Definition of a collaborative working model to the logistics area using design for Six Sigma

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to create an online enterprise community for all logistics employees of Bosch Car Multimedia division in the Bosch Group, for an internal collaboration of the entire Bosch Group based on an IBM Connections platform: Bosch Connect. An additional concern, collected throughout the project, was to bring employees to join the platform, making it a tool of your daily work. The final objective is to implement and promote a tool to foster internal and external integration of the Bosch logistics community.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study is presented to illustrate the use of a Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology to support all the process creation of a collaborative community. There are several variants of the methodology DFSS. For the context of this project, will be used the define, measure, analyze, design and verify (DMADV) methodology, that is appropriated to design services processes and it addresses specifically to the remodeling processes.

Findings

The use of DMADV methodology allows establish, systematically, a model which was in accordance with the target population needs.

Research limitations/implications

Since this is a case study, it is not possible to generalize the results. Furthermore, this project was developed in a limit time (about four months). Thus, was not possible to obtain a large community.

Practical implications

The case study brings some evidence of how a systematic approach to the design of a online enterprise community can support designers to meet user’s needs.

Social implications

A new approach is proposed to meet an online enterprise community user’s needs.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no evidence the use of this methodology to support a construction of an online enterprise community.

Citation

Carvalho, M.S., Magalhaes, D.s., Varela, M.L., Sa, J.O. and Gonçalves, I. (2016), "Definition of a collaborative working model to the logistics area using design for Six Sigma", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 465-475. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-11-2014-0190