DOCSLIB.ORG

A DMAIC Framework for Improving Software Quality in Organizations: Case Study at RK Company Team Composition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A DMAIC Framework for Improving Software Quality in Organizations: Case Study at RK Company Team Composition MCGILL UNIVERSITY Montreal, Quebec September 20 – 21, 2016 A DMAIC Framework for Improving Software Quality in Organizations: Case Study at RK Company Team Composition • Racha Karout • Anjali Awasthi Outline 1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Problem Definition 1.3 Research Objectives 2. Literature Review 3. Solution Approach 4. Conclusions and Future Works 1.1 Background • To compete in today‘s world, every business needs to improve. • Software has increasingly become a critical component in many industries (telecoms, banking, insurance, … etc.). • Software quality is crucial and poor quality is not acceptable. • Software development has not been consistently successful. What is Software Quality? • Software quality is the degree to which a system, component or process meets specified requirements, in other words, the degree to which a system, component or process meets customer or user needs or expectation (IEEE, 1991). • The software should not have bugs that reduce the quality attributes (functionality, reliability, usability and maintainability) (Chang et al., 2006). • There should not be issues that affect its ability to maintain or re-establish its level of performance. • Easy to use and maintain. 1.2 Problem Definition • In today’s market competition and the need for rapid delivery, software quality is often sacrificed, leading to the failure of the software project • The use of traditional methodology (waterfall) with the current market pace, continuous change of customer requirements and rapid development of technology plays a major role in poor software quality. • People jump to solutions without fully understanding the problem or finding the root cause of poor quality. 1.3 Research Objectives 1. Improve software quality in organizations. 2. Identify the root cause(s) of the problems that result in poor quality. 3. Identify improvement opportunities based on the root cause(s) of poor quality. 4. Show how companies can control their processes to ensure the improvements applied are directing the project to the expected level of quality. 2. Literature Review • Six Sigma • Common Software Quality Problems • Software Development Processes • Kanban • Test Automation • Metrics and Reports • Research Gaps 2.1 Six Sigma • Is a business process improvement approach that seeks to find and eliminate causes of defects and errors, reduce cycle times and cost of operations (Evans & Lindsay, 2005) • It is based on a simple problem solving methodology – “DMAIC” (Hung & Sung, 2011) • Quality principles and six sigma: 1. Focus on customers 2. Participation and teamwork 3. A process focus supported by continuous improvement. 2.2 DMAIC Framework • Define: clearly define the problem • Measure: gather facts, collect data and observations and measure the internal process. • Analyze: identify the root cause(s) of the problems and focus on why defects occur. • Improve: generate and implement ideas for improving or resolving the problem. • Control: focus on maintaining the improvements. 2.3 Common Software Quality Problems • During project implementation both technology and business environment change. This leads to products that do not meet the needs of customers. (Williams & Cockburn, 2003) • Customers are only involved during requirement collecting in traditional software development (Hossain et al., 2013), while in today’s market demand, customer requirements continuously change. • In the traditional plan-driven software development process, work is coordinated by managers (Moe et al., 2010), thus giving software development team less control (Stankovic et al., 2013) • When developers and testers do not develop a shared mental model, they will not work together to address the project issues (Yu & Petter, 2014). • Late discovery of bugs in the traditional software model leads to an increased cost to fix the faults (Monassar & Govardhan, 2010) 2.4 Software Development Processes - Waterfall Requirement Analysis System Design Implementation Testing Deployment Maintenance 2.5 Software Development Processes – Agile • Agile promotes quick response to changing environments, change in user requirements and accelerated deadlines (Eriksson et al., 2005). • It focuses on four core values 1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. 2. Working software over comprehensive documentation. 3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. 4. Responding to change over following a plan (Dyba & Dingsoyr, 2008). How can agile techniques enhance software quality • System metaphor: It is helpful for communication between the team members and users. It enhances maintainability, efficiency, reliability and flexibility. • Architectural spike: It helps to determine and test potential architecture. It enhances correctness. • Onsite customer feedback: It helps developers refine and correct requirements. It enhances responsiveness to changing customer requirements. • Refactoring: It improves software quality factors such as efficiency, reliability and testability. • Pair programming: It improves design quality factors such as correctness, verifiability and testability and reduce defects. • Stand-up-meeting: It improves software reliability and flexibility. • Continuous integration: It improves integrity, usability and testability. • Acceptance testing: It improves testability. Agile Methods - Scrum 2.6 What is Kanban System? • Number of cards equivalent to the capacity of a system are placed in circulation. • It is a pull system as new work is pulled into the system when there is capacity to handle it, rather than being pushed. • The core properties that Kanban uses are: 1. Visualize workflow 2. Limit work in progress 3. Measure and manage flow 4. Make process policies explicit (Anderson, 2010) 2.7 Test Automation • It is the process of writing a computer program to do testing. Once test have been automated, they can be run quickly and repeatedly (Hooda, 2012) • Benefits of test automation: Defects can be found at an early stage. Can discover defects that manual testing can’t find. Helps increase test coverage. Helps increase management confidence in the software. It executes significantly faster than human users. Can be reused to test different versions with different configurations or platforms. With increased test coverage, more bugs are prevented from escaping to production which in turn reduces cost radically. Can be considered as a safety net for developers especially in case of necessary code refactoring. 2.8 Metrics and management Reporting • The purpose is to show that the system is predictable, the organization exhibits business agility, and there is focus on flow, and there is clear development of continuous improvement • Some of the metrics that can be used: • Tracking work-in-progress • Lead time • Throughput • Defect removal efficiency • DRE=E/E+D 2.9 Research Gaps • Subramanian et al. (2007) conducted a study that examines how CMM and the IS implementation strategies impact software quality and project performance. They mentioned a limitation in their study that is focused primarily on CMM and mentioned other methods such as Total Quality Management and Six Sigma could also be considered in empirical research. • Card (2004) argued the need for more academic research in software process improvement methods. • However, this thesis focuses on using six sigma DMAIC framework to improve software quality in organizations and as a consequence ensures the success of the software project. 3. Solution Approach • ‘RK’ Company Description • Define Phase • Measure Phase • Analysis Phase • Improvement Phase • Control Phase DMAIC - Tools Phase Technique Define CTQs SIPOC diagram Measure Pareto charts Analyze 5-Why technique Cause and effect Interrelationship diagram Improve QFD Control Measurement metrics 4.‘RK’ Company and DMAIC • One of the fast growing software companies in Canada (Medium size) • DMAIC is applied to one of the biggest and core projects • The project has been in development for the past few years. • Waterfall methodology. • Team consists of: • Six sub development teams • System test team (test the product manually) • Test automation team (Current focus is to create test tools for the project) • Data collection: • Interviews conducted with development manager and QA manager. • Production bugs were collected from the reporting system and classified by type, severity and seasonality. 4.1 DMAIC – Define Phase - CTQs • Critical to quality (CTQs): are what the customer expect of a product or service. • The most important quality attributes for the project under study are: • Security • Reliability • Assurance • Efficiency • Maintainability DMAIC – Define Phase – SIPOC Diagram Supplier Input Process Output Customer Organization Test Manager Tool Create manual test cases for new planned features New feature test suite Project manager QA team High level requirements Execute test cases for each fully implemented new feature New feature test results document (HLR) Development QA manager Report bugs for new features List of identified bugs for new feature manager System requirements document Development team Verify bug fixes for new features Modified build after bug fixes QA manager Project stable build Development manager Retest all new features when all new planned features are Regression test results Organization Testing Tools fully implemented. Project manager Updated test cases Testing environment Perform regression testing Updated regression test suite to include Test plan Report bugs found in regression priority one test cases
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Improving Performance of Epidemic Healthcare Management During COVID-19 Outbreak Using LSS DMAIC Approach: a Case Study for Bangladesh Aquib Irteza Reshad, Md
    Proceedings of the 5th NA International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, Detroit, Michigan, USA, August 10 - 14, 2020 Improving Performance of Epidemic Healthcare Management during COVID-19 Outbreak using LSS DMAIC Approach: A Case Study for Bangladesh Aquib Irteza Reshad, Md. Mozibur Rahman and Naquib Mahmud Chowdhury Department of Industrial and Production Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology(BUET) Dhaka-1000 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract The recent outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed the weakness of the existing healthcare facilities in developing countries like Bangladesh. The increasing amount of patients has made this condition more vulnerable. There is a high possibility that, these increasing amount of symptomatic patients might create a shortage in RT-PCR test kits in upcoming days. The objective of this study is to use Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) in improving the epidemic healthcare management system during the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh. The goal of this study is to use LSS methodology, especially the DMAIC improvement format in the existing dedicated healthcare management system for coronavirus treatment. The root cause analysis behind the higher response time and improper service for the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), and other dedicated healthcare providers regarding, coronavirus treatment in the current situation has been performed. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) was conducted in order to assess the potential failure modes in the existing healthcare management system. A simulation study regarding the implementation of pooled testing in Bangladesh for improving efficiency and optimizing the usage of RT-PCR test kits has also been carried out.
    [Show full text]
  • Statistical Process Control for Monitoring Nonlinear Profiles: a Six Sigma Project on Curing Process
    This is the author’s final, peer-reviewed manuscript as accepted for publication. The publisher-formatted version may be available through the publisher’s web site or your institution’s library. Statistical process control for monitoring nonlinear profiles: a six sigma project on curing process Shing I. Chang, Tzong-Ru Tsai, Dennis K. J. Lin, Shih-Hsiung Chou, & Yu-Siang Lin How to cite this manuscript If you make reference to this version of the manuscript, use the following information: Chang, S. I., Tsai, T., Lin, D. K. J., Chou, S., & Lin, Y. (2012). Statistical process control for monitoring nonlinear profiles: A six sigma project on curing process. Retrieved from http://krex.ksu.edu Published Version Information Citation: Chang, S. I., Tsai, T., Lin, D. K. J., Chou, S., & Lin, Y. (2012). Statistical process control for monitoring nonlinear profiles: A six sigma project on curing process. Quality Engineering, 24(2), 251-263. Copyright: Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi:10.1080/08982112.2012.641149 Publisher’s Link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08982112.2012.641149 This item was retrieved from the K-State Research Exchange (K-REx), the institutional repository of Kansas State University. K-REx is available at http://krex.ksu.edu Statistical Process Control for Monitoring Nonlinear Profiles: A Six Sigma Project on Curing Process Shing I Chang1, Tzong‐Ru Tsai2, Dennis K.J. Lin3, Shih‐Hsiung Chou1 & Yu‐Siang Lin4 1Quality Engineering Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Kansas State University, USA 2Department of Statistics, Tamkang University, Danshui District, New Taipei City 25137 Taiwan 3Department of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University, USA 4Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan ABSTRACT Curing duration and target temperature are the most critical process parameters for high- pressure hose products.
    [Show full text]
  • Operational Excellence
    Chapter 6 Operational Excellence ©2016 Montgomery County Community College Objectives This chapter provides an introduction to the role that Operational Excellence (OPEX or OE) plays in the continuous improvement of biomanufacturing operations. The chapter is not intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to every quality improvement, but rather as an overview of tools and techniques which illustrate many of the basic principles of Statistical Process Control (SPC). SPC is a methodology that uses statistical tools and analysis to monitor variations in a process in order to manage and control it. After completing this chapter the student will be able to: describe a process identify potential sources of waste in a process define when a process is “in control” versus “out of control” explain the simple tools used in Lean and Six Sigma improvement methodology list the steps in a Six Sigma process improvement select and apply general Lean Six Sigma tools to simulated problems recognize deployment challenges to OEX strategies 28 Chapter 6 - Operational Excellence Terms 5S (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain): a workplace discipline used to ensure reliable work practices and a clean working environment; used in the West but originally from Japan. The term 5S is derived from the original Japanese usage of S-prefix words: Seiri, Seition, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. Andon: a visual management tool and component of the lean philosophy; these are lights placed on or adjacent to machines or production lines to indicate operation status. Correlation: a statistical relation between two or more variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other.
    [Show full text]
  • Lean Six Sigma Rapid Cycle Improvement Agenda
    Lean Six Sigma Rapid Cycle Improvement Agenda 1. History of Lean and Six Sigma 2. DMAIC 3. Rapid Continuous Improvement – Quick Wins – PDSA – Kaizen Lean Six Sigma Lean Manufacturing Six Sigma (Toyota Production System) DMAIC • T.I.M.W.O.O.D • PROJECT CHARTER • 5S • FMEA • SMED • PDSA/PDCA • TAKT TIME • SWOT • KAN BAN • ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS • JUST IN TIME • FMEA • ANDON • SIPOC • KAIZEN • PROCESS MAP • VALUE STREAM MAP • STATISTICAL CONTROLS Process Improvement 3 Lean Manufacturing • Lean has been around a long time: – Pioneered by Ford in the early 1900’s (33 hrs from iron ore to finished Model T, almost zero inventory but also zero flexibility!) – Perfected by Toyota post WWII (multiple models/colors/options, rapid setups, Kanban, mistake-proofing, almost zero inventory with maximum flexibility!) • Known by many names: – Toyota Production System – Just-In-Time – Continuous Flow • Outwardly focused on being flexible to meet customer demand, inwardly focused on reducing/eliminating the waste and cost in all processes Six Sigma • Motorola was the first advocate in the 80’s • Six Sigma Black Belt methodology began in late 80’s/early 90’s • Project implementers names includes “Black Belts”, “Top Guns”, “Change Agents”, “Trailblazers”, etc. • Implementers are expected to deliver annual benefits between $500,000 and $1,000,000 through 3-5 projects per year • Outwardly focused on Voice of the Customer, inwardly focused on using statistical tools on projects that yield high return on investment DMAIC Define Measure Analyze Improve Control • Project Charter • Value Stream Mapping • Replenishment Pull/Kanban • Mistake-Proofing/ • Process Constraint ID and • Voice of the Customer • Value of Speed (Process • Stocking Strategy Zero Defects Takt Time Analysis and Kano Analysis Cycle Efficiency / Little’s • Process Flow Improvement • Standard Operating • Cause & Effect Analysis • SIPOC Map Law) • Process Balancing Procedures (SOP’s) • FMEA • Project Valuation / • Operational Definitions • Analytical Batch Sizing • Process Control Plans • Hypothesis Tests/Conf.
    [Show full text]
  • Using DMAIC in Improvement of Customer Satisfaction and Facilities Provided at Commuter Stations
    International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 2016, Vol. 6, No. 12 ISSN: 2222-6990 Using DMAIC in Improvement of Customer Satisfaction and Facilities provided at Commuter Stations Roslina Mustapha1, Nurul Fadly Habidin2 1Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia 2Department of Management and Leadership, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/6-i12/2564 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v6-i12/2564 Abstracts This paper discusses the use of six sigma approach to improvement of customer service and facilities at commuter stations. The management of commuter stations should be sensitive to the needs and desires of the passengers. In this study, DMAIC approach taking into accounts the views of the customer (VOC) to the dissatisfaction of commuter services and facilities available at commuter stations. Keywords: Six sigma, DMAIC, customer satisfaction, business management 1. Introduction The performance of a business, whether private or public sector is depends on customer satisfaction. For commuter service almost 20 years of presence in Malaysia, there are still some problems, especially to people with disabilities (PWDs) who want to use the commuter service. Using the six-sigma approach is one way to solve the problem of quality of service. Problem solving is an activity to change what is actually happening to what is supposed to happen (Evans & Lindsay, 2007). People with disabilities are not left behind in the services for commuters as it is one of the convenient public transports, safe and cheap.
    [Show full text]
  • Six Sigma – a New Direction to Quality and Productivity Management
    Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2008 WCECS 2008, October 22 - 24, 2008, San Francisco, USA Six Sigma – A New Direction to Quality and Productivity Management Tushar N. Desai and Dr. R. L. Shrivastava Abstract - The fast changing economic conditions such as global competition, declining profit margin, customer demand B. Six Sigma for high quality product, product variety and reduced lead– Six Sigma is considered as a methodology of time etc. had a major impact on manufacturing industries. To implementing TQM. Six Sigma is an innovative approach to respond to these needs various industrial engineering and continuous process improvement and a TQM methodology. quality management strategies such as ISO 9000, Total Quality Since quality improvement is the prime ingredient of TQM, Management, Kaizen, Just–in–time manufacturing, Enterprise adding a Six Sigma program to the company’s current Resource Planning, Business Process Reengineering, Lean business system covers almost all the elements of TQM. Six management etc. have been developed. A new paradigm in this area of manufacturing strategies is Six Sigma. The Six Sigma Sigma has become a much broader umbrella compared to approach has been increasingly adopted world wide in the TQM. manufacturing sector in order to enhance productivity and Six Sigma Philosophy quality performance and to make the process robust to quality Six Sigma is a business performance improvement variations. strategy that aims to reduce the number of mistakes/defects This paper discusses the quality and productivity improvement in a manufacturing enterprise through a case to as low as 3.4 occasions per million opportunities.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview of DMAIC
    ST 435/535 Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement / Statistical Process Control Overview of DMAIC DMAIC is a \structured problem-solving procedure" closely connected to Six Sigma. Its five steps are: Define opportunities; Measure performance; Analyze opportunity; Improve performance; Control performance. 1 / 22 The DMAIC Process Overview of DMAIC ST 435/535 Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement / Statistical Process Control The Define step The Define step is largely non-statistical. Objectives Identify and validate the business improvement opportunity; Define critical customer requirements; Document processes; Establish project charter, build team. 2 / 22 The DMAIC Process The Define Step ST 435/535 Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement / Statistical Process Control The Measure step The Measure step involves various statistical contributions. Objectives Determine what to measure; Develop and validate measurement systems; Manage measurement data collection; Determine Sigma performance level. 3 / 22 The DMAIC Process The Measure Step ST 435/535 Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement / Statistical Process Control Deciding what to measure is sometimes straightforward (e.g. diameter of a shaft); often, however, a system or process can be characterized in many ways, and choosing one as a focus is a non-trivial decision. Similarly, how to measure it may be a serious decision. In some cases, there may be: a cheap and easy but imprecise method; a more expensive but precise method. The Measure step includes collecting baseline data: the performance of the system before improvement. 4 / 22 The DMAIC Process The Measure Step ST 435/535 Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement / Statistical Process Control The Analyze step The Analyze step is inherently statistical.
    [Show full text]
  • A Six Sigma DMAIC and Simulation Case Study Peter Southard University of St
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of St. Thomas, Minnesota University of St. Thomas, Minnesota UST Research Online Operations and Supply Chain Management Faculty Operations and Supply Chain Management Publications 2012 RFID in Healthcare: A Six Sigma DMAIC and Simulation Case Study Peter Southard University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, [email protected] Chandra Cheru University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Sameer Kumar University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.stthomas.edu/ocbopmtpub Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, and the Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons Recommended Citation Southard, Peter; Cheru, Chandra; and Kumar, Sameer, "RFID in Healthcare: A Six Sigma DMAIC and Simulation Case Study" (2012). Operations and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications. 12. http://ir.stthomas.edu/ocbopmtpub/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Operations and Supply Chain Management at UST Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Operations and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UST Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Article Title Page RFID in Healthcare: A Six Sigma DMAIC and Simulation Case Study Author Details Peter B. Southard Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA Charu Chandra Department of Management Studies, University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI, USA Sameer Kumar Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN, USA Corresponding author: Sameer Kumar Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected] Structured Abstract Purpose: Develop a business model to generate quantitative evidence of the benefits of implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology limiting the scope to outpatient surgical processes in hospitals.
    [Show full text]
  • Application of Six Sigma Using DMAIC Methodology in the Process of Product Quality Control in Metallurgical Operation
    DOI: 10.1515/ata-2017-0020 Lenka GIRMANOVÁ et al. Acta Technologica Agriculturae 4/2017 Acta Technologica Agriculturae 4 Nitra, Slovaca Universitas Agriculturae Nitriae, 2017, pp. 104–109 APPLICATION OF SIX SIGMA USING DMAIC METHODOLOGY IN THE PROCEss Of PROduCT QuaLITY CONTROL IN METALLURGICAL OPERATION Lenka GIRMANOVÁ*, Marek ŠOLC, Juraj KLIMENT, Adriana DIVOKOVÁ, Vojtech MIKLOŠ Technical University of Košice, Košice, Slovak Republic The Six Sigma DMAIC can be considered a guide for problem solving and product or process improvement. The majority of companies start to implement Six Sigma using the DMAIC methodology. The paper deals with application of Six Sigma using the DMAIC methodology in the process of product quality control. The case study is oriented on the field of metallurgical operations. The goal of the Six Sigma project was to ensure the required metallurgic product quality and to avoid an increase in internal costs associated with poor product quality. In this case study, a variety of tools and techniques like flow chart, histogram, Pareto diagram, analysis of FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) data, cause and effect diagram, logical analysis was used. The Sigma level has improved by approximately 13%. The achieved improvements have helped to reduce the quantity of defective products and the processing costs (technology for re-adjusting). Benefits resulting from the DMAIC implementation can be divided into three levels: the qualitative, economic and safety level. Keywords: DMAIC methodology; Six Sigma; product quality control; root cause; quality improvement As competition grows stronger, the providing of quality cases, some authors argue that the main benefits that an products and services has become a competitive advantage organisation can gain from applying Six Sigma are: cost and a need to ensure survival in this era of globalisation reduction, cycle time improvements, defect elimination, (Jirasukprasert et al., 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • KAIZEN TOPS/8D's DMAIC/DMADV
    KAIZEN TOPS/8D’s DMAIC/DMADV 70 GLEN ROAD, CRANSTON, RI 02920 T: 401-461-1118 | F: 401-461-1119 www.tedco-inc.com Kaizen literally means to break apart or separate for the better. Kai Zen The word itself has been “Kaizened” to change for the better. 2 Kaizen is a system that involves every employee - from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. At Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, a total of 60 to 70 suggestions per employee per year are written down, shared and implemented. 3 In most cases these are not ideas for major changes. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste. Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such as production or marketing. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere that improvements can be made. -Western philosophy may be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." -The Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do." 4 Kaizen in Japan is a system of improvement that includes both home and business life. Kaizen even includes social activities. It is a concept that is applied in every aspect of a person's life. In business Kaizen encompasses many of the components of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part of their success.
    [Show full text]
  • Process Improvement Methodology Selection in Manufacturing: a Literature Review Perspective
    International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(3) 2021, Pages: 12-20 Contents lists available at Science-Gate International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences Journal homepage: http://www.science-gate.com/IJAAS.html Process improvement methodology selection in manufacturing: A literature review perspective Ahmed Baha Eddine Aichouni *, Faizir Ramlie, Haslaile Abdullah Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Problems in manufacturing have always been a hurdle for leadership, Received 9 August 2020 engineers, and professionals. They can lead to low productivity, poor quality, Received in revised form high costs, and ultimately loss of customers. Problems should be prevented 28 October 2020 by fair means and following well-established methodologies of continuous Accepted 3 November 2020 process improvement. The present paper addresses this topic, which in both academic and professional literature has been discussed from one single Keywords: angle–that is, how to use a specific methodology in a certain situation. From Process improvement that perspective, researchers from academia and consultancy promote the PDCA use of a particular method. One of the greatest challenges to researchers and DMAIC practitioners in manufacturing is to select the right methodology for 8D problem-solving and process improvement. The present paper attempts to Manufacturing address this issue from a literature review perspective. The approach followed is based on the fact that understanding the attributes of process improvement methodologies reported in the open literature and their linkages to the main phases of the continuous improvement process will provide insights on how the selection of the methodologies can be carried out in real manufacturing situations.
    [Show full text]
  • Process Improvement by Poka-Yoke : a Tool for Zero Defects
    Biz and Bytes (Vol. 9. Issue: 1, March 2018) E-ISSN: 0976 0458, Print ISSN: 2320 897X Process Improvement by Poka-Yoke : A Tool for Zero Defects Yuvika Singh Rupinder Kaur Tiwana Assistant Professor Assistant Professor CBSA, CGC Landran, Mohali CBSA, CGC Landran, Mohali Abstract Every Organization aims to the "zero defects" philosophy which establishes zero error as a goal. This cannot be achieved overnight but can be approached over time by continuosly striving for the increased quality by reducing the errors. So it remains a question in our minds that what kind of techniques are to be adopted to assure zero defects? Poka-Yoke, is one of tool that can be used to achieve manufacturing with zero defects and it has the potential to support the implementation of DMAIC phases of Six Sigma. DMAIC stands for define, measure, analyse, improve and control phases. Several survey & researches were studied by referring to the relevant research papers on applying Poka-Yoke concept in DMAIC phases. It has been pointed out that the Poka- Yoke solutions suggested in these research papers were not actually implemented in real-time scenario. Hence, our research paper is concluded with a suggestion that prospective researchers in several areas can make more efforts to actually implement Poka-Yoke technique in DMAIC phases for achieving the goals of Six Sigma. Keywords: Six Sigma, Poka yoke, Zero defects, Quality control & DMAIC. Introduction The concept of six sigma has s faced a fair degree of criticism, with some arguing that a state of zero defects simply cannot exist. Others have worked hard to prove that “zero defects” in quality management doesn't literally mean perfection, but rather refers to a state where waste is eliminated and defects are reduced.
    [Show full text]