Lean Six‐Sigma application in business process outsourced organization

Abstract

Purpose

In the service sector, reduction of cycle time is one of the key issues. Lean concepts and techniques are applied to increase the speed of operations. In many cases, improvement projects need to leverage a combination of Lean and Six‐Sigma approaches and tools. The purpose of this paper is to present a Lean Six‐Sigma case study for reducing cycle time in a BPO operation and to demonstrate application of Lean Six‐Sigma methodology in BPO and ITeS industries.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an application of Lean Six‐Sigma methodology for cycle time reduction in BPO organizations.

Findings

Lean Six‐Sigma is found to work very well in BPO industries for reducing process cycle time by carrying out process changes. “Improve result by improving the process” – this motto of Six‐Sigma is very well demonstrated by this approach of Lean Six‐Sigma for BPO organizations.

Originality/value

This paper utilizes fundamental Lean and Six‐Sigma approaches and presents applications. The main idea behind this paper is to utilize Lean concepts/techniques to speed up Six‐Sigma projects. Apart from the paper's value for managers, it can also help researchers to extend this for other areas of business processes.

Citation

Ray, S. and John, B. (2011), "Lean Six‐Sigma application in business process outsourced organization", International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 2 No. 4, pp. 371-380. https://doi.org/10.1108/20401461111189443