Total Quality Management- Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore

This article explores the business operations and services provided by Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore. It also examines how Lean Six Sigma can be applied to improve quality performance in the organization. The article discusses the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in the hotel's food production and housekeeping departments and evaluates the use of the project charter in identifying a quality problem and constructing a project charter based on this quality problem.

Running Head: Management 1
Total Quality Management- Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore

2
SECTION A
Question 1
(a) Describe the business operations and services provided by this organization
The Marina Bay Sand hotel was opened in the year 2011, and the same was developed
by Sands Corporation of Las Vegas as well as designed by Moshe Safdie. Marina Bay hotel
is built over the reclaimed area, and offer a complete view of the city and sea from its top. It
provides its guests with exhibition and convention facilities, theatre entertainment, shopping
facility, accommodation, bars, restaurants, gaming, and casino. This project not only
enhances the economy and tourism of Singapore but at the same time, it also creates the
entertainment and attraction destination for the local people (Bardi, 2011). Marina Bay Sands
hotel include three towers of its hotel, having 2561 rooms and suites, along with 55 floors as
well as 18 variant types of room, through which guest can enjoy the view of the city skyline
as well as of serene sea.
Marina Bay Sands hotel also includes the art museum, which is of lotus shape and is
built in front of Marina Bay. The museum roof is retractable, that offers the waterfall by the
roof. This waterfall is the collection of rainwater, and it’s closed in daytime, and laser show
in the night time. The observation deck of the hotel offers the panoramic view of the
complete bay (Bardi, 2011).
Along with that, in front of the three towers, there is a theatre block, exhibition and
convention facilities, and casino block, which includes around 1400 machines as well as 1000
tables for gaming. The museum of ArtScience is built next to the other three blocks and is
built in the shape of a lotus. In front of the Event Plaza, there is a wonder full, including
water and light show, which is considered as most significant in Southeast Asia and was

3
constructed by Laser-vision. Both Wonder Full, as well as ArtScience museum, was opened
in the year 2011.
The Skypark, located at Marina Bay Sands hotel includes the most extended elevated
swimming pool of the world, having 146-meter vanishing edge. Vanishing edge is referred to
the concept of the infinity pool. This pool is built 191 meters above the ground, and includes
422000 pounds of stainless steel and can even comfortably hold around 376500 gallons of
water. The Skypark of the hotel also consists of the rooftop celebrity restaurant like Sky on
57, along with Ce La Vie nightclubs. It also includes hundreds of tree and plants, gardens,
along with public observatory deck, build over the cantilever having Singapore Skyline 360
degree view (Bardi, 2011). This skyline can only be accessed by a hotel guest, due to the
security reason.
Marina Bay Sands is the 6th largest hotel in Asia and has even received the MICE for
three consecutive years. In the year 2006, the hotel attain the MBS, having the value of
around $5.05 billion. In its first year after opening, this hotel was able to attract
approximately 19.6 million visitors and has even hosted around 2000 meetings. According to
LVS, it’s the most profitable property, which generates the profitable revenue of around
$1191400000 in only six months.
(b) Using the following simplified self-assessment tool based on the SPRING Singapore
Business Excellence Framework, demonstrate how the organisation can use this
framework by rating the organisation according to each statement.
S/N Statement 5 4 3 2 1 Justification on
the rating
assigned
Counter- measures
1 Leadership: Senior leaders Very Senior leaders In place of senior

4
have developed a clear
vision and mission which
are clearly communicated
to its stakeholders
Likely are responsible
for
communicating
the goals, vision
and mission of
the company to
their
stakeholders
leaders, HR is also
responsible for
communicating
vision and mission
of the company.
2. Leadership: Senior leaders
advocate an organisational
culture that empowers
employees to innovate.
Excellent Senior leaders
are responsible
for building
better
organizational
culture and
sense of
innovation
Even project
leaders develop the
sense of innovation
and organize
different activities
which boost
employee’s
confidence.
3. Strategy: The organisation
develops long and short-
term strategies to achieve
organisational goals.
Excellent Short and long
term strategies
are developed in
beginning and
according all
projects are
undertaken
In place of short
and long term
strategies,
employees can also
go with individual
project strategy.
4. Customers: Markets and
customers are segmented
likely In certain cases
markets and
Customer
satisfaction needs

5
to determine and address
specific requirements to
differentiate customer
offerings and enhance
customer satisfaction.
customers are
differentiated as
per their
demands
to be at priority and
different quality
measures can be
taken to fulfil their
demands.
5. Processes: There is a
system to analyse root
causes, take prompt
corrective action and
prevent future recurrence
when a process fails to
meet specified standards or
targets.
Very
likely
Through quality
techniques
threats can be
avoided or
corrected
Working in groups,
generating new
ideas and
application of six
sigma can help in
resolving failure
issues.
Ratings:
5: Excellent
4: Very likely
3: Likely
2: Sometimes
1: Minimal
(Indicate each statement with a rating of between 1-5 using * or X)
Question 2
(a) Examine any two (2) areas in the organisation’s operations that Lean Six Sigma can
be applied to improve quality performance in the organisation.

6
Marina Bay Sand has implemented Lean Six Sigma. Due to its implementation, which
covered the launch of around 3500 six sigma projects at Marina Bay Sands worldwide, the
organization understood, that in this way they can improve their performance and can even
have financial gain. Through six sigma, Marina Bay Sands was able to increase its
incremental revenue by around 19%, and complete spending through its customers, who
come and stay at the hotel (Beiser, 2010). In this way, Marina Bay Sands hotel was able to
increase its property value by 12% in only a few months after its implementation. Through
initiating the reservation at the spa with the use of six sigma, Marina Bay Sands was able to
claim for an increase in revenue from around 91 to around 141 million pounds.
Production of food and beverages, due to its similarity with the industry of
manufacturing had attained success on the case after case by the use of principles of six
sigma. Grand scale production of food at Marina Bay Sands hotels used the 5s as well as
value stream mapping for minimizing the wastage of meals from 10% to around 5%. The
process of 5s at Marina bay helped in arranging the ingredients area of storage in the way,
where other can be easily accessible (Fitzpatrick & Rogers, 2003).
The value stream mapping point out the issue area where food is cooked, stored as
well as reheated later it’s served (Soon & Thia, 2012). The system after its implementation at
the hotel, got success because it helped in reducing employees demand in the kitchen
(Fitzpatrick & Rogers, 2003). Through analysis by six sigma, it was explored that massive
amount of wasted food was found (Shimbun & Yoke, 1988). Application of six sigma at food
and beverage section of Marian Bay Hotels will assist them in maintaining the optimal
inventory; reduce the wastage; standardized the food and beverage results; minimize the time
occur between the order to service. It will also lead to optimal use of present product mix for
enhancing the operations of revenue accommodation such as housekeeping, and it will also

7
minimize the turnaround time in making hotel room, and will also set standards for
cleanliness around the whole hotel (Fitzpatrick & Rogers, 2003).
Kaizen events and value stream mapping can also support in analysing the process of
any kind, and at the same time, it’s not exclusive for producing and manufacturing products
(Chen, Lindeke & Wyrick, 2010). The shuttle services of the hotel were also analysed
through the help of six sigma tools, which lead to short waiting time as well as fewer
complaints of customers (George, 2003). Marina Bay Sands hotel also provides shuttle
service to and from the hotel and airport. On the request placed by customers, the shuttle
offers the transportation to various places in the vicinity such as business and shopping
centres (Harry, Mann, De Hodgins, Hulbert & Christopher, 2010). Through analysis, it was
explored that irrelevant staffing as well as pitfalls in communication in dispatch as well as
drivers and transportation employees were there in shuttle services of Marina Bay. The
redesign through six sigma included offering prioritizing to runs (run to the airport is more
significant as compared to shopping centres), and it also tried to streamline the process
request by creating the centralized area, in which request for transportation was called in
(Kumar, Phillips & Rupp, 2009). The redesigning of business also depicts the customer
request prioritizing, which includes exploring the customer added value and operations of
streamlining like central request area (Kublak & Benbow, 2008).
Though no research is conducted in this regard, lean and six sigma is useful in both
housekeeping and food production area. Kaizen process and 5s can offer an advantage to the
industry of housekeeping for reducing waste and for enhancing efficiency. Housekeeping is
looked like the ideal candidate in case of 5s due to the requirement for managing the cleaning
supplies, the cleaning process in the rooms at the hotel is the one, which can quickly view the
manner in which value stream mapping (Kumar, Phillips & Rupp, 2009).

8
(b) Using any Lean Six Sigma application identified in Question 2(a), evaluate the use
of the project charter by identifying a quality problem and constructing a project
charter based on this quality problem.
The project charter is referred as a document, which officially supports in starting a
project or either particular phase of the project. It authorizes the project existence and offers
reference source for the upcoming time (Kumar, Phillips & Rupp, 2009). The project charter
provides direction as well as a sense of purpose to organization management since stating till
the end. If the project charter is prepared correctly, then it can support executives in viewing
the project business value (Alsmadi, Almani & Jerisat, 2012). They can even give the
reference to charter to understand whether the project is precisely aligned with the
organizational strategies or not. Six Sigma projects begin with the project charter and so does
happen in the case of Marina Bay Sands hotel that had applied lean six sigma for improving
the quality of their food production and housekeeping department (Kumar, Phillips & Rupp,
2009). Below is the project charter, presented in tabular format, in which every project step
will be included systematically.
Component Description Team Charter
1. Process Process
including
opportunity
Implementation of six sigma in Marina Bay Sands in its
housekeeping section for improving quality
2. Project
description
Goal and
problem
statement
It’s related with application of lean six sigma in Marina bay
Sands hotels for enhancing the quality services of
housekeeping. The purpose of this project is to explore the
feasibility of six sigma tool in hotel industry.
3. Objective Targeted Project Y Baseline Goal Entitlemen Units

9
improvements
and its impact
on results, and
cost of quality
t
Statistical issue Excellent
quality
Improvemen
t in quality
New
Model
Enhancing
phase
100%
Satisfaction
of
customer
Service
factor
Better
enhanced
service
Delighted
customer
As
needed
4. Business
Case
Expected
improvement
in financial
terms
Service sector plays important role in GDP of the country in
reference to hospitality sector. Implementation of six sigma
will surely enhance the financial position of industry and will
even help in creating good effect on customers (Abdi,
Shavarini & Hoseini, 2006).
5. Scope of
project
Process area to
be investigated
Marketing area plays important role in the business; therefore
it will be explored in detail (Lee, Olson, Lee, Hwang & Shin,
2008). Along with that customer satisfaction and service will
be evaluated too. Finance and security wouldn’t be considered
in this as it’s a separate part and need to be done in separate
project.
6. Advantage
s to
external
customers
Explore final
customers, key
measures and
benefits
Final customers are the guest staying t hotel, who come across
housekeeping services at Marian Bay Sands hotel. It includes
corporates, overseas delegates, which add value to nation.
7. Schedule Key milestones Starting of project 12 April 2018
Define phase: 12 October 2018
8. Tool M-
Measurement
Completion of M October 2018
A- analysis Completion of A September 2018
D- Develop Completion of D February 2019
V- Validate Completion of V May 2020

10
Note: Schedule
relevant
Reviews of
safety
Safety Reviews Project review in every two months
for controlling the things ongoing
within the set schedule
Completion of project May 2020
9. Required
assistance
Special
capability trails
It includes six sigma tools, hotels and restaurants are needed
as the sample for validating this newly designed project
model.
(c) With the aid of suitable illustrations, propose any three (3) suitable Lean Six Sigma
techniques from the given list and examine how these selected techniques can be used in
sequence to generate, prioritise and evaluate potential solutions to this quality problem:
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is mainly applied for generating the solution of the problem creatively.
In case of the hotel industry, employees need to be safe in whatever work they take (George,
2003). Housekeeping person will spend his time in thinking to make the workplace safer. As
per brainstorming, solutions include exploring hazards at the job, investigate facilities,
process, and machinery (March & Fugazi, 2002). Workers will be offered with right PPE.
Through brainstorming a sense of safety, awareness needs to be built. Safety features will be
made with the help of equipment for preventing the accidents. Brainstorming is the best
example of idea generation technique for solving issues. Group members will be asked to
give idea and solution, and from that best solution will be selected (McCrossan, 2008).
Affinity Diagram
The affinity diagram is applied for consolidating the extensive information into small
clusters, having a similar thread (William, 2014). It can be efficiently used for organizing the

11
ideas, which are taken from a brainstorming session (Raghubalan & Raghubalan, 2009). In
case of the hospitality industry, requirements of customers related to room and service quality
are collected from different sources like,
Friendly staff Huge TV
Clean towels Non-smoking area
Room service clean bathroom
Free Check In/Out Air conditioning
After affinitizing the data will look like,
Check-In/Out Quality of room Room Service
Friendly staff Huge TV Room service
Non-smoking area Clean Towel
Air conditioning
In this way, one can have better sense about the problems faced by employees and the same
can be solved.
Analytical Hierarchy Process
This method is used for exploring solution of any problems, and decision maker use
qualitative statements related to the significance of criterion (Sila & Ebrahimpour, 2003). In
case of Marina Bay Sand hotel for solving the quality issues, AHP will divide the problem
into categories, and the one with the highest weight will be selected (Ward & Duray, 2000).

12
References
Alsmadi, M., Almani, A., & Jerisat, R. (2012). A comparative analysis of Lean practices and
performance in the UK manufacturing and service sector firms. Total Quality
Management, 23,(4), 381-396.
Bardi, J. (2011). Hotel Front Office Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Beiser, C. (2010). To maximize clean, go lean! Executive Housekeeping Today, 32(12), 3-18.
Chen, H., Lindeke, R. R., & Wyrick, A. (2010). "Lean Automated Manufacturing: Avoiding
the Pitfalls to Embrace the Opportunities." Assembly Automation, 30(2), 117-123
Fitzpatrick, B., & Rogers, R. (2003). Six sigma™ explained. Hospitality Upgrade, 128-130.
George, M. (2003). Lean Six Sigma for Service: How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma
Quality to Improve Services and Transactions. 1 Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.
Abdi, f., Shavarini, S. K., & Hoseini, S. M. (2006). Glean lean how to use lean approach in
service industries. Journal of Services Research, 191-206.
George, M.L. (2003). Six Sigma for Service. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Harry, M. J., Mann, P. S., De Hodgins, O. C., Hulbert, R. L., & Christopher, J. (2010).
Lacke, Practitioners Guide to Statistics ad Lean Six Sigma for Process Improvement.
New Jersey: Wiley
Kublak, T. M., & Benbow, D. W. (2008). The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, 2nd
Edition. ASQ Quality Press
Kumar, S., Phillips, A., & Rupp, J. (2009). Using six sigma DMAIC to design a high-quality
summer lodge operation. Journal of Retail & Leisure Property, 8(3), 173-191.

13
Lee, S. M., Olson, D. L., Lee, S., Hwang, T., & Shin, M. S. (2008). Entrepreneurial
applications of the lean approach to service industries. Service Industries Journal,
28(7), 973-987.
March, L., & Fugazi, R. (2002). Applications of business process redesign in hotel daily
operations: The impact of redesigning airport van pickup process on hotel customer
satisfaction. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 3(1), 19-33.
McCrossan, T. (2008). Six sigma does it fit in hospitality? Hospitality Upgrade, 4, 28-30.
Raghubalan, G. & Raghubalan, S. (2009). Hotel Housekeeping Operations and Management.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Shimbun, N. K., & Yoke, P. (1988). Improving Quality by preventing defects. Portland,
Oregon: Productivity Press
Sila, I., & Ebrahimpour, M. (2003). An examination of quality management in luxury hotels.
International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 4(2), 33-59.
Soon, D., & Thia, J. P. (2012). Foreign Workers and within industry dynamics. Singapore
Economic Review, 57(4), 1-15.
Ward, P., & Duray, R. (2000). Manufacturing strategy in context: Environment, competitive
strategy and manufacturing strategy. Journal of Operations Management, 18(2), 123 -
138.
William, M. J. (2014). Lean Six Sigma for Supply Chain Management: A 10-step solution
process. McGraw-Hill Education