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This paper tries to generalize business process improvement (BPI) methodology. It utilizes the seven-waste framework as an essential step in the methodology. While the seven-waste concept is usually applied for manufacturing activities, this paper tries to explore the applicability of it to office-work activities. Also, this paper demonstrates that information technology can be used as a tool for reducing waste in the office-work.

A comprehensive literature review of BPI methodology studies was conducted in order to propose systematic flowcharts to represent the sequence of processes involved in each step of BPI methodology. The proposed flowcharts are applied to a case study in supply chain planning and allocation planning at a manufacturing company. The seven-waste framework is designed as part of the step, in which equivalency between the definition of waste found on the production floor and waste found in office work is presented.

The BPI methodology generally follows five steps: initialization, selection, design, implementation and evaluation. The seven-waste framework is effectively applied in the selection step. The case study shows that information technology can be used as a tool in business process improvement to reduce waste in the business process.

The case study indicates that the proposed framework and methodology are proven able to reduce the three key performance indicators. They are the number of steps from 54 to 24 (55% reduction), processing time from 890 min to 313.5 min (64% reduction) and the number of the manual process from 41 to 17 (59% reduction).

This paper proposes a generalization of BPI methodology, the seven-waste framework in the selection step of the BPI methodology, the seven-waste concept in office-work activity and the use of information technology for BPI by reducing waste in office-work activity.

The paper aims to investigate the waste in a job shop environment and proposes an assessment method aimed at helping companies to identify root causes of waste.

The seven wastes (overproducing; processing; inventory; transporting; producing defects; time waiting; and motion waste) and their relationships were explored. A waste matrix was developed to quantify in a percentage form the relationships among wastes and represents a probability that a certain type of waste will affect others or be affected by others. An assessment questionnaire was employed to allocate the source of waste and differentiate between the levels of waste. The waste matrix and the assessment questionnaire were incorporated in the assessment method to rank the existing waste in a job shop.

The developed model serves as guidelines for simplifying the search of waste problems and identifies opportunities for waste elimination. A case study was conducted to validate the model; and the results of the assessment and the real situation concur.

This paper has investigated a method to allocate waste, quantify it and discuss the relationships among wastes without quantifying the potential savings. Further research should be done in order to investigate the level of reduction in effort and time as a result of implementing the method.

The approach provides a method by which managers can identify the sources of waste, differentiate between the levels of waste and rank their significance.

The simplicity of the matrix and the comprehensiveness of the questionnaire contribute to the achievement of accurate results in identifying the root causes of waste. The new model provides an insight into on where to concentrate effort by weighing the contributions of the different waste types.

Develops a new value stream or supply‐chain mapping typology. This seven‐map typology is based on the different wastes inherent in value streams. The use of the various tools, either singularly or in combination, is therefore driven by the types of waste to be removed. The tools themselves are drawn from a range of existing functional ghettos such as logistics, operations management and engineering. Maintains that two of the seven tools can be regarded as completely new. This cross‐functional approach means that the choice of tools to be used can be made from outside of traditional departmental boundaries, affording researchers and companies the opportunity to use the most appropriate tools rather than merely those that are well‐known in their function. Describes each tool briefly and gives a simple mechanism for choosing which is most appropriate to contingent situations.

The purpose of this paper is to prioritize 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Seven healthcare wastes linked with lean management are further decomposed in to sub-criteria and to deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method is used in this research.

AHP framework for this study resulted in a ranking of 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of UAE. It has been found that management in private healthcare systems of UAE is putting more emphasis on the inventory waste. On the other hand, over processing waste has got highest weight in public hospitals of UAE.

The future directions of this research would be to apply a lean set of tools for the value stream optimization of the prioritized key improvement areas.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into lean management, giving practitioners and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing lean practices across health organizations.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization, prioritization of the waste reduction strategies in healthcare management.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles investigating the relationship between Lean and Green management in light of developing an integrated management model.

After an extensive search, 60 articles from 1996 to 2016 were identified as relevant to this study.

The evidence of successful integration of Lean and Green management has largely been weak. The strongest positive evidence between the two management philosophies has been for Lean implementation pushing Green outcomes through operational waste reduction, thus improving environmental performance. The majority of studies suggest highly optimistic outcomes from integrating Lean and Green, however, an integrated operating model of the firm relating Lean and Green is lacking.

The literature review suggests the necessary elements for proposing an integrated operating model of the firm.

The paper offers interesting implications for managers. While most Lean implementations have resulted in some positive environmental outcomes, both management philosophies tend to be implemented independently. Integrating the implementation of Lean and Green offers the potential for synergistic returns.

The findings are derived from a systematic literature review of articles that have studied the relation between Lean and Green management, resulting in a proposed integrated model of firm performance.

This study aims to help quality professionals in following a precise framework that maintains a company’s performance during health pandemics. In many companies, all quality methods seem to produce performance improvement at different levels, but lean management and kaizen were superior in preparing manufacturing companies to have high readiness levels when faced with a health pandemic.

Which quality method can help businesses in performing well during a health pandemic? In order to answer this question and be able to provide specific recommendations toward performing well in all future health pandemics, 500 manufacturing companies were selected and surveyed. The selected companies are known to use at least one quality method such as lean management, ISO 9001, European foundation for quality management (EFQM) and Six Sigma.

EFQM comes second, then Six Sigma and ISO 9001. Lean creates a healthy workplace and enhances worker's health and well-being. This research helps quality professionals in following a precise framework that maintains performance during health pandemics. Whether the company uses lean or other quality methods, the framework helps in achieving pandemic readiness status. The framework is implemented in a company that does not currently use lean. Implementation resulted in significant improvement in pandemic preparedness, corporate performance and employee well-being.

After the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, all companies should start thinking of creating a workplace that functions well during pandemics. To do that, companies should start including sanitation and health pandemic preparedness as part of their performance measurements. Using lean management and kaizen helps organizations to create a healthy workplace; clean and equipped with smaller number of workers. If organizations choose to use other quality methods, it is okay, but they should enhance these methods with lean tools such as elimination of the seven wastes, gemba, 5S and visual management.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the implementation of Lean Six Sigma techniques through a series of student projects carried out in a hospital setting.

The five projects were carried out by teams of Masters' students taking a module on operations and quality management. The students were all staff members of the hospital. The study analysed each of the five projects under a number of headings: setting and context, approach, key success factors, benefits and lessons learnt. The projects were then examined to identify patterns among the projects.

All student projects adopted a single foundation methodology as the basis for the project, but supported this with additional techniques from the Lean Six Sigma stable. The primary methodology was Lean in the case of three projects, Six Sigma in the case of one project and mistake proofing in the case of the final project. The most commonly used supporting techniques were process mapping, seven wastes, 5S and logic tree/root cause which were each used in two of the five projects. Other techniques used were control charts, checklists and theory of constraints, which were each used by one project team. Support from top management and regular communication with stakeholders were identified as key factors for success by three of the five project teams. All of the projects, although implemented during a time period of less than three months, and by relatively novice users of Lean Six Sigma techniques, yielded practical benefit to the hospital.

This paper examines a number of Lean Six Sigma projects carried out in an Irish hospital. Students were tasked to examine and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a clinical or/and an administrative process within the hospital. Arguably, a single module on a Master's program in healthcare leadership and organisational change is insufficient to bring about large-scale process change in a single hospital in particular, or to the Irish healthcare sector in general, but it is a start, and as these projects demonstrate it provides a set of tools, techniques and effective methods for instigating process change.

Lean Six Sigma offer a variety of methodologies and techniques for use on a process improvement project. It is vital that the project team select for use those techniques which are most appropriate to the particular context of the project. Adoption of an overall methodology (philosophy) supported by specific techniques, proved to be an effective approach.

This paper provides useful information for practitioners who are introducing the Lean Six Sigma approach into a hospital setting. The study demonstrates that relatively novice users of Lean Six Sigma can provide value to the organisation in a relatively short period of time. The paper also demonstrates that Lean Six Sigma can be used and provide benefit in a variety of settings within a hospital.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce lean concept to the field of healthcare management, expands the conceptualization of lean management beyond the manufacturing companies to consider key waste reduction opportunities which are posited to be requisites to lean practices and implements the proposed framework in the three public hospitals in Abu Dhabi.

This research is designed by decomposing complex and unstructured issue into a set of components organized in a multi-level hierarchical form. To deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method is used in this research.

AHP framework for this study resulted in a ranking of 21 healthcare wastes based on the evaluations of local situations by experienced healthcare professionals. It has been found that management in healthcare systems of Abu Dhabi is putting more emphasis on the inventory waste.

The future directions of the research would be to apply a lean set of tools for the value stream optimization of the prioritized key improvement areas.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into lean management, giving practitioners and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing lean practices across health organizations.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization, prioritization of the waste reduction strategies in healthcare management.

Manufacturing waste reduction with productivity improvement 4.0 has a crucial role in the use of technology for efficient production development. The objective of this research is to measure the productivity increase rate of healthy juices to present the pathway of loss reduction in healthy juices with productivity improvement 4.0. The author collected data from informants through 14 activities, including observation and in-depth interviews, before analysing the received data with the Integration Definition (IDEF) process flow chart and value stream mapping using SPSS Statistics version 17.0. The study found that loss reduction in healthy juices takes place during the cutting, boiling, and pasteurizing processes. After checking the productivity increase in healthy juice production, the total time spending is eight hours and the rate of is 6.66 minutes/bottle; the total amount is 2,880 bottles, which is lower than the expected number. Therefore, the author offered the pathway for loss reduction in healthy juices with productivity improvement 4.0. The author also found that it is able to reduce the loss during the healthy juices production activity, resulting in the productivity increase to 4,000 bottles. Within eight hours, the productivity rate is 4.80 minutes/bottle, an increasing number of 38.88%. This increase benefits entrepreneurs to increase productivity efficiently and effectively.

Lean healthcare is highlighted in the literature as an approach to quality improvement and operational efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to study how Lean healthcare has been implemented by analyzing empirical outcomes.

The authors used a literature review as the primary research method, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses process. Peer-reviewed journals were analyzed – searching for Lean healthcare implementation, tools used, wastes addressed, outcomes and sustainability.

Evidence suggests that Lean can improve healthcare operational effectiveness. However, empirical studies show implementation is still highly localized with small successes. Most transformations are focused on implementing one or two Lean tools that primarily target patient waiting times and there is minimal evidence about sustainability. Establishing clear definitions for healthcare-related Lean terminology may improve practice, especially episodic care and service quality.

This work provides a Lean healthcare case review. The research makes a significant contribution to Lean healthcare by increasing understanding (scale, scope and sustainability). From a theory building perspective, the authors suggest that barriers to adoption include a common healthcare-specific Lean terminology, and a need to expand implementation beyond small successes. This understanding will help identify key areas for further research in Lean healthcare management.