Article

The House of Competitiveness: The Marriage of Agile Manufacturing, Design for Six Sigma, and Lean Manufacturing with Quality Considerations

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Abstract

In the past, companies adopted the well-known programs of Lean Manufacturing (LM) and Six Sigma (SS) to help develop solutions to manufacturing problems. More recently, several new philosophies for manufacturing improvement have been developed, which include Agile Manufacturing (AM) and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). Yet, alone, none of these pro- grams provide the competitive advantage that companies need to compete successfully in today’s global market. In this paper, we present a production and quality philosophy for competitiveness called the House of Competitiveness (HOC). This philosophy builds competitive advantage for an ever-changing global market by combining LM, SS, AM, and DFSS in order to improve quality, cost, flexibility, responsiveness, and innovation.

Keywords: CIM|lean manufacturing/Six Sigma|management|manufacturing|quality|statistical methods

How to Cite:

Kovach, J., Stringfellow, P., Turner, J. & Cho, B. R., (2005) “The House of Competitiveness: The Marriage of Agile Manufacturing, Design for Six Sigma, and Lean Manufacturing with Quality Considerations”, Journal of Industrial Technology 21(3).