Title of the project report

A study on Implementing the Lean Six Sigma Framework in a Small Medium Enterprise (SME) with
special reference to Praga Tools

Objective and introduction –

Small Medium Enterprise (SME) is facing the pressure from its competitors; mainly large companies as
they could provide products of greater value with lower cost as compared to SMEs. This paper is about
implementing the newly integrated quality concept; Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in a SME company and the
implementation of the LSS framework is shown in the case study. The LSS framework proposed in this
paper is different from other LSS framework based on other initial studies in terms of the focus of LSS
implementation in SMEs only. This paper contributes towards the research upon a structured
implementation of LSS in SMEs where it addresses the issues faced by previous works regarding LSS
implementation in SMEs.

My objective of this study will be about implementing the newly integrated quality concept; Lean Six
Sigma (LSS) in a SME company and the implementation of the LSS framework is shown in the case study.

Problem statement -

Unlike large organizations, SMEs did not get enough attention for implementation of manufacturing
methodologies and technologies this field to fill that gap by providing a framework for manufacturing
organization’s and professionals that can be used to facilitate implementation of lean. The lean six sigma
methodology presented by Shamou and Arunachalam (2009) is chosen as the favourite methodology
that the framework will be based on because of its advantage over traditional lean.

Small Medium Enterprise (SME) is facing the pressure from its competitors; mainly large companies as
they could provide products of greater value with lower cost as compared to SMEs. The label printing
industry is competitive, where each company will strive to provide their products with lower cost and
lower lead time. In order to compete at such level, a company should be operating with as minimal
waste as possible. In order words, the production of the company should strive towards operating at six
sigma level and aiming towards lean. The company in this case study is unable to cope with demands,
leading to unsatisfied customer with late delivery of products. The company too is unable to receive
orders which are urgent; reducing the number of customers in the company. While it is obvious that the
problem is the inability to cope with demands, the root cause towards the problem is yet to be
identified. Solving the root cause of the problem will reduce the probability of the same problem to
occur again. To determine the root cause of the problem, data regarding the label printing production
has to be collected and analyse in the next phase. Collection of data includes data regarding products,
capacities and capabilities of the label printing production and process flow. Collection of data is carried
out based on observation in the production line, discussion with the manager, supervisor and operator
of the label printing section and time study. There is a lack of written data regarding the production in
SME because their focus is to keep on producing to cope with demand, while lacking personnel to lead
quality management initiative in the production. These data are crucial to gain insights of the current
production of label printing. It has to be understood as well that label printing only requires one printing
machine for one job order; and each job order varies according to the types of ink, labels and printed
words. Each type of machine has its own capabilities and job orders are scheduled for each machine
according to the machine’s capabilities and the job order requirements. Table 1 shows the summary of
capabilities of all five (5) printing machines in the label printing section.

Research and methodology –

This part of the study deals with the methodological approach used in this project report with a focus on
the scientific perspectives, research strategy, and scientific approach. Other areas considered include
the sampling selection, ways through which the data were collected and analyzed and lastly the
scientific credibility of this project report.

Scientific Approach

A case study adopts either the inductive, deductive, or the abductive approaches. In between these two
extremes is the abductive approach which Dubois and Gadde (2002) termed the systematic combining.

Scientific Approach of this Project report

For this project report, the abductive research approach is used although with a stronger emphasis on
the deductive approach. As one of the main requirements in this project report is to contribute to
existing theories, I will combined both the deductive and the inductive approaches.

Sampling selection

Eisenhardt (1989) argue that selecting of cases is a major aspect of building theory from case studies as
notion of the population is fundamental. The author stressed that population forms the bases from
which the research sample can be drawn and that it delineates extraneous variation and outlines the
extent for generalization of the results.

Sampling selection of this Project report

The cases for this project report have been selected in other to be able to respond to the research
questions. In selecting the sample I considered the type of industry “production industries” I want to
focus on, whether they are small, medium or large sized organization, and how long they have been
using lean.
Data Collection

Yin (2003) enumerated six different ways through which data are collected for a case study type of
research, namely documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant-
observation, and physical artefacts. In this type of study more than data source is recommended
however Yin (2003) suggest the use of interview methods is one of the most important source of
gathering information in case study. According to the author conducting a case study interview requires
the interviewer to maintain two distinct levels simultaneously: one is satisfying the purpose of the
interview and the other is asking questions that do not pose any form of threat or inconvenience to the
respondent.

Data analysis methods

Data analysis according to Eisenhardt (1989) asserts that it is the main part I building theory from case
studies, in her view it is the trickiest part but less coding is required. According to the author there are
two steps of analysis namely cross case and within case analysis.

Data analysis of this Project report

Based on the interviews session with the case companies, the information collected will be transcribed
accordingly to identify the types of production wastes evident and the performance management
systems currently in use in each of the companies.

References will be used

Ahmed, S., Hassan, M.H., and Taha, Z., 2004. State of implementation of TPM in SMIs: a survey study in
Malaysia. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, 10 (2), 93–106. Antony, J., 2004. Six Sigma in
the UK service organisations: results from a pilot survey. Managerial Auditing Journal, 19 (8), 1006–
1013. Antony, J. and Banuelas, R., 2002. Key ingredients for the effective implementation of Six Sigma
program. Measuring Business Excellence, 6 (4), 20–27.