Exploration, development and integration of Lean Six Sigma approaches with "green" environmental practices.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has the capability to provide organisations with increased levels of competitiveness in terms of more consistent quality, lower customer lead times and reduced costs. What is lesser known is that when deployed effectively, it can also provide organisations with additional environmental or "green" benefits. With organisations facing ever increasing demands for reducing CO2 levels from global environmental legislation, the motivation for the research was to gain knowledge and understanding of the current status of LSS and Environmental Management practices within the Global LSS community. In addition the researcher intended to gauge the demand for "Green" LSS tools and techniques and an associated framework. Consequently the fundamental aim of the research and resulting thesis has been to explore, develop, test and implement Environmental LSS methodologies that can be applied by organisations and also to develop a structured operational assessment framework that can increase sustainability of LSS whilst simultaneously garnering environmental improvements. The initial part of the research is based on the review of the literature on LSS, and its recent evolution into different versions of Environmental Lean and/or Six Sigma and how this relates to Environmental Management Systems and current/future environmental legislation in the UK and Globally. In addition, the development and deployment of a Global LSS survey received over 450 responses from a broad array of companies, organisational functions and hierarchical levels, which has confirmed the potential environmental benefits of LSS and its suitability for combination with environmental management practices. Using evidence and analysis from the Global LSS survey and the development, testing and industry case study of an Environmental 5S Sustainability Audit (E5S-SA), it has been possible to develop an Environmental Lean Six Sigma Sustainability Assessment (ELSSSA) Framework that can bedeployed and tailored to suit the requirements of a wide range of organisations from different specific geographic locations, industry sectors and company structure types. The research findings have clarified the unique differences that exist within manufacturing and service sectors, specific geographic locations and organisational structure types in relation to LSS and Environmental Management. In addition it has been discovered that the majority of the LSS community have experienced environmental benefits from their LSS projects with the reduction in energy consumption being the biggest benefit experienced. Through the development and testing of the ELSSSA tool in an industry scenario within the transport sector, it has been possible to deliver a solution that has provided practical results and structured feedback to an organisation quickly and effectively through the E5S-SA process. In terms of opportunities and lessons learnt from the research it would be advantageous to conduct further research via the Global LSS survey to extent down to a country specific level to provide more precise guidelines to geographic locations. This would broaden its appeal and usefulness within businesses interested in combining the use of LSS and Environmental Management. Finally it would be beneficial to conduct further development and testing of the ELSSSA tools to a wider range of business sectors to gamer more knowledge and feedback on the approaches created by the researcher.