A Process Analysis of an Implementation of Lean Six Sigma in a Manufacturing Medium-Sized Enterprise

Paper in proceeding, 2013

In the present paper we study the gradual adoption of Lean Six Sigma in a medium-sized Swedish manufacturing company. We identify converters moving the process forward or backward and inhibitors that cause the process to linger. We find that the activities that initially were moving the process forward were not enough to move the process beyond its current point. However, the increased knowledge of Lean Six Sigma in the organization now prevents the process from moving backwards. The paper contributes to the understanding of combining Lean and Six Sigma, improvement work in SMEs, and ex-post analyses of gradual adoptions of improvement work.