A Six Sigma based Continuous Improvement for Air Cargo Terminal: An Illustration of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Abstract

The performance results of aviation transport have been shown to be critical to a nation's development and competitiveness. Although science and technology in the aviation industry is highly developed, air accidents occasionally occur because of human, climatic, and mechanical factors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish a Design Measure Analyze Improve Control (DMAIC) process improvement framework by using an integrated Six Sigma model to improve operation quality and reduce flight accidents. In this case, the Six Sigma process was based on customer needs for acquiring quality results. Specifically, no more than 3.4 failures are permitted during 1 million operations to meet the improvement requirements of the air transportation industry. The study results indicate that a process continuous improvement framework that resulted in zero defects (ZD) was established by combining the balanced scorecard (BSC), theory of constraint (TOC), quality function deployment (QFD), and benchmarking management. This framework improves the operation results of air cargo terminals and enables authorities to make decisions for the continuous improvement of air transportation.