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Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 22308

Special Issue Editors

Ingeniería del Diseño, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28015 Madrid, Spain
Interests: design engineering; lean 5S/6S methodology; sustainable design; 3D printing design
Ingeniería del Diseño, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), 28015 Madrid, Spain
Interests: concurrent engineering; lean 5S/6S methodology; sustainable design; computer-aided design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, 5S methodologies have undoubtedly been of great help in the development of sustainable technologies. Lean 5S methodologies are evolving towards lean 6S, and even beyond, involving factors such as safety, productivity, etc.

The main objective of the lean tool is to improve working conditions, safety, working climate, personal motivation, and efficiency. As a result, quality, productivity, and competitiveness are improved.

The 5S refers to the initials of five Japanese words beginning with the letter “S”. These are represented – and can solely be represented – by the five tasks that follow, in their given order, to make an organization more effective and efficient: SEIRI (classify), SEITON (order), SEISO (clean), SEIKETSU (standardize), and SHITSUKE (discipline).

With this tool, the intention is to eliminate all those tasks, instruments, transfers, waits, etc., which do not add value to the final product or service and are, therefore, considered waste. Thanks to this tool, an organized, orderly, and clean work position is achieved and, consequently, an environment of greater safety and quality.

6S adds a new element, that is in many environments, safety; although, in other environments, other alternatives have been proposed. This Special Issue of Sustainability was launched, under this premise, to study the relevant advances in various fields and how the implementation of these methodologies is being addressed.

The aim of this Special Issue “Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology” is to gather results from the most advanced work currently being developed in the field of lean 6S methodologies. This compilation will undoubtedly be a great step forward in fostering and disseminating academic knowledge in the field of lean 6S methodology.

Prof. Dr. María del Mar Espinosa Escudero
Prof. Dr. Manuel Domínguez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lean 5s/6s methodology
  • sustainable design
  • design engineering
  • concurrent engineering
  • computer-aided design
  • 3D printing design

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 6754 KiB  
Article
Lean 6S in Food Production: HACCP as a Benchmark for the Sixth S “Safety”
by Rut Azucena Domínguez, María del Mar Espinosa, Manuel Domínguez and Luis Romero
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12577; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212577 - 15 Nov 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3759
Abstract
This article presents the integration of lean 6S methodologies and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) in the food production sector. Through the study, it is seen that non-food industrial production is not very different from that of food, and in many [...] Read more.
This article presents the integration of lean 6S methodologies and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) in the food production sector. Through the study, it is seen that non-food industrial production is not very different from that of food, and in many cases, it assimilates protocols and ideas that are already working in the food industry. Such is the case of risk analysis, critical control points or hygiene, which are part of the food production protocol and of the industry in general. After the integrative analysis, the article proposes a common lean 6S–HACCP model, which can be used both in food production and in non-food industrial production. Food quality management systems, a fundamental element of HACCP which the project must necessarily include, is analyzed in-depth. The peculiarities prior to the integration of the mandatory HACCP and the voluntary lean are analyzed, as well. Throughout the manuscript, an important series of considerations regarding lean is collected, giving practical examples of its use in the food environment. The study makes special reference to concurrent engineering, which, as is known, constitutes the link between 5S and lean. This analysis aims to present a lean 6S HACCP implementation project. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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13 pages, 1275 KiB  
Article
Adaptation of the Lean 6S Methodology in an Industrial Environment under Sustainability and Industry 4.0 Criteria
by Mariano Jiménez, Mª del Mar Espinosa, Manuel Domínguez, María Romero and Tamar Awad
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12449; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212449 - 11 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2766
Abstract
Industry 4.0 paradigms have a positive influence on standard operating procedures, methodologies used in Lean Manufacturing techniques and management models with sustainability criteria. Interdependencies and correlations have been found between Lean systems and Industry 4.0. The Lean principles of avoiding waste and zero [...] Read more.
Industry 4.0 paradigms have a positive influence on standard operating procedures, methodologies used in Lean Manufacturing techniques and management models with sustainability criteria. Interdependencies and correlations have been found between Lean systems and Industry 4.0. The Lean principles of avoiding waste and zero defects are related to the cloud and big data paradigms. In a current workplace, there has been an exponential increase in digital information and the need to generate direct commitments to environmental management. This situation forces us to innovate and improve the management methodologies and models used in the industrial environment. The Lean 6S methodology must adapt and respond to new demands. In this work, an update of the Lean 6S methodology is carried out to guarantee increased productivity in the workplace through the organization of industrial resources, both physical and digital. A revision of the implementation procedure is proposed, which includes activities that generate a direct commitment to sustainability and the organization of digital information, through a proposal for an organizational architecture of Industry 4.0 technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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11 pages, 983 KiB  
Article
Applying Lean Healthcare to Improve the Discharge Process in a Mexican Academic Medical Center
by Rodrigo E. Peimbert-García, Luis Meave Gutiérrez-Mendoza and Heriberto García-Reyes
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10911; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910911 - 30 Sep 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3144
Abstract
Lean Thinking has been one of the preferred approaches to improve healthcare processes in developed countries; however, it has been barely used in Latin America. This study presents a Lean implementation in a Mexican public academic medical center. The goal was to reduce [...] Read more.
Lean Thinking has been one of the preferred approaches to improve healthcare processes in developed countries; however, it has been barely used in Latin America. This study presents a Lean implementation in a Mexican public academic medical center. The goal was to reduce the time required to discharge patients from the Internal Medicine Department. This non-experimental intervention study measured, analyzed, and improved the process flow through a time study, value-added/non-value-added analysis, and the four-step quick changeover approach. Once changes were implemented, inferential statistics were used to compare results. Lean implementation allowed reducing the time to discharge patients from 6 to 3 h by eliminating 57% of non-value-added activities and 70% of errors found in discharge orders. This represents a 2% annual capacity increase and a 6.423 h bed made available without investment. Other findings include barriers regarding untrained staff about process improvement and departmental barriers and a successful quick changeover implementation. This is one of the handful of implementations of Lean Healthcare in Latin America. Furthermore, this is one of the very first studies that showcase the implementation of the quick changeover approach in healthcare. Further research should focus on the long-term impact and how the specific environment encourages/discourages future implementations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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17 pages, 2562 KiB  
Article
From Lean 5S to 7S Methodology Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Concept
by Jon Fernández Carrera, Alfredo Amor del Olmo, María Romero Cuadrado, María del Mar Espinosa Escudero and Luis Romero Cuadrado
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10810; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910810 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5107
Abstract
Introducing methodologies that promote innovation and continuous improvement in organizations is no longer optional; therefore, organizations are increasingly using methodologies based on Lean principles. Among them, the 6S tool stands out from the rest, commonly used to establish and maintain a high-quality environment, [...] Read more.
Introducing methodologies that promote innovation and continuous improvement in organizations is no longer optional; therefore, organizations are increasingly using methodologies based on Lean principles. Among them, the 6S tool stands out from the rest, commonly used to establish and maintain a high-quality environment, which it has capacity for due to its status as a kaizen process. Thus, this research seeks to evaluate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and the Lean 6S tool and, in the end, create synergies between them in order to enhance the 6S tool’s capabilities. To achieve this, a literature review and analysis of Lean 6S and CSR were performed, and a survey was also proposed to further the understanding of the relationship. With the analyzed sample, it can be confirmed that a relationship exists between the level of implementation of Lean tools and the level of development of CSR policies; therefore, companies that have implemented Lean tools such as 6S are organizations concerned with sustainability, and the hypothesis that organizations that apply Lean also have a high implementation of CSR is validated. Future work should further develop this relationship so that sustainability is no longer considered as implicit in the application of Lean tools but rather as part of them. This research proposes to develop the 6S tool toward the 7S tool to facilitate the inclusion of a CSR policy in a procedural and simple way. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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24 pages, 872 KiB  
Article
The 4.0 Industry Technologies and Their Impact in the Continuous Improvement and the Organizational Results: An Empirical Approach
by Víctor Hugo Arredondo-Méndez, Lorena Para-González, Carlos Mascaraque-Ramírez and Manuel Domínguez
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9965; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179965 - 06 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3993
Abstract
This study analyses the relationships between the technologies of Industry 4.0, continuous improvement, and the business results. To carry out this study, 109 questionnaires to companies of different sectors were collected, but an indispensable condition to take into account was the fact that [...] Read more.
This study analyses the relationships between the technologies of Industry 4.0, continuous improvement, and the business results. To carry out this study, 109 questionnaires to companies of different sectors were collected, but an indispensable condition to take into account was the fact that these companies develop themselves their logistics management. The analysis of the results obtained through the Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology argues that there is a positive relationship between 4.0 Industry and continuous improvement processes, as well as between continuous improvement processes and organizational results, although it cannot be concluded that a direct relationship between 4.0 Industry and organizational results exists, which means that there are other variables, such as continuous improvement, mediating between them. With this work, there is already an accredited reference of the relationship, which has been verified to exist, between the Industry 4.0, the continuous improvement, and the business results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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20 pages, 2900 KiB  
Article
Linking Lean Adoption and Implementation in Healthcare to National Cultures
by Rodrigo E. Peimbert-García, Tapani Jorma, Leopoldo Eduardo Cárdenas-Barrón, Samuel M. Nucamendi-Guillén and Heriberto García-Reyes
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8855; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13168855 - 08 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2363
Abstract
Lean Healthcare (LHC) is a widely accepted approach to improve the quality of care around the world. This research compares two studies, which evaluated the adoption/implementation of LHC in Finland and Mexico, to understand how cultural similarities/differences influence LHC implementations. Data were gathered [...] Read more.
Lean Healthcare (LHC) is a widely accepted approach to improve the quality of care around the world. This research compares two studies, which evaluated the adoption/implementation of LHC in Finland and Mexico, to understand how cultural similarities/differences influence LHC implementations. Data were gathered from previous questionnaire-based studies administered to healthcare professionals in both countries. Statistics (X2, p, and Wilcoxon tests) are used to compare both studies across topics related to adoption, introduction, integration, success, and barriers of LHC projects, and results are linked to cultural dimensions. Driven by economic savings, LHC has been more adopted in Finland than in Mexico (75/13%). Upon introduction, similarities are found in the way LHC projects are conducted, high project success rate, poor level of integration, and enabling/disabling factors. Conversely, differences were mainly found in the objectives of implementing LHC. These similarities/differences are linked to national factors involving culture, social structure, uncertainty management, time orientation, and indulgence level. In particular, uncertainty avoidance, equal rights’ structure, and a feminine culture are positive for implementing Lean. These findings can be a benchmark to evaluate cultural practices. Thus, this study provides insight into how national cultures relate to LHC and determined distinctive sociotechnical aspects that influence its adoption/implementation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Technology: The Lean 6S Methodology)
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