INEN 4354 Lean Manufacturing
Lean/Lean Six Sigma Project
Due Date May 6, 2023 10:00 PM
Project Guidelines:
Purpose: This project, to be completed as an individual, will provide you with an opportunity to apply and understand basics of the Lean and Lean Six Sigma methodology to investigate a real-world problem, while also enhancing your research skills. If you are working, you may prepare a project for a work process in your company. If not, you can select one of the sample projects in the links below or from other sources and explain the project in the template format. The sections below describe the final project deliverable.
http://www.isixsigma.com/tag/dmaic-project-examples/
https://goleansixsigma.com/lean-six-sigma-project-storyboard-examples/
to further understand what Lean Six Sigma is;
http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-column/three-types-lean-six-sigma-projects.html
Research Project Requirements:
The reason for this project is to learn how to make and analyze Lean Six Sigma Projects. Students are not expected to prepare a perfect Lean Six Sigma Project, but they are expected to understand and summarize the basics of a Lean Six Sigma Project. Please select your topic. Find 1-3 journal papers based on your topic and based on your topic selection. Library is a very good source for the topic (Science direct database is good for engineering journals). You are expected to explain the basics of the methodology that you selected. You don’t need to include and explain every single subtitle in the template. You may use any appropriate Lean/ Lean Six Sigma methodologies such as 5S, or JIT process design, U-shape cell design, DMAIC approach or other methodologies. One of the important factors for a good grade is putting your own words for explanation. Please do not plagiarize for the explanations of the projects and reference all of the sources you used.
Final Project Template:
1. Introduction/Context – describe (1-2 pages):
a. The company and/or department in which your problem happened
b. The problem directly related to the job functions that you solve by improving the current way things are done
If you chose the DMAIC process, here is the link for DMAIC methodology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMAIC
More methodologies you can utilize: http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/six-sigma/tools.html
Brief literature review about the Lena concept based on the selection of the topic (1/2-1 pages)Discussion (1/2-1 pages)Conclusion (1/2-1 pages)References (Show your 1-3 references here, please do not limit yourself finding 1-3 articles, you may include more articles)
Format of the Project
1. The length of the research paper should be somewhere in the range of 3-5 pages.
2. Please use 12 point as sizing and 1.5 line spacing
3. Please use your own words when you are writing. Do not copy and paste from the references.
4. Use proper spelling and grammar
5. Display a logical organization and natural flow
6. Present material with concision, clarity, and fluency
7. Display professional tone and content
8. Use relevant visual aids
9. Please named your project as lastname_firstname_INEN_4354_Project
Discussion areas for potential topics
Here are the basic discussion topics for your project. You should be able to give explanation about these topics in your project.
a. What is approach/method to lean?
b. Draw a conclusion for bottom line results of lean effort in selected topic
c. Resources required for implementing lean
d. Type of results achieved
e. General observations about lean practice
f. Other topics that seems relevant to lean manufacturing which will be worth to discuss
Present results in a well organized and compelling written document.
Grading
Grades depend on the depth, detail and relevance of the responses.
This project is intended to give you a chance to study something within our class that interests you. Students who follow all the guidelines provided here should score very well on this project. Following guidelines is the best way to get an “A”!
Typical Problems and Suggestions
Make sure that the articles are related to your topic.Many students will not score well on this project because they did not submit real journal articles. Instead, they will use whatever articles they can find using a Google or Yahoo search. Most articles found this way will not be good enough.Many students lose points because they copied all or a portion of their key points “word for word” from the article and did not put the key points in their own words. I want students to read the articles, give their own analysis on the important ideas and write this analysis on their own words.Many students lose points for submitting key point analysis that is too brief, so a 2-3 sentence description of a key idea is not sufficient.I suggest using the on-line databases found on our library’s web site (e.g. science direct database). The Mary and John Grey Library web site can be found at Many of these databases have full articles in PDF format.
