Aligning Lean Six Sigma Strategies With Environmental Challenges

What is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean and six sigma are two different action plans aimed at significantly enhancing a given process. The phrase ‘Lean Six Sigma’ was coined in the 1990s and 2000s to describe the combination of lean and Six Sigma philosophies to provide an integrated strategy for

business performance (Ruben, Vinodh, & Asokan, 2017). Lean six sigma is a systematic team effort-based strategy seeking to ameliorate performance by eliminating waste and defects (Pettersen, 2009). The defects in this context refer to seven kinds of wastes namely; Over-production, waiting, non-utilized talents, transportation, inventory, motion and extra processing. When lean six sigma concepts are successfully implemented, it will help the firm to reduce the variation in process, reduce production lead time and help ensure the business progresses (Salah, Rahim, & Carratero, 2010).

Lean refers to any method that assists in identifying and eliminating wastes in any given process (Hilton & Sohal, 2012). Lean manufacturing refers to a systematic means with which waste is minimized in a manufacturing system without causing a drop in productivity. Lean manufacturing highlights what adds value by reducing everything else that does not add value (Abdul, A, & Sulaima, 2013). From the consumer perspective, value is anything that the consumer is willing to pay for (Forrester , Shimizu , & Soriano-Meier , 2010). Six Sigma on the other hand refers to methods that are used in improving manufacturing processes. The terminology was introduced by an engineer in Motorola in 1986. It is intended at recognizing and removing causative agents of defect and variations in manufacturing and business processes. Six Sigma has DMAIC (stands for define, measure, analyze, improve and control) phases that are used in Lean Six Sigma (Assarlind, Gremyr, & Bäckman, 2012). It refers to a method for improving, optimizing and stabilizing manufacturing and other business processes that is driven by data. It is this combination of Lean and Six Sigma approaches that gives rise to Lean Six Sigma strategy that seeks to achieve a perfectly efficient production system.

With the ever-increasing environmental degradation, the world over, it no longer suffices to only focus on a perfect system where all wastes and defects as regards resources are eliminated. It has become a matter of priority to try and arrest the situation before the world environment is degraded beyond repair and rendered hostile and unfit for our very selves. Therefore, firms should not only aim at implementing Lean Six Sigma strategies but do so with an aim to ensure that the surrounding is not destroyed. This has been the subject of many a debate as well as research work all over the world. Many manufacturing firms all over the world have also heeded the call and are now trying to ensure the environment is well taken care of while at the same time trying to maintain or even improve their production levels.

The Seven Lean Wastes

This report provides a raft of recommendations derived from journal articles of research as well as the case studies of firms that have implemented the Lean Six Sigma strategies around the world to the Australian Paper on how best it can align, deploy and adapt Lean Six Sigma strategies with the current environmental challenges without jeopardizing their business success.

Implementation of lean six sigma alone without any further considerations in itself will by default lead to environmental conservation. This is because lean six sigma aims to eliminate the seven kinds of lean wastes some of which end up directly end up in the environment thus polluting it as the table below will show (U.S Environmental Protection Agency, 2009).

This is an interesting finding that the Australian paper must put into consideration in order to not only achieve a near perfect production system but to ensure a minimally degraded environment along with it. This is because the waste types targeted by lean are the chief causes of environmental pollution around the world. The seven types of wastes are discussed in details in the table below

Table 1: The Seven lean wastes

Type of lean waste	Impact on the environment
Overproduction Is the manufacturing of products which have not been ordered	· More raw materials will be required which could have been saved · The extra products will likely become obsolete thus will be disposed of · Extra chemicals used in production will result into more environmental pollution
Inventory Extra raw materials, work in progress or finished items	· Waste from damage of stored items · More materials to be used in replacing damaged ones
Defects Production of products that are not good enough resulting in rework or defective goods	· Raw materials and energy used in production of defective products is wasted · The defective materials will have to be disposed
Transport Transportation of excess products that are not required at that moment	· Extra unnecessary energy is used for transport · Extra avoidable emissions resulting from the transportation · Products may be damaged during transportation · Transporting hazardous products require special packaging to avert negative consequences during accidents
Motion Are unnecessary or straining human movements	· More space required for movement thus increasing demand for lighting, heating and cooling thus increasing energy usage · Extra packaging required to protect products during movement
Over processing Are steps that are not required to produce the product	· Increases wastes energy use and emissions · More raw materials are used per unit of production
Waiting Are delays as a result of running out of stock, equipment downtime and capacity limitations	· Likelihood of material being spoilt or components being damaged resulting in waste · Energy is wasted as a result of heating, cooling and lighting during production downtime

2Adapted from The U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s professional guide to lean six sigma

There is a need for organizations and firms that are intent on implementing lean six sigma or are currently implementing it to align their views on lean wastes to that of the environmentalists (SCHROEDER, LINDERMAN, LIEDTKE, & CHOO, 2008). Firms implementing the strategy are always intent on maximizing production and profits at minimal cost and not necessarily with a view to protecting the environment. While it has been seen that lean six sigma implementation itself leads to great strides in environmental conservation, leaving it at that is not sufficient as situations can where the firm is producing at an optimum while completely avoidable destruction in the environment is going on (Habiddin & Yusof, 2012). Therefore, the lean practitioner and the environmental manager in the firm need to come up with process specific ways of preventing pollution and minimization of waste in order to ensure optimal productivity and good environmental performance.

There is need for firms to try and integrate environmental aspects to common lean methods like kaizen events, value stream mapping and the 6S (five S + safety) (CAVALLINI, 2008). This can be done by organizing to have some environment, health and safety programs officers attend such events and give insights as well as work with lean leaders in the organizations to come up with ways in which the environmental efforts can be seamlessly integrated with lean six sigma operations within such organizations to ensure the growth of the company as well as a clean environment (Digalwar, Tagalpallewar, & Sunnapwar, 2013). In addition, organizations can organize such events themselves where practitioners from other parts of the world who have successfully implemented lean six sigma synergistically with environmental efforts are invited (Carvalho, Duarte, & Cruz-Machado, 2011). Such events will help the environmental and lean officers within the firms to have practical lessons from the said practitioners on how to effectively handle the issue at hand (Kowansky & Friberg, 2006). Moreover, such contacts can be used for benchmarking purposes where the environmental managers go to the said firms and experiencing for themselves how lean six sigma is integrated with environmental issues first hand rather than practitioners from such firms coming to them to teach them how they should go about their business.

Aligning Lean Six Sigma with Environmental Challenges

There is need for manufacturing firms to increase their funding of EHS activities within the firm to ensure that the destruction on the environment is minimum possible even if the production capacity of the firm is increased (Summers, 2011). At the end of the day, all talk of integrating the current environmental issues with lean six sigma strategies in manufacturing firms if the there are no funds coming from the firms to support such concerns. Therefore, it is not just enough for the to show goodwill towards the solution of environmental issues. They should reciprocate and actually fund the efforts of their environmental managers in trying to come up with an amicable solution to benefit both the environment and the firm without one being left lagging behind (Morgan, John & Brenig-Jones, 2015). Be it research work, benchmarking efforts, attending of seminars and various other events where one can get insights into environmental solutions, the firms should be simply in support of such efforts by ensuring their offices get the necessary funds every time a need for such financial support arises or even allocating part of their yearly expenditure budget to tackle and solve current environmental issues as well as those that are unforeseen that are likely to arise during the financial year.

This is provided in form of a table as shown below. It comprises of firms that were able to realize environmental benefits by implementing lean six sigma even without consideration of the environment and those that consciously took the environment into consideration while implementing lean six sigma. The data is solely obtained from the Environmental Professional Guide to Lean Six Sigma a publication of the United States Environmental protection agency.

Table 3:Companies who have achieved in environmental efforts

Firm	Type of business	Countries where they are found	What they did	Why they did it that way
Toyota Motor company	An automobile manufacturing company	Based in Japan with many branches the world over	They were able to generate competitive advantage by understanding the customers needs in relation to the environment	There was pressing need to try and arrest the ongoing environmental degradation while still maintaining their customer base by continually satisfying their needs
Canyon Creek Cabinet Company	Manufacturer of cabinets	Found in the United States of America	Used a combination of value stream mapping and kaizen events and were able to save almost $1.2 million per year, reduced volatile organic compounds by 55,100 lbs per year and decreased wastes that are hazardous by 84,400 lbs per year.	There arose a need to cut unnecessary expenditures that only made production cost higher but did significantly contribute to the production itself. There was need to cut wastes associated with unnecessary processes in production that only contributed to the destruction of the environment
The Boeing company	Aerospace company making aircrafts	The U.S. A	Improved its resource productivity by between 30 to 70 percent	There was a need to do away with resource underutilization to ensure maximum profits generated from the same resources
Rockwell Collins	An aviation and high integrity solutions company	The U. S. A	Were able to conduct kaizen events that targeted environmental challenges Were able to prepare a checklist for lean teams in order to reduce risk of non-compliance and to encourage pollution prevention	They wanted to reduce the amount of pollution causing substances that emanated from the company They wanted to ensure with the policies of the government on the environment
Goodrich Corporation	American aerospace manufacturing company	The U.S. A	Managed to eliminate the potential for spillage and need to address Clean Air Act risk management planning	There was need to reduce the environmental pollution that results from spillage There was need to comply with an environmental act guaranteeing environmental protection.
General Motors	American vehicle manufacturing company	A multinational based in the U.S. A	Currently receives 95 percent of its parts in reusable containers	There was need to reduce environmental pollution resulting from dumping used parts that cannot be reused or recycled while reusable options were available

4 Courtesy of U.S Environmental protection Agency

From the above literature review and case studies, it is clear that it is possible to integrate lean six sigma strategies with the environmental issues at hand to ensure the good of the environment as well as the profitability and growth of the company.

From the successful cases that have been cited in this report, there is therefore a possibility for the Australian Paper to fully integrate the environmental issues at hand with lean six sigma strategies to ensure its growth as well as take care of the environment. For instance, resource underutilization is an inherent problem in many firms especially manufacturing ones. This results in a lot of wastes that could have completely been done away with. It is therefore encouraging that companies such as Boeing were able to recognize this and act accordingly.

Case Studies of Successful Implementation

From the case study of the Canyon Creek company it is clear that there are a lot of activities going on in manufacturing companies that contributes very little towards the production process but more towards degradation of the environment as demonstrated by Canyon Creek, it is possible to identify such processes and eliminate them. This results in reduced cost as well us saves a lot of destruction to the environment.

 The following are therefore the recommendations that the Australian paper should consider to adopting in order to fully take care of the environment as well as its well being and emerge as a leader and role model in the manufacturing sector of Australia.

First of Australian Paper must consider implementing lean six sigma. As already seen, implementation of the strategy itself leads to a lot of unnecessary waste being eliminated. This goes a long way in ensuring the destruction of the environment is at the minimum possible. This will set the Australian paper apart from its contemporaries in the manufacturing sector as the key driver of the environmental agenda.

Australian Paper needs to increase its funding as well as set aside funds to meet its environmental obligations as well as to help fund its environmental officers’ efforts to create an environment friendly production system for the good of all. It should initiate and fund research initiatives aimed at formulating better and efficient ways of complying with and even improving upon the environmental regulations that are put in place by the Australian government.

On top of trying to implement lean six sigma, Australian Paper should try and align its definition of the seven types of lean wastes with the environmental demands of the country. This will ensure that as the company strives to achieve excellence in production and profits, it will also attempt to take along with it environmental conservation issues to ensure it is not left behind.

Australian paper needs to conduct an audit in its production system and ensure they eliminate unnecessary processes that contributes little to the production process. This will save the environment by eliminating a lot of wastes that would have otherwise ended up polluting it. Australian paper should also look to maximize the use of its resources to prevent the need for acquisition of extra ones whose contribution can be covered by the ones that are there already this saves a lot of wastes from being deposited in the environment.

Recommendations for Australian Paper

Conclusion

It is a matter of urgency for businesses to try and integrate the prevailing environmental debates on their endeavours to implement lean six sigma strategy for an efficient and highly profitable business that will be the pride of its shareholders. This will not only ensure the safety of environments in countries where regulations are not so strict but will also ensure that the business does not contravene the environmental laws governing the place in more strict countries. The Australian Paper can take these research findings into consideration and embark on a process of trying to incorporate environmental considerations while it as well tries to implement lean six sigma.

References

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