An Integrated Lean Six Sigma and Predictive Maintenance Framework for Enhancing Overall Equipment Effectiveness in Smart Manufacturing Environments

Abstract

The modern manufacturing industry is experiencing growing pressure to enhance the quality of its products, to reduce the costs of manufacturing and maintaining those plants, and to ensure that the equipment within those plants is reliable and functioning as required of high-output manufacturing facilities. Despite the widespread use of methodologies like Lean Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance, predictive maintenance, quality management systems, and Industry 4.0 technologies as means of increasing the quality and reliability of manufacturing plants, the current literature on these methods treats them as separate areas of focus for manufacturing companies, leading to fragmented approaches and gains in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) within the manufacturing plants. To address this gap in the literature, an integrated framework can be developed that unifies these various methodologies around the concept of OEE as the primary performance measure to be maximized by manufacturing companies. The framework that will be developed in this research paper is named the Integrated Predictive Quality Excellence Framework (IPQEF), which will incorporate concepts from lean manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance, predictive maintenance, ISO 9001 quality management systems, and Industry 4.0 technologies to create a comprehensive framework that enhances the OEE of smart manufacturing plants. Through a literature review that employs an interpretivist philosophy and a theoretical framework, the IPQEF will be derived from the existing literature on these concepts. The resulting framework will have the goal of allowing manufacturers to enhance the quality of their products, increase the reliability of their plants and equipment, and reduce their manufacturing costs. Furthermore, the theoretical underpinning of the framework will be explained and validated through the relationship of the IPQEF to theories relating to resources, socio-technical systems, and dynamic capabilities within manufacturing companies. Finally, the framework will be discussed in relation to other proposed integrations of these concepts, and in what ways the IPQEF may help manufacturers of the future. Keywords: Lean Six Sigma; Predictive Maintenance; Overall Equipment Effectiveness; Industry 4.0; Total Productive Maintenance; Smart Manufacturing; Quality Management Systems