Impact of Stakeholders on Lean Six Sigma Project Costs and Outcomes during Implementation in an Air-Conditioner Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

Modern manufacturing operations always aim toward sustainable production through sustainable operations. Lean Six Sigma manufacturing is one of the leading models to increase operational efficiency and productivity and reduce product manufacturing costs. The lean Six Sigma problem-solving methodology DMAIC has been one of the several techniques organizations use to improve their productivity and the quality of their product and services. This paper aims to apply Lean Six Sigma and DMAIC to enhance production capacity and reduce per-unit cost. Furthermore, this research work has been carried out to analyze the impact of stakeholders on Lean Six Sigma projects. The research follows the DMAIC methodology to investigate and analyze the root cause of the problems and give possible solutions for eliminating or reducing the issues. Particularly, fishbone and 5-Whys techniques were used to determine whether the two key processes, AC Outdoor unit testing with the help of reusable power cords and the un-efficient use of expanding machine, had an impact on low productivity and high per-unit cost. The analysis indicated the importance of stakeholders in lean Six Sigma projects. It has been found that key stakeholders can affect the result of lean Six Sigma projects, e.g., in the power cord modification project, a total of USD 7738 has been lost, while in expanding machine modification project total of USD 1339 has been lost due to ignorance of key stakeholders in both projects. This paper provides practical guidance to lean Six Sigma project team leaders to develop and define the key stakeholders at the beginning of the project and clearly identify the stakeholders’ responsibilities. Furthermore, the project leader must analyze and identify internal and external stakeholders b/c stakeholders may be internal or external. This paper provides theoretical guidance to lean Six Sigma project team leaders since ignoring stakeholders could give a misleading picture in terms of project cost, savings, and duration of the project. The project leader must consider key stakeholders’ costs and future strategies before starting the project. Although some project managers and experts have conducted analyses of stakeholders’ impact on projects, lean Six Sigma literature lacks solid examples of stakeholders’ impact on LSS project results. This study tries to address this research gap by analyzing the impact of key stakeholders on LSS projects.