Development of an integrated quality management Framework for manufacturing organisations

During the last couple of decade's operation management methods such as Six-Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and TQM have been implemented by many organizations to facilitate the production lines and to improving the operation performance. However, none of these models able to solve all organisation problems when implemented alone, whereas integrated management models such as Lean Six-Sigma, have been empowered organisations to exceed the improvement rates and achieves competitive advantage. The aim of this research study is to develop an integrated quality management framework, consists of two models which are; Lean Six-Sigma integrated model and Six-Sigma TQM integrated model, to help manufacturing organisations to eliminate the quality issues and to improve and modernize quality system. The study explores the literature pertinent to the topic, in order to identify the key drivers that are required to develop the proposed models and the framework. The study adopted a quantitative approach method for developing and validating the proposed models and the framework. Initially, Questionnaire surveys were conducted for the validation of the proposed models, the models were endorsed by a significant number of industrialists, quality professionals and academics from various manufacturing organisations. The models were integrated together and, therefore, the key drivers for developing the framework were identified. Furthermore, a multi-criteria decision-making method (AHP) was applied to evaluate and prioritise the key components of the framework. Based on an (AHP) evaluation the framework is designed and its implementation procedures were developed. The questionnaire survey was designed and conducted for the purpose of validating the framework and its implementation procedures. The key findings of this study clearly demonstrated that the development of the proposed models and the framework should enable manufacturing organisations to achieve their desired objectives effectively. Finally, the proposed framework and the integrated models were designed to provide impetus and guidance for manufacturing organisations in order to achieve significant improvement in the manufacturing organisations' performance and, as such, make a key contribution to academic knowledge.