Systematic Review of Lean Six Sigma Approaches in Higher Education

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Weinstein and Castellano (2008) describe an approach to reinforce classroom experience for master of business administration (MBA) students by exposing them to Six Sigma process improvement projects at local companies. The research explains the importance of integrating total quality management into the curricula and how it helps graduates to understand supplier relationships, the importance of viewing work as a process, and how to work independently. Educators also play an important role after the integration of TQM into the curriculum. Weinstein and Castellano suggest that educators should recognize that quality is not just a collection of facts, theories, and tools, rather it is a culture of beliefs, values, and behavior, a way of thinking, and orientation. The importance of Six Sigma and advantages of using the DMAIC approach for class projects is provided. The research concludes that the gap between theoretical and practical situations can be reduced in higher education by ensuring that future managers understand the importance of quality tools used for organizational improvement.

Babajide and Moore (2015) focus on engineering university-industry projects to meet the industry expectations of graduates to exhibit academic expertise in a chosen discipline and immediate ability to apply a broad range of skills deemed essential in the workplace. The Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach was used because it is helpful in developing better prepared graduates for the workforce. The question that is put forward as a basis of argument in the research is ‘What elements of DFSS are present in engineering students’ written work during a problem solving design task?’ An introduction to DFSS and the use of Total Quality Management and Critical Parameter Management (CPM) are provided. Only the concept and design phases in the product development process are considered in this research. The concept phase has four different characteristics including gathering the voice of customers (VOC), refine and rank voice of customer, integrate and align the VOC with voice of technology (VOT), and generate system concepts. The design phase also has four stages, which are identifying and resolving conflicting requirements using the VOC data, construct a subsystem noise diagram, select the best concept, and generate a spatial integration model. The research concludes that DFSS can enhance how students present and organize ideas in a systematic way.

Pryor, Alexander, Taneja, Tirumalasetty, and Chadalavada (2012) used a student Six Sigma team to evaluate the course and curriculum approval process and ultimately decrease the process cycle time and reduce confusion about how the process works. The Six Sigma student team developed flowcharts about how the approval process works by interviewing the process stakeholders. The research includes historical and theoretical foundations of Six Sigma and how it is being applied in higher education. A case study of introducing a new master’s program in Management Information Systems (MIS) and problems involved in introducing the program were studied. Students used the DMAIC methodology to study the curriculum approval process, identify various problems, and conclude that Six Sigma techniques should be employed. The project resulted in a cycle time reduction of 78.9 percent. The research concludes that employing Six Sigma projects, even though they are beneficial, have problems such as startup and phase down times associated with the semesters, and extent to which stakeholders are eager to be involved in the improvement process. Various recommendations included Six Sigma initiatives aligning with elements that are an integral part of the university, and students getting more involved in Six Sigma projects are suggested.

Yu and Ueng (2012) implemented a feedback system to improve the quality of education by describing the use of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach and the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) method. A case study was performed in Taiwan to measure the importance and performance of quality in higher education. The study used 20 attributes that were divided into five parts, which included teaching preparation, teaching materials and methods, teaching attitudes, professional development, and coordination of teaching administrations. Different questionnaires were developed and reviewed as part of the define phase of the Six Sigma approach. A teaching performance indicator was used in the measure phase to determine the important attributes. The Teaching Effective Analysis Matrix (TEAM), which is a slight modification of IPA, was employed to analyze the status of each attribute. Using the charts of TEAM, the improvements were made to the attributes that were not satisfactory. Then the approach moved to the control phase to verify the effectiveness of the improvements such that each attribute would fall into the teaching capability zone on the TEAM. This provides a continuous system for teaching feedback.

Bandyopadhyay (2014) provides a framework to develop cost effective, high quality online programs in the United States using the Six Sigma approach. A literature review is provided that details how curriculum has changed over the years, especially after the civil war, and how academic leadership has an indirect influence on student achievements. The research also explains how principles such as philosophy, clear purpose and goals, theoretically sound process, rational sequence, continuous assessment, and improvement of quality should be followed for curriculum design. A case of running an educational institution as a business enterprise is presented using the Six Sigma approach for continuous improvement through QFD. This approach has various stages such as benchmarking, preliminary program design, evaluating and finalizing the courses, selecting trained faculty, redesigning periodically, and modifying and upgrading the program.

Literature Review on Lean in Higher Education

Carvalho, Lopes, Ramos, Avila, Bastos, Fonseca, and Martens (2013) described how a project of Lean learning academy developed a successful alternative to traditional teaching methods in engineering courses. Lean learning academy is an international collaboration project between five European universities and five multinational companies that developed and applied a training program for engineers on Lean manufacturing. Lean learning contents consist of elements in three major areas: operating systems, mindset and behavior components, and managerial issues. Operating systems consist of safety assurance, problem solving, quality assurance, visual management, and variability minimization. Mindset and behavior components focus on Lean behavior where every employee is directly involved in the continuous improvement efforts. Managerial