Lean Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement

This assignment delves into the principles and applications of Lean Six Sigma methodologies. It examines key concepts such as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), the role of cause-and-effect diagrams (fishbone diagrams) and Pareto analysis in identifying and addressing process improvement opportunities. Additionally, it explores seven quality control tools and their contribution to continuous improvement initiatives across different sectors.

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Case Study Continuous Improvement Plan
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Tutor
Course
City and State

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Case Study Continuous Improvement Plan
The main objective of all organizations is to make profits and by extension to satisfy the
needs of their stakeholders. However, in this case, the study of Latino Engineering, from the
start, it was on the right track and that is why it has been afloat. But, the company has taken a
nosedive since the takeover, and there are several reasons underlying the failure of this company.
Businesses do not just fail, but they fail when something goes wrong, perhaps in the
management, or poor quality (Limwichitr, Broady-Preston, & Ellis, 2015.P.483). Therefore, this
paper would examine the problem in the case study of Latino Engineering and provide a solution
that the company can adopt to recover.
Identifying the root causes through use of techniques and tools
Use of tools and Techniques
First, to identify the root causes of this problem, in this case, the first tools to be used are
7QCs tools. These tools include flow chart, check sheet, Pareto diagram, Cause-and-effect
diagram, Scatter plot, histogram, and Control chart (Oakland, 2014, P.345). These quality tools
are critical in identifying what exactly happened at Latino Engineering. But, in this case, study,
the most desirable tools are a Pareto diagram and Cause-and-effect diagram.
Pareto diagram
However, in this case, study, the tool to be used is the Pareto Diagram, but still, the
remaining six are equally important. This tool is used arranges item in descending order to
explain how each item is contributing to a problem. The tool is used importantly in explaining
and identifying a problem and also to develop a plan for an improvement (Project Management

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Methodologies- PPMP20009, n.d, n.p). Using this quality tool, then the root causes of the
problems in this case study can be arranged in the following:
Takeover- in this case, study, it is apparent that the Latino Engineering was founded and
initially owned by Dominic Latino. The company was the doing well before the company was
sold to an Investment group.
Poor quality- It is apparent in the case study that the designs are poor and defective
equipment. With poor designs, defective equipment then a customer would always not trust the
company, hence triggering business failure (Oakland, 2014, P.56).
Poor customer care relations- Since Dominic Latino left the company and handed it over
to the management of the Investment, it is clear that customers are not properly attended to as
earlier. Wrong engineering equipment is delivered to them, the team dealing with customer is not
responsive and this generally makes it impossible for a customer to patronize Latino
Engineering.
Ideally, the takeover is a common concept in business and organizations would always
carry out for several reasons. In this case study, the reason for the takeover can be termed a
personal decision by Dominic Latino. It was within his right as the company owner to sell it to
another person. Therefore, if a takeover is not a wrong practice, then the problem is the
management that took over from Dominic Latino. Using this tool, it can be concluded that the
management that took over was Dominic Latino is ill-prepared to run its activities. Hence, the
Investment Group management is the root cause of the problem the company is facing today.
During the reign of Dominic Latino, it is evident in the case study that the customers
were happy and their needs were met. Nonetheless, since the takeover, the quality has worsened,

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even though the company retained some of the engineers. Perhaps, the retained engineers and the
new ones are not working together as required. Or the new engineers are not qualified as
presumed by the new Latino Engineering. Therefore, the root cause is the poor human resource
is the reason why there is the use of faulty engineering equipment. The Investment Group should
now reconsider the manpower they have to discharge their duties. There is no way competent
and skilled mechanical engineers can use faulty engineering equipment, and thus the company
should know that some of the employees they have are not up to the task. Also, customers are
receiving wrong engineering equipment, and this clearly demonstrates the laxity in the sales and
marketing department. In essence, the point is that the company needs to entirely look into the
qualifications of their employees, so as to retain only those employees who are up to the task and
sack those who failed in discharging their duties.
It is also intelligible that the service team does not understand the need to care for
customers. They are not responsive, and that in all honesty discourages new and loyal customers.
From the stakeholder theory, a company is supposed to attend to the needs of its stakeholders
and if all stakeholders are satisfied definitely the company shall run profitably. Unfortunately,
the service team as indicated in this case does not care; hence it is another root cause of the
problem.
Cause-effect diagram
The tool is used to show a relationship that exists between symptoms and its feasible
causes. This tool is simple because what an individual has to do is simply to relate the result and
what could have caused the result. In the case study, it is possible to identify the root causes of
the problems the company is facing after the takeover by Investment Group.

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Using this tool, the focus is to know what led to the effect or result as witnessed in the case
study. First and foremost, the tool asserts that equipment is needed to start a process and the
process is carried out by people to bring a certain effect or result. Thus, the main problem, in
this case, is the equipment and it is very clear in the case study that they were defective.
Secondly, the wrong equipment affected the process; hence the process used in this case
study was wrong. Also, since people or employees were involved in the process, then they are
also a problem because they are the ones that allowed the use of wrong engineering equipment
and used the wrong process that has resulted in loss of customers and poor quality. Also, the
people who are the employees at the company work with the management, to bring results it now
justifies that the management is also not doing their work as expected. In a nutshell, the tool in
this used to identify the cause of the problem facing Latino Engineering. Thus, using this tool,
the root causes are faulty engineering equipment, wrong process and incompetent management
and employees.
Plan to eliminate root Causes
Lean Six Sigma
This methodology can use any of the 7QC tools as mentioned above. In identifying the
root causes the Pareto diagram and Cause-and-effect diagram were used and using these tools
lean Six Sigma can be applied to reduce the root causes of the problems Latino Engineering is
facing (Arnheiter, & Maleyeff, 2005, P.6). Basically, lean six sigma can be applied by any
company like Latino Engineering to decrease waste, rid of actions not adding value to the
company and also reducing time wastage (Chadha, 2017, p.40)

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Lean Six Sigma are a set of methods that companies can apply to any manufacturing,
transactional or service process to reduce waste, eliminate non-value-added actions and cut time.
Combining "Lean" with "Six Sigma" can produce a program that brings both short-term results
through the power of Lean, and long-term change through the power of Six Sigma (Salah, S.,
Rahim, & Carretero, 2010, p78). It is for this reason that many companies are turning to a
combined Lean and Six Sigma effort. Ideally, separately lean is about a quick action that can be
taken to correct a certain situation, whilst six sigma is about identifying the defects and doing
away with them. Thus, the lean and Six Sigma can be applied in this case to develop a plan that
can reduce or eliminate some of the causes of the problems witnessed in the case study.
Reorganization of the Service Team Department
First, the company will have to adopt lean management in the area of the service team. As
indicated using the Pareto diagram that customer care relations are frosty at Latino Engineering,
the company would have to quickly convene a meeting where the management would have to
make a few and quick changes in the service team (Soković, Jovanović, Krivokapić, & Vujović,
2009, P.40). The case study has indicated that the service team is not responsive and generally
customers are not pleased with the way they are treated. Therefore, through the lean
management, the company should sack the service team head, for failing to coordinate activities
properly in his department. Also, some individuals in the service team should be investigated on
their dealings with the customers and those who slept on their job should be sacked so that
serious and professional people can take over the vacant positions.

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Management Change
Using the Six Sigma methodology, the company defines some of the defects reported in
the equipment used by the company’s employees. The defects should be properly defined,
measured and analyzed and according to TQM Six Sigma, every employee has a role to promote
quality and service delivery at the company. As a result, engineers who used faulty engineering
equipment should be held to account as to why such equipment was used. Those who would be
found directly to have sanctioned the use of such equipment would have to resign so that the
company hires competent mechanical engineers. Additionally, the company will have to get rid
of all faulty engineering equipment, and purchase new ones and if the supplier is the one
delivering faulty equipment the company should get another supplier. However, changing the
supplier, sacking some mechanical engineers and making some changes in the top management
should be a long-term change.
Communication Plan
Apart from improving service delivery and quality, the company would also have to hire
PR services to sanitize its already tainted image. PR shall help the company develop a strategy
that would redeem the image of Latino Engineering. First and foremost, the company can
display a poster at its location apologizing to its customers for any inconvenience caused to them
and inform them that they are working towards improving and customer satisfaction.
Follow-Up and Evaluation
The new leadership at Latino Engineering would have to monitor the service team and
evaluate weekly their operations. The control stage is important in undertaking any project and
therefore the company’s management would now have to get up increase monitoring and

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performance evaluation. Also, the management would directly have to inspect the engineering
equipment, so as to avoid the use defective ones.
Continuous Improvement (CI) Plan
The CI plan for Latino Engineering is developed through the DMAIC methodology.
DMAIC methodology is an improvement process in the Six Sigma and it is an acronym for
define, measure, analyze, improve and controls.
Define- defining is about improving project goals with a focus on the needs and wants of
customers. The Investment Group will have to continue defining their improvement goals, to see
how they can meet the needs and wants of customers. In essence, for the company to run
profitably it will have to define its improvement goals and stick to them.
Measure- the company would have to continue to measure its current processes and
identify some metrics. Measuring the current process and establishing metrics would help the
company monitor its activities so that it can remain on course as it seeks to meet its achievement
goals.
Analyze- the company would continue to analyze its current process to establish the
problems as well as the causes (Lewis, 2016, P.67). Definitely, after establishing what the
problems and causes are, then the Latino engineering would have to work towards getting
solutions.
Improving- When analyzing, problems and their causes shall be established and therefore
improving stage, would give the company an opportunity to get solutions to the problems. On
the improving stage, the Investigate group can revisit its implementation plan to guide it on some
of the actions they can take to solve the problem (Burke, 2013, p.56).

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Control- on this phase, the company would have to control the standardization of its
processes and monitor all its processes so that all employees do what is right. Control rests solely
on the management, and thus the company’s management will have to use the Pareto Diagram or
the cause-effect diagram to analyze the progress or some problem in the company for action to
be taken to correct the situation (Chadha, 2017, p.567).
In conclusion, the case study of Latino Engineering is a project that is almost failing but
it can still be corrected. On the root causes, the management also is to be blamed for failing to
carry out its roles of monitoring and standardizing processes and that is why there are cases of
faulty engineering equipment and almost a dysfunctional service team. However, following the
lean management and Six Sigma to implement change, can assist the company solve some of its
problems. Besides, the company should use DMAIC methodology as its CI plan, because it helps
the company define measure, analyze, improve and control its processes and get solutions to its
problems (Arvanitoyannis, & Savelides, 2007, p.56).

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References
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Chadha, R., 2017. Value Through Continuous Improvement. FAIMA Business & Management
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Arnheiter, E.D. and Maleyeff, J., 2005. The integration of lean management and Six Sigma. The
TQM magazine, 17(1), pp.5-18.
Salah, S., Rahim, A. and Carretero, J.A., 2010. The integration of Six Sigma and lean
management. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 1(3), pp.249-274.
Soković, M., Jovanović, J., Krivokapić, Z. and Vujović, A., 2009. Basic quality tools in
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Antony, J., Singh Bhuller, A., Kumar, M., Mendibil, K. and Montgomery, D.C., 2012.
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Appendix
7QC tools figure

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A sample of Cause-Effect Diagram

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