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Purpose - This research aims to investigate the gap between the current vision and knowledge of future early career operations managers (OM) and common strategic total quality management (TQM) frameworks such as Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards (MBNQA).\ud \ud Design/Methodology/Approach - A survey questionnaire for different groups of participants as current higher education students was developed to identify the gap and analyse the significance of these groups on the factors in TQM framework. The Kruskal-Wallis test as the non-parametric quantitative analysis technique was adopted for this research.\ud \ud Findings – A new set of TQM factors with necessity of more knowledge and understanding of future generation was identified, followed by identification of clear differences amongst different groups of this generation.\ud \ud Practical Implications – A sustainable OM practice needs managers and leaders with a sustainable knowledge development of quality management (QM); and as the result of this study, the current vision of future young operations managers would not echo this.\ud \ud Research Limitations/Implication – This research study contributed significantly to the existing research about common QM models and their integration with theories relevant to organisational culture. The data collection could have been extended further in the higher education sector or beyond that.\ud \ud Originality/Value - This study has a systematic, non-parametric approach towards currently fragmented QM analysis, and is integrated with human resource and visionary elements of future young OM and universal QM models and theories.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of the core personal competence, vision and organisational culture on readiness of people to commence Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects in the manufacturing Small and Medium Sized- Enterprises (SMEs). \ud Design/methodology/approach - A set of hypothesis analysis was designed to identify the level of association between constructs of people’s competence, vision and culture with LSS readiness through correlation and regression analysis. A quantitative data collection through questionnaire has been conducted for seven different German manufacturing SMEs involved in aerospace and agro-food manufacturing as convenient samples. \ud Finding – It was found that there is a strong positive association between Core competence of people and organisational culture with readiness for commencing LSS. However, further detailed regression analysis indicated that amongst cultural constructs, core values of people was the significant predictor for LSS readiness, whilst no significant difference between core competence constructs was found to be ready for LSS commencing. Therefore, focusing on core values of people could be prioritised to facilitate management commitment and removing resistance to change as two key people-related success factors of LSS commencement. \ud Practical Implications –The result of this paper could be generalised to different manufacturing SMEs and would have direct impact on identifying the key factors that could lead to management commitment and resistance to change in order to commence any LSS in any organisation specially SMEs.\ud Originality/Value- This research focuses on human resource (HR) aspects of implementing LSS projects in SMEs and would recommend the people-related critical variables to lead success of LSS project in western culture.

Purpose: To introduce lean six sigma to a warehousing operation of a UK ‘third sector’ charity to reduce and control food waste during storage and distribution.\ud Research Approach: This research takes an action research approach, with the principal investigator adopting a reasearcher / facilitator role in the analysis receipt, initial storage, put away, layout flows, picking, loading and pre-despatch, as well as rudimentary data communication flows. Interviews are also being undertaken to allow for the creation of narratives for consideration in juxtaposition to our DMAIC outputs.\ud Findings: Our ongoing research is revealing that this rapidly growing sector has by its genesis, led to the development of largely ‘ad hoc’ unbalanced structures and flows. At a functional level, once organisational readiness has been established, there are a number of lean six sigma measures where potential benefits extend both up and downstream from the case organisation itself.\ud Practical Impact: The aim of our research has not been to arbitrarily create specifications for operational efficiencies; rather it has been to work with a third sector organisation to assess operational standards utilising a more engageable RUMBA (Reasonable, Understandable, Measurable, Believeable, Achievable) system to evaluate the operational appropriateness of current measures, alloyed with DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Implement, Control) to develop and facilitate system change to create a model appropriate to the sector and its limitations. To date we have found little evidence against gerneralisability, which also indicates that our final models may have a place in legacy phases of humanitarian logistics. \ud Originality: The research presented provides a unique and novel analysis of operational efficiencies in the ‘third sector’ and its rolein established flows and in serving an increasing demand for food banks , through the acceptance of process controls, metrics and management techniques to minimise food waste and increase efficiencies.

Purpose – The aim of this project was to reduce the level of scrap rate in the production of a product known as the “Remote Acceleration Sensor (RAS)” that is used for Air Bags through Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology.\ud Design/methodology/approach – This is an action research that was conducted in a single case study and used the LSS methodology of DMAIC concentrating on one fully automated sub-process of the production called the “Overmould line”. \ud Finding – It was found that implementing DMAIC methodology had an effective impact on the production and scrap rate was reduced achieving the 99.03% First Run Yield (FRY) from 98.4% FRY before implementation. This was the improvement from 3.65 to 3.85 in the Sigma scoring term with significant financial impact at this scale. \ud Research Limitations/Implications – This action research could be deployed in other sub- processes of the production line, other processes of the company and could also be conducted in more than one single case study from the same sector. The research investigation needs to be fully controlled by the team in order to correctly gauge the effect of any changes made to the process.\ud Practical Implications – This project adds further evidence of effectiveness of the LSS methodology in manufacturing SMEs through adding value to the process and reducing the scrap rate and waste. The project had greater saving than expected by the managers at £98,000 per annum. This saving could even be higher when the company is expanded. \ud Originality/Value- The approach of this research project combines proven statistical tools with some basic but effective lean tools to be applied in an original sequence in order to design robust product and match manufacturing capabilities. \ud Key Words – Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, DMAIC, Manufacturing, SMEs, Scrap Rate

The purpose of this research is to investigate the practical implications of the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) application in a service environment of the power generation sector. A meter supply contractor for a major UK energy provider was selected for the case study. An action research about job completion was conducted through application of LSS methodology. It was found that implementing LSS can minimise causes of the unnecessary job abortion as the defect, and therefore increase the efficiency of the operation in short term with some financial benefits. This research project is limited to a single case study that explores one particular unit of a company in the energy sector. The UK Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) as a service provider for power generation sector has not been targeted by LSS before and this research project has investigated the practical feasibility and strategic benefits of LSS application in this sector. This project was conducted in a customised operation of a service environment and different mixtures and volumes of work over a period could not be controlled, as part of the operations are driven by customer requests. The results also indicated that more data is required to establish if the improvements have been able to reduce the defective rate in the long-term.