An Analysis Of Service Operations

An Analysis Of Service Operations Over the last decade, we saw an exponential growth in Lean and Six Sigma approaches. Recently the combination of Lean with Six Sigma as an improvement approach has captured the attentions of academia and industry. Lean Six Sigma was widely used in manufacturing sectors but can also be used in administration and service areas (Snee and Hoerl, 2004). Companies adopting Lean or Six Sigma have reported an increase in financial performance within a short term (Thomas, Barton et al., 2009), cost reduction (Anchanga 2006), improvement in customer satisfaction and cost saving (Sharma 2003). On the other hand, not all the companies that implement a continuous Improvement programme have been able to capture its entire economic benefits (Cusumano 1994; Sharma 2003). The objective of this essay is to demonstrate the power of Lean Six Sigma in the manufacturing and service sectors of business. Two case studies relating to both the business areas are discussed along with the significant benefits a nd drawbacks to its use in such areas. Review of literature As the name suggests, lean Six Sigma is an integration of lean and Six Sigma philosophies, principles and tools (Sheridan, 2000). Lean Six Sigma makes use of the knowledge, methods and tools resulting from decades of operational improvement research and implementation. Goal of Lean Six Sigma is growth and effectiveness and not just cost-cutting efficiency. According to Bendell (2006), the adoption of lean Six Sigma as a process improvement is yet to be fully established in particular area of academic research. Full potential of lean Six Sigma have not been realised (Smith, 2003).This failure is due to the lack of commitment from management (Cusumano, 1994). Lean focuses on reducing cost through process optimization and also on waste elimination in existing processes. Six Sigma is all about stakeholder expectations and meeting customer requirements. It also improves quality by measuring and eliminating defects. Both these approaches are implemented in isolation (Smith, 2003),leading to conflict of interest and draining of resources due to the creation of lean and six sigma subcultures that is emerged within the organization (Bendell, 2006). According to George (2003), Lean and Six Sigma help companies to deliver products and services at a faster pace without defects at minimum cost. Lean manufacturing focus on process flow and waste while Six Sigma focuses on variation and design. The below figure shows the DMAIC framework on which the Six Sigma projects are built. The five phases of DMAIC are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. To improve the process speed and efficiency within the project, Lean Methods are used within the DMAIC framework to augment Six Sigma tools. Source: IBM Global Business Services analysis. Six Sigma complements Lean in three different ways (George 2003) by Providing senior management commitment and cultural infrastructure that cannot be generated by Lean initiatives. Having customer at the center of its activity and this is not seen in Lean approach. Reduce variation that cannot be achieved by lean tools and techniques. Lean complements Six Sigma in Four different ways (George 2003) by Non-value added activities are identified. Eliminating the non-value added activities improves and benefits Six Sigma. Process responsiveness and speed is improved. Speed and rapid response is increased with lean tools. Arnheiter and Maleyeff (2005) outlines the benefits when lean and Six Sigma are integrated. Companies use a set of tools that are common to both approaches ie tools like 5 why, Scatter diagram, Histograms, Pareto, Cause and Effect and Poka Yoke (Kumar et al., 2006). Table I shows the key lean implementation steps with the Six Sigma tools that can be used to complete each task. Source: (Pepper and Spedding, 2009). In an organization Six Sigma is implemented only by few specific individuals, whereas lean is used by everyone to identify and eliminate non-value adding activities(Higgins, 2005). Employees have true ownership of the process even at higher-level process analysis stage due to the integration of lean Six Sigma. According to Harrison(2006),Neither lean nor Six Sigma is very effective when implemented in isolation because of their forced needs within the organization. Smith (2003) says that this will result in the creation of two subcultures competing for the same resources. End objective of both the approach is to achieve quality throughout the process. According to Arnheiter and Maleyeff (2005), continuous improvement of process is difficult if the approach is implemented alone. Organizations find it effective if implemented alone but after the initial improvement there is no improvement in the process. In order to avoid this lean approach should combine the use of targeted data to ma ke decisions and also to approach quality in a more scientific way within the system. On the other hand, it is necessary that the Six Sigma adopts a wider system approach, by considering the effects of waste on the system as a whole. These approaches are considered to be ineffective by many people and they feel that the blending of these approaches leads to ineffectiveness and led to some criticism in the literature. Bendell (2006) who has vast experience as both practitioner and as an academician argues that lean Six Sigma for becoming ill-defined philosophies, thus becoming a less effective tool. Bendell feels that it would be beneficial if there is a single approach combining the effectiveness of both the lean and Six Sigma approaches. This emphasizes the fact that consultants have provided a number of consultancy models for lean Six Sigma which is available on the World Wide Web. Methodologies used by these consultants are without any logical explanation and theoretical support or explanation for choosing the techniques. Taking a practitioner view, Spector and West (2006) says that when practitioners adopt lean and Six Sigma involve in many projects that yields insufficient results due to the time required to complete them. According to Mika(2006) both the approaches are not compatible with one another because lean is open to workers and encourages teamwork whereas six sigma is not available to the average worker on the floor. The use of lean tools and techniques identifies important areas that can be leveraged by Six Sigma techniques and also to arrange the information flow to run the system by providing continuous feedback (Pepper and Spedding, 2009). In few literatures, the main concerns when building a new and a complete framework for lean six sigma is that it focuses on process and strategy and that it should strike a balance between complexity and sustainability and finally structured around the type of problem thats encountered and by recognizing the advantages of both these approaches. Findings Lean Six Sigma approach in Healthcare related to service operation and small engineering company of manufacturing sector case is discussed below. Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare(de Koning et al., 2006) Like any other service operation, Healthcare needs to remain cost efficient, competitive and up-to-date. This can be achieved by using Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare sectors. George (2003) describes innovative work on Lean Six Sigma at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Let us take the case where lean Six Sigma is used by Red Cross Hospital in Netherlands. Worldwide the cost of medical care is increasing at an alarming speed. Unnecessary operational inefficiency leads to increase expenditure in healthcare. In order to improve quality wastefulness has to be measured. Medical service delivery process has led to operational inefficiency. First quality improvement techniques were initiated followed by six Sigma, lean and then lean Six Sigma. In 2002 the Hospital started using Six Sigma and found that this methodology provided solutions to many of the below mentioned problems identified by top management. At times absence of important business case. Absence of Project-tracking system. Failed method for project management and control. Many incomplete projects. Lean Six Sigma projects in healthcare include both the medical as well as the administrative problems. Quality improvement is not only to address defects like medication errors but can be widened to various fields of application. The kind of problems tackled in healthcare are shortening the length of stay in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients Errors related to invoices received from temporary agencies are reduced. Revision of payment terms. Number of patients needing intravenous antibiotics is reduced. Intravenous medications preparation time is shortened. The Red Cross Hospital involvement shows the vital elements of the Lean Six Sigma approach. These are: Organizational infrastructure of Six Sigma applied. Quality improvement deployment focused on each project. Training employees leading to evolving organizational ability for innovation . Selection of projects had a strategic focus. A serious budget cut was imposed on the Red Cross Hospital. This demanded a strict focus on cost reductions while keeping quality on focus. The clinic needs profitability to sustain its operations as the fixed costs cannot control the operations. Lean Six Sigma in a small engineering company (Thomas, 2009) To enhance manufacturing operations, companies use Lean Six Sigma. small engineering company (Thomas, Barton et al. 2009) is a leader in seating systems for automotive and aerospace industries. Manufactured products are supplied to worldwide markets increasing the competition from low cost countries and the need to be responsive to customers led the company to adopt lean. The company preferred to create in-house expertise to process systems development as consultants were ineffective. When the company moved into the high-value markets its profit increased by manufacturing less products, higher quality and the delivery requirements were tight. This lead to the need to use lean Six Sigma to respond effectively to the unpredictable customer demands. The company had the potential to innovate continuously along with the awareness in infrastructure quality and investment. This approach provided the company with a simple structure but an effective one which resulted in the manufacturing operations and product capabilities improvements. Discussion Based on the literature review, the advantages and disadvantages for the above mentioned case studies using Lean Six Sigma is discussed below. Advantages/benefits when introducing lean six sigma Improved Quality When concentrating on the product development and production, the number of defects in the manufactured products is reduced as the problems are identified in the manufacturing process. This results in waste elimination, improving efficiency and increased customer loyalty towards the product. Reduced waste Wastes are eliminated in order to protect the product and the reputation of the organization. Improvement of cash flow Products are made to order thus reducing the inventory and increasing the available cash. Safer working environment Workers and customer safety is considered when using lean Six Sigma within an organization, thus reducing accidents. Customer Expectations Organizations use lean Six Sigma in order to satisfy and to meet the customer demands. Changes a companys culture Manufacturing processes are viewed from different perspectives. Employees at various levels in the process make decisions by relying on data than giving importance to gut feelings. The implementation of lean Six Sigma can be done on a trial and error ie by introducing it within a department before implementing it across the whole organization. Having in-house expertise to process systems development saves cost. The company developed advanced maintenance techniques with fewer breakdowns by using TPM. Products are delivered at the right time. Cycle time is reduced. Complexity in hiring personnel resulting in reduced rework and major cost savings. Starting times of the operation theatre was reduced resulting in further improvement of the process. Maintenance resulted in fewer complained and increase in revenue. Disadvantages/drawbacks when introducing lean Six Sigma Lack of vision affects the LSS implementation. Implement the LSS tools and techniques solely depend on the experts having high skills. Only LSS tools and techniques are used to solve all the problems. Cannot be implemented when timeline expectation is short. Cannot be used when the business is beyond repair. Requires full commitment from top management. Minimum amount of resources is at least required. The effectiveness of few tools and techniques were limited due to the inadequate statistical data. Conclusion It is obvious that the lean thinking and scientific improvement standard of Six Sigma have led to success across industries. When fused together both the approaches become a powerful tool. Lean Six Sigma can be used in all sectors within any industry and does not only relate to manufacturing sector. In this essay we discussed the advantages and disadvantages in using Lean Six Sigma approach. Innovations are necessary in the service delivery process. We also discussed that operational improvement was the main motive for organizations using Lean Six Sigma leading to performance improvements, cost reduction and customer satisfaction. Literature review also highlighted the possible ways of using both the approach. For a company to have employees trained is an added benefit. Using Lean Six Sigma companies should focus on doing better things than just to do things better.

The Great Skater :: Personal Narrative Essay

The Great Skater Like any other sport, ice-skating is obliged to creative people who bring something new to it. These people are known to everyone as the inventors of particular jumps, splits, spins. They are given credit for their work and, sometimes, the skating moves they invented carry their names. For instance, the Lutz jump was invented by Alois Lutz before World War II; the Walley jump was attributed to Bruce Mapes who performed with the Ice Follies in the 1930s. With Mabel Fairbanks that was never the case. The spins she invented never have been officially admitted to be exclusively her creation. For me, it was a profound experience to be coached by her, as I was learning not only the art of skating, but also many things that one can learn from a wise person. I treasure her advice very much. Mabel Fairbanks was a brilliant and a hard working skater. The only problem she experienced over and over was the unwillingness of the skating world to admit that she was deeply talented. It was the second quarter of the 20th century, and she was not allowed to perform the major skating movements--the elements she found the most fun to perform. She was black, she was too good, and the other girls in the show wouldn't look as skillful having Mabel performing next to them. In fact, Sonja Heini once refused to allow Mabel to join Sonja's popular skating troupe because Mabel was too gifted. Mabel was restricted in her skating to the simple elements. But, Mabel wouldn't be Mabel if she didn't extricate herself from the restrictions. How? The solution was ingenious: "If they don't let me skate the conventional way, I'll invent something of my own. This way, nobody and nothing can prevent me from skating to my full abilities." Necessity turned out to be the mother of invention. In a short period of time, Mabel, the first black superstar skater in the history of the United States, came up with the new variations of basic spin. They were so gorgeous! She was the star of the shows at British West Indies with the famous Ice Follies, and in Mexico with the Ice Capades. The only sad thing is that the spins she invented have never been called anything more than just spin's variations. If it were for me, I'd call them Fairbanks spins.

Armageddon: A Reaction Paper Essay

In the movie Armageddon, who are the evil ones? They are thousands of rocks led by an asteroid the size of Texas that threatens to extinguish life on Earth? And who are the good ones? They are a motley makeshift group of old-drillers who will risk their lives in a daring rocket journey to save the world. A few NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut are also thrown in to help steer the two shuttle spacecrafts. So these are the heroes of the movie. But, except for rig owner and drilling expert Harry Stamper (played excellently by Bruce Willis), the oil workers are moonlighting criminals. Mobsters as saviors? Is this any way to improve the moral fabric of our country? You would think that a movie about the extinction of life on Earth would be serious. Not so. The best description of Armageddon is an action-adventure film sprinkled with comedy. Every effort is made to excite and entertain. No effort is made to educate or inform. Scientific accuracy is tossed out the window. The laws o f physics are continually violated in order to maximize the drama. What happened to the good old movie classics that tried to teach us something about life? It is amazing that the asteroid is able days in advance to send warning signals consisting of deadly meteor showers. The first one strikes a space station orbiting the Earth. The craft is drilled with holes before exploding. The next attack is on New York City. It is pelted with huge meteorites. The Chrysler Building is decapitated, while the City is decimated. Several days later, Shanghai falls victim. And near the end of the movie, Paris is destroyed by an asteroid fragment. This is one of the few places where a realistic image of an impact is portrayed. The explosion produces a cloud of dust that surges outward. Paris is totaled. Only a huge crater and the bottom halves of the Arc de Triumph and other buildings are left. It is curious how well directed that these strikes are Despite the unrealistic nature of the movie, it is entertaining and full of action. The frame time is usually no longer than 3 seconds as one image after another flashes on the screen in an effort to maximize the tension. Such rapid-fire images also limit a viewer’s ability to notice the many scientific flaws. A love story between Grace Stamper, Harry’s daughter played by Liv Tyler, and A. J. Frost, a young oil rig worker played by Ben Affleck, adds a romantic element to the movie. Of course, everyone knows that these space-age, spaced out oil drillers will in the end save us from destruction. In the film, NASA officials meet to discuss proposals to avert the asteroid catastrophe. The suggestions are laughable: Destroy it with lasers? Americans have clearly been watching too many Star Trek episodes. Attach sails to it? This is ludicrous. What’s going to provide the drag? Outer space is virtually empty. There is no wind out there except for the â€Å"solar wind,† which can only blow dust and particles and certainly cannot change the direction of a heavy asteriod in a matter of days. Destroy it with nuclear weapons? As correctly stated in the movie, 150 nukes would hardly be sufficient. Although such bombs would produce 150 craters, the asteroid would remain intact. So what plan do they come up with? They propose to drill a hole about 800 feet deep, insert a hydrogen bomb, explode it and split the asteroid in two pieces that will fly past Earth on either side. If 150 nukes won’t do the job, certainly one will not either, even if it is inserted in the ast eroid. Can one hydrogen bomb create a crack that stretches across the state of Texas? When it comes to man versus Nature in life-threatening battles, can man always win? When a tornado touches down, can we stop it? When a tsunami or giant wave, speeds across the ocean, can we diminish it? When a volcano is about to erupt, can we extinguish its hot temper? When a hurricane heads towards a populated coastal region, can we divert it? When lightning strikes, can we reflect its flash? The answers to these questions are no. But we can take measures. In most instances, our only recourse is evacuation. In these battles of man versus Nature, Nature is supreme. Solar system scientists classify asteroids with letters such as S, C, M and E. The makers of Armageddon have discovered a truly remarkable object that will revolutionize planetary science. From a distance, it appears to be almost comet-like and engulfed in a blue-green cloud. While most asteroids have a topography not so different from the Moo n’s, the Armageddon asteroid has a treacherous terrain of jagged knife-like rocks, steep crevices and pointed mountain peaks. Its surface is as intricate as a crystal chandelier. It is almost as though its stalagmites threaten to stab Earth’s heart. But, of course, in reality the danger to Earth is created by the asteroid’s tremendous kinetic energy, which gets translated into heat, pressure and pounding power upon impact. The Armageddon asteroid is also the first to have a significant atmosphere and rock storms. Yes, the efforts of our heroes are impeded when dozens of rocks start raining down upon them. Obviously, NASA should have equipped our heroes with steel umbrellas. The air must contain oxygen to feed the sparks of fires that are blown by a sometimes howling wind. There must also be a â€Å"fifth force† that holds Stamper’s crew to the asteroid’s surface. It can’t be gravity. The force of gravity on the Armageddon asteroid is about 20 times weaker than that on Earth. A 180-pound human would weigh only 9 pounds. Armageddon is an action-packed adventure in which National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) astronauts save the world from a huge asteroid or should we call a â€Å"Global Killer† that can kill even bacteria. It is entitled Armageddon which means â€Å"the end of all things† and it came from the bible. It’s a nice movie but lots of arguments, quarrels, andtragic parts. I can say that Armageddon is interesting because it is somewhat related to Science which is my favorite subject. I don’t understand some parts of it because they speak fast but I’d still understand this movie on the way they move. All the scenes in Armageddon seemed real, the explosions, the satellites, the space shuttles travelling and the asteroids falling and crashing to the Earth, all I can say is, amazing! I salute all the makers of this movie because they have made Armageddon a realistic one. Armageddon is full package, romance, comedy and action combined into one. It is entertaining and full of action. When the parts of the asteroids are crashing all I can do is to scream. In summary, Armageddon is a wonderful movie but a tragic one.Armageddon is somewhat related to Chemistry. Asteroids are included to Astrochemistry. A giant, global-killing asteroid, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65million years ago is 18 days away from hitting the Earth. The oil drilling is somewhat related to Industrial Chemistry, that is showed on the first part of the movie. Nuclear bombs are related to Nuclear Chemistry. Bombs that are detonated in the drilled part of the huge asteroid that blew it into pieces. This movie told us some information about Chemistry.

The Current Mla Format And Guidelines - 1511 Words

Mrs. Pruitt’s Research Paper Guide Paper Requirements †¢ The length of the research paper must be no less than 1,500-words and no more than 2,500-words. The 2,500-word limit does not apply to notes or to the annotated bibliography. In-text citations are required. If your sources are not acknowledged, your paper will receive a zero and will be required to be rewritten for a lower grade because this is considered plagiarism. No more than five quotations are allowed in your paper. †¢ The research paper must follow the current MLA format and guidelines to pass. See chart below on how to properly format your paper. †¢ Separation of Primary and Secondary Sources are required. Separate your bibliography into two sections: one for primary sources and one for secondary sources. Some sources may be considered either primary or secondary so use your annotations to explain your reason for classifying any sources that are not clearly primary or secondary. Listing a source under both primary and secondary is not allowed. †¢ Each component of the research paper will be assigned a grade and each component will then become part of the research paper s culminating final grade. Grading †¢ This grade is calculated to include the component parts of the paper along with the final product. The research paper is worth 20% of the final grade. ï‚ § Topic Chosen-100 points ï‚ § Brainstorm and Detailed Outline-100 points ï‚ § Source Cards (5 minimum)-100 points †¢ Sources should include a minimum ofShow MoreRelatedMajor City Recycling Initiatives1038 Words   |  5 PagesUnited States. Your assignment is to prepare a short research paper (275–300 words) giving an overview of the history and current policies in large cities. The requirements are that the paper be presented according to the MLA documentation style and have three references. One of the three references must be from the Web. 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