Nurul Fadly Habidin

Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma for the Malaysian automotive industry

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) for Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the Malaysian automotive industry.Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the model drawing on a sample of 252 Malaysian automotive organisations. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability analysis empirically verified and validated the underlying items of CSFs of LSS.Findings – The results of EFA, CFA, and reliability analysis show that two items for supplier relationship are recommended to be excluded from the analysis. The result indicates that LSS has identified 40 items as compared to the original questionnaire which had 42 items. Based on the survey of empirical data, the two factors of leadership and customer focus have been shown to be the extremely important factors for LSS implementation in the Malaysian automotive industry.Research limitations/implications – Firstly, this survey is based onl...

Lean Six Sigma Initiative: Business Engineering Practices and Performance in Malaysian Automotive Industry

The automotive industry in various countries struggle to sustain a high degree of lean practice due to competitive market and customer pressure. Recently, Integration between lean and six sigma initiatives are increasingly implemented in the industry. The importance and relationship between lean practices and organizational performance has been highlighted in many studied. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices and organizational performance in Malaysian automotive industries. A Conceptual model using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been proposed. This model will be used to study the relationship between LSS practices and organizational performance in Malaysian automotive industries. Based on the proposed conceptual model and reviewed, research hypotheses are being developed. The paper concludes with suggest future research work.

Lean Six Sigma, strategic control systems, and organizational performance for automotive suppliers

Purpose The aim of this paper is to develop a model that incorporate lean six sigma (LSS) implementation, strategic control system (SCS) and organizational performance (OP) in Malaysian automotive suppliers. Design/methodology/approach A survey through questionnaire was conducted to determine the level of LSS implementation, SCS and OP measurement. In all, 252 sets of questionnaire were successfully collected that brought to 64.3 per cent response rate. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was adopted to analyze the data gathered from the survey. Exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis for testing the construct validity, test for reliability and model measurement were carried out. Findings This study has provided a comprehensive measurement instrument to implement the LSS practices, SCS and OP for Malaysian automotive suppliers. As a result, seven LSS constructs, four for SCS and four measures for OP have been identified. This research model is a mediator model in which it investigates whether the presence of SCS mediates the relationship between LSS and OP. The analysis result through the SEM method showed that SCS does not affect the relationship between LSS and OP. However, SCS is improving OP when coupled with LSS. Research limitations/implications This study has only focused on the structured relationship between LSS Construct, SCS and OP measures. It is possible for other factors in the LSS practices to be studied in future experiments such as total productive maintenance, culture change, role structure and project management skills. Originality/value Future researchers could apply the LSS, SCS and OP measurement as a benchmark for use and can be replicated in other industry or country in the world with minor modifications on the critical factors necessary to suit the goals of the organization, culture and business environment. It could also be used as a business excellence and supplier selection tool for practitioners and researchers.

Corporate social responsibility practices, ISO 26000 efforts and CSR performance in Malaysian automotive industry

CSR practices and ISO 26000 are important as drivers for the automotive industry to become more efficient and effective that can improve CSR performance. In order to meet CSR practices and CSR performance requirement, the automotive industry need to implement ISO 26000 efforts. The main purpose of this study is to review the structural relationship between CSR practices, ISO 26000 and CSR performance in Malaysian automotive industry. The structural equation modelling (SEM) has been proposed for conceptual model of this study. Based on the proposed conceptual model and review, research hypotheses were developed. The paper culminates with opportunities for future research work.

Lean six sigma performance improvement tool for automotive suppliers

Automotive industry is one of the most active industries involved in the quality effort, low production cost, and continuous improvement activities. Today, lean six sigma (LSS) is integrated with strategic control system that has assisted organizations to achieve better organizational performance through high-level continuous improvement activity and better saving in terms of operation and quality cost. Analytic hierarchy process methodology was used in developing a tool of lean six sigma performance improvement to measure the performance of automotive companies. This tool was developed using a system based on Excel. Five case studies were prepared to validate this tool. The result of these case studies suggested that this tool was timely and suitable to determine organizational performance of automotive companies. Through these case studies, this tool was able to identify the strength and weaknesses that directed to where and how improvement should be done.

Exploring lean healthcare practice and supply chain innovation for Malaysian healthcare industry

Lean and supply chain are two quality practices which are the most effective business improvement techniques that focus on continuous improvement process. They are adopted to improve business process, reduce waste, reduce defects, reduce cycle times, fast delivery at the minimal cost and accelerate the process in identifying the best solution practices for ensuring excellence in operational and service management. The purpose of this study is to explore lean healthcare practice adopted by Malaysian healthcare industry and the relationship between lean healthcare practices and supply chain innovation performance. Four dimensions of lean healthcare practice (leadership, employee involvement, organisational culture, customer focus) were determined to have a significant and positive direct relationship with supply chain innovation performance efforts. Furthermore, through this analysis, a structural relationship model using structural equation modelling (SEM) has been proposed. The research hypotheses are being developed based on the proposed conceptual model and reviewed. Finally, the paper study culminates with suggested future research work.

ISO 26000 efforts and corporate social responsibility performance in Malaysian automotive industry

The automotive industry is an important industry in manufacturing sector. This study shows a model to conduct an empirical study in Malaysian automotive industry in order to improve CSR performance. The aim of this study is to review structural analysis of ISO 26000 efforts and CSR performance in Malaysian automotive industry. This study is to review ISO 26000 standards effort (recognising social responsibility and stakeholder identification and engagement). The CSR performance in this study is focused on two main performance; environmental performance and social performance. This study also proposed structural relationship model between ISO 26000 efforts and CSR performance in Malaysian automotive industry. Based on the proposed research model, research hypotheses are being developed. This paper culminates with suggested future research work.

Critical success factors of lean manufacturing practices for the Malaysian automotive manufacturers

Lean manufacturing (LM) and ISO 14001 are business process strategies which are employed by the group of companies to enhance their production in manufacturing and business issues. LM focus on the systematic elimination of waste and non-value added activity from the production process for improved environmental performance. This pilot study was conducted to investigate critical success factors (CSFs) towards successful LMP implementation among automotive manufacturing industry in Malaysia. The questionnaires were designed and distributed to the 50 respondents. The results of reliability analysis show that customer focus is a critical factor influencing the direct LMP implementation success. This study recommends that the future research explore the influence of LMP on environmental performance in Malaysian automotive industry.

Sustainable manufacturing practices, sustaining lean improvements and sustainable performance in Malaysian automotive industry

This exploratory study seeks to determine the interrelationship between sustainable manufacturing practices (SMP), sustaining lean improvements (SLI) and sustainable performance (SP) in Malaysian automotive industry. The specific goals are: 1) to identify the SMP, SLI and SP measures for Malaysian automotive industry; 2) to investigate the impact of SMP and SLI on SP for Malaysian automotive industry; 3) to develop research model of the SMP, SLI and SP measures for Malaysian automotive industry. An attempt has been made in this paper to provide an overview of the available SMP, SLI and SP literature by classifying and then critically reviewing the material to develop a framework for SMP, SLI and SP and suggest future research directions. This also includes model and three performance measures for SMP, SLI and SP measures. A summary of research findings and conclusions are reported at the end of the research view.

Six Sigma Practices and Organizational Performance in Malaysian Healthcare Industry

Successful of six sigma (SS) implementation have been reported in manufacturing industries. Recently, SS practices as quality management initiatives received the wide attention of many practitioners and researchers in service industry such as healthcare industry. The purpose of this study is to review structural analysis the SS and organizational performance (OP) in Malaysian healthcare industry. SS is matched with healthcare sector because the healthcare nature of zero tolerance for medical error. A conceptual model using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been proposed and will be used to study the relationship between SS practices and OP. Based on the previous study and proposed research model, research hypotheses are being developed.