Analysis (DEA); Decision Making Unit (DMU); employees in safety-related activities [7]. In the model Principal Component Analysis (PCA); Fuzzy Data Envelopment proposed by Azadeh et al (2008), a fuzzy expert system was Analysis (FDEA) introduced which evaluated the integrated HSE and ergonomics system and enabled its continuous control and I. INTRODUCTION improvement. In their study, a number of indicators were used SE and maintenance and repair systems are two instances to assess health, safety, environment, and ergonomics [4]. of systems that their implementation can result in Sgouroun et al (2009) proposed three methods for evaluating H significant increase in efficiency and success of safety performance: incident-based, prospective, and holistic. organizations. Shortcomings in implementation of these two In order to assess and compare each of these methods, they systems, if not resulting in failure of the organizations, would considered certain criteria [8]. In a study conducted by lead to adverse consequences with respect to efficiency, Rayman et al (2004), the researchers sought to identify and employee job satisfaction, and social stance of the assess the organizational culture of the maintenance and repair organizations. Based on estimates, the expenses associated departments of two Scandinavian nuclear plants. Both plants with maintenance account for 15-40% of production costs [1], had high levels of reliability because they represented quality [2]. It prolongs machinery life and improves access to performance and low number of job-related accidents. The results showed that the two plants differed entirely in terms of cultural characteristics, but both remarkably considered safety Dr. Ali Azadeh is with Industrial Engineering Department, University of issues. Moreover, in both companies, knowledge sharing, Tehran, Iran (email: [email protected]) -term planning, and prediction of future conditions were Mahboobe Madine is with Industrial Engineering Department, University of Tehran, Iran (email: [email protected]) identified as important factors in maintenance process [9]. Sara Motevali Haghighi is with Industrial Engineering Department, Ebrahimipour et al (2007) proposed a framework to rank the University of Tehran, Iran (email: [email protected]) performance of power plant units based on machineries Ebrahim Mirzaei rad is with Iranian Gas Transfer Company, Tehran, Iran.

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