Abstract
The objective of this study is to analyze the points of convergence and divergence between the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma in an integrated manner when used for continuous improvement of manufacturing systems. This research also aimed to advance a better understanding of the fundamental principles of such methodologies by performing a comparative analysis of critical issues. The focus of discussion of this study was to search the literature to identify characteristics of exclusion and similarities between the three approaches when applied in an integrated way in productive systems. The results of this study suggest that the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma have many complementary elements that overlap the divergent points and there is a big space of research to be explored on this issue. As a result, this study presents a critical analysis of 28 comparative criteria relevant to the three approaches. Key words: Theory of constraints, lean manufacturing, six sigma, continuous improvement, manufacturing systems.
Highlights
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the convergence and divergence factors between Lean Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints and Six Sigma methodologies, when they are used together in manufacturing environments for continuous improvements
The main objective of this study is to analyze the points of convergence and divergence between the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma when used for continuous improvement of manufacturing systems
The results of this study suggest that the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma have many complementary elements that overlap the divergent points and there is a big space of research to be explored on this issue and improve the theory and practice about industrial engineering for increase the productivy of production systems
Summary
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the convergence and divergence factors between Lean Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints and Six Sigma methodologies, when they are used together in manufacturing environments for continuous improvements. The present discussion is that the use of the above approaches focuses on continuous improvement as being done by several organizations, and as a rule, such approaches have reached their limit of performance concerning the current competitiveness and complexity of some markets (Khadem et al, 2008; Lu et al, 2011; Myrick, 2009; Valles, 2009). It is necessary to find elements of other approaches that turn more robust than the current strategies for continuous improvement. Gains in reducing inventory and lead time applying the Theory of Constraints in production systems, for example, were identified by Phruksaphanrat et al (2011) and Adetunji and Yadavalli (2012).
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