TITLE:
Deployment of Lean Six Sigma and KAIZEN Techniques: A Case Study of the Concrete Production Plant for the 750 MW (5 * 150 MW) Kafue Gorge Lower Hydro Power Project
AUTHORS:
Anthony Osbert Mhone, Junjie Jin
KEYWORDS:
Lean Six Sigma, KAIZEN, Process, Lead Time, Quality Optimization, Takt-Time, True North
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.11 No.10,
October
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: With
the fourth industrial revolution on the verge of disruption, businesses and
production companies around the world are trying to emulate the success of
Toyota’s remarkable production system with a view of reducing waste and improving quality. Lean production has been the
secret for Toyota to be as the most profitable automaker in the world.
This paper presents a survey and reviews on how process improvement techniques
such as the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and KAIZEN may be implemented to realize
reduced lead time in production processes and to attain the desired quality in
concrete. The case study is based on the concrete production plant for the 750 MW (5 * 150 MW)
Kafue Gorge Lower Hydro Power Project, which may be considered to have been one
of the largest concrete batching plant with a total production capacity of 32
cubic meters. The analysis of the effectiveness and impact of the operation and
management methods, i.e., LSS
and KAIZEN techniques, were carried out over a period of approximately two
years. Through literature review, evaluation of these philosophies was done by
first defining waste in materials, time and work force at the concrete
production plant. The KAIZEN, which is management techniques focusing on
employees’ involvement to ensure continuous improvement and a high success rate
of lean implementation at the plant, was applied and used thus creating a
feedback kind of plant management technique review mechanism overtime. The
complete implementation of the lean production system involves considerable
organizational change while maintaining the true north. Furthermore, not only
can these methods be used to realize Industrial Value Chain through lead time
reduction and quality optimization of concrete but also provides applied
management and economical improvements with assured reduced Takt-Time
realization at the production plant.