Lean Six Sigma is a hybrid, structured and scientific continuous improvement methodology which is at the peak of its ascendancy in the modern era. Touted as the latest management philosophy of the twenty-first century, Lean Six Sigma’s aptitude in managing and improving organizational routines or processes has been endorsed by numerous global organizations.
Lean is a quality or management concept which was germinated from Toyota Production System (TPS). Its focus centered around the idea to eliminate waste or non-value adding activities to customers consequently to the organization itself. Six Sigma was created by Motorola (but made popular by General Electric) revolves around the idea of minimizing variation within processes to ascertain consistency in the quality of outputs.
Nevertheless, many confusions and curiosities are ever at present in the business domain about these philosophies. Some misconstrue its application confined to the manufacturing industries per se given where it was developed. Others believe both are similar concepts, just repackaged as part of a latest fad. There are also some concerned about its applicability in specific industries.
Literature reviews provide a historical justification on the existence, emergence and prevalence of any aspect. This article provides an extensive literature review on Lean Six Sigma across years of its application in various industries and countries, the various mode of scholarly studies done under this philosophy, critical success factors, barriers and challenges and etcetera.
Keywords: Six sigma, Lean six sigma, Content analysis, Lean
Paper type: Literature review
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Citation: Muraliraj Jagantheran, Suhaiza Zailani, S. Kuppusamy, C. Santha, (2018) “Annotated methodological review of Lean Six Sigma”, International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 9 Issue: 1, pp.2-49, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-04-2017-0028