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The American Society for Quality www.asq.org Page 1 of 4
Making the Case for Quality
Six Sigma Green, Black Belts Help Manufacturer
Save Nearly $1.5 Million
The newest component •
of Crown Equipment
Corporation’s quality
management program is
Six Sigma. While lean is
the systematized corporate
effort, company managers
apply Six Sigma to certain
projects as needed and as
resources are available.
The company now has 18 •
certified Six Sigma Green
Belts and 15 Black Belts
in its North American
manufacturing facilities.
To date, Green Belt efforts •
have resulted in hard
savings of $1.2 million
for Crown, and Black
Belt efforts have brought
$285,000 in hard savings,
with more expected as the

projects proceed further.
While the time requirement •
for the first 12 Green
Belts to undertake
training was a whopping
2,400 hours (total for all
12), the company has
calculated that it has
saved a little more than
$500 per hour for each
hour spent in training.
At a Glance . . .
With a corporate commitment to helping customers lower costs
and maximize productivity, it’s no
surprise that Crown Equipment Corporation is itself dedicated
to lean manufacturing and total quality
management. Continuous improvement has been intrinsic to the
company’s philosophy since its found-
ing in 1945, as management has periodically adjusted product
offerings and services to meet changing
customer needs.
Yet even with decades of success that has made the Ohio-based
manufacturer the world’s top-selling
producer of electric lift trucks, the company still recently found
ways to use Six Sigma strategies to
improve processes, reduce scrap and gas usage, and fine-tune
operations. The company now has 18
certified Six Sigma Green Belts and 15 Black Belts in its North
American manufacturing facilities
striving to lead the corporation toward even further
improvement.
The Little Company That Could

Crown Equipment Corporation began as a one-product, one-
room operation in the small, rural commu-
nity of New Bremen, OH. Started just after World War II by the
late Carl H. Dicke and Allen A. Dicke,
the company manufactured temperature controls for coal-
burning furnaces. By 1949, the enterprising
brothers followed changing technology trends and switched to
producing antenna rotators—devices
used to enhance television reception. Even after diversifying
into electronic components manufactur-
ing in 1951 and then adding lift trucks in 1957, Crown
Equipment continued as a leading manufacturer
of antenna rotators until late 2001, by which time changing
technologies had rendered them virtually
obsolete.
Still privately owned and managed by descendents of the
original founders, Crown’s full product line
includes:
• Manualpropelledpallettrucksandstackers
• Powerpallettrucksandstackers
• Sit-downandstand-upcounterbalancedtrucks
• Narrow-aislereachtrucks
• Verynarrow-aisleturrettrucks
• Order-pickingequipment
The company’s electric lift trucks are used throughout the world
for transporting materials and goods
in warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing
environments.
Still headquartered in the same, though renovated and expanded,
offices in New Bremen, Crown is now
a multinational corporation with regional headquarters in

Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia.
The company has 11 manufacturing facilities in seven U.S.
locations and also has strong international
by Jeanne Chircop
July 2008
http://www.asq.org
manufacturing capabilities, building lift trucks in Sydney,
Australia; Roding, Germany; Queretaro, Mexico (two plants);
and
Suzhou, China. Crown also owns branch sales and service cen-
ter operations in Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Korea,
Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and more
than 40 locations in the United States. In addition to the
company-
owned branches, a network of independent U.S. and
international
Crown dealers operates in nearly 100 cities.
Despite this diversification and
global spread, Crown designs
and manufactures 85 percent
of its lift truck components.
The company also assembles
its own products and provides
maintenance services to
customers.
Such vertical integration cre-
ates a strong competitive
advantage, according to Mark
DeGrandchamp, Crown’s

director of quality and Lean/
Six Sigma. “We know our
products better,” he says, “because we design and build our own
motors, cylinders, electronic assemblies, wire harnesses, and
masts [the part that lifts the pallet].”
This intimate product knowledge significantly reduces client
downtime due to maintenance, repair, and parts replacement.
Crown’s multidisciplinary teams also have the ability to quickly
adjust concepts during the design stages and provide supporting
tools that lead to increased productivity, operator comfort,
safety,
and better fleet management.
“We have one of the lowest life-cycle costs in the industry,”
DeGrandchamp says, claiming customers are willing to invest in
the quality of Crown trucks and service because they feel it will
benefit them with cost avoidance in the long term.
Flexible Enough to Change
Crown’s impressive history of growth stems from its leaders’
keen awareness of changing technology and market trends com-
bined with a corporate culture that has embraced flexibility and
challenge. A continuous focus on effectively satisfying
changing
customer needs is a hallmark of total quality management.
The company’s commitment to using formal quality tools
and strategies dates to the mid-1990s. Traditionally engaging
conventional production-line manufacturing, Crown manage-
ment became interested in the concept of “focused factory”
manufacturing in 1996 as a way to increase productivity and
competitiveness. Focused factory strategies enable plants to
focus on limited, specific tasks. Utilizing a “cellular” model,

this
manufacturing approach arranges production facilities and floor
labor into work cells, or multiskilled teams, that manufacture
complete products or complex components rather than single
parts. Cellular manufacturing is an integral part of lean
manufac-
turing, as it drastically reduces waste and duplication of effort.
Properlytrainedteamscanmanageprocesses,defects,schedul-
ing, equipment maintenance, and other manufacturing issues
more efficiently and thus reduce waste of all kinds.
Crown’s focused factory initiatives paved the way toward a
formal commitment to lean manufacturing in 1999. A pilot
project in the company’s New Knoxville motor plant brought
such significant benefits that the company has since applied
lean
strategies to every process in every one of its facilities.
Six Sigma: A Winning Strategy
The newest component of Crown’s quality management pro-
gram is Six Sigma. While lean is the systematized corporate
effort, company managers apply Six Sigma to certain projects as
needed and as resources are available.
“When you’re in a lean system,” explains Jeff Caudill, Crown’s
main manufacturing leader for the New Bremen campus, “it
may be that you have a problem that requires a more powerful
problem-solving tool, and Six Sigma provides that tool.”
In general terms, Six Sigma enables a company to address
specific areas targeted for improvement by providing:
• Astructuretoidentifyrootcauses
• Advancedtoolstoachievedesiredoutcomes

Six Sigma supports lean manufacturing by reducing variation
and waste. Data-driven strategies focus on defect prevention,
with no more than 3.4 defects allowed per million opportunities.
Some quality experts refer to Six Sigma as a philosophy, while
others consider it a methodology. ASQ identifies four basic
themes common to Six Sigma:
• Useofteamsthatareassignedwell-definedprojectsthat
have direct impact on the organization’s bottom line.
• Trainingin“statisticalthinking”atalllevelsandproviding
key people with extensive training in advanced statistics and
project management. (These key individuals are designated
as either Green or Black Belts.)
• Emphasisonthe“DMAIC”approachtoproblemsolving—
define, measure, analyze, improve, and control.
• Amanagementenvironmentthatsupportstheseinitiativesas
a business strategy.
Every Six Sigma project needs organizational support, and tar-
geted Six Sigma training enables professionals at every level of
a company to assist with implementation. At the organizational
level, specially trained “champions” and “executives” set the
direction for selecting and deploying projects. At the project
level, those professionals actually conducting projects and
implementing improvements are “Green Belts” or “Black Belts,”
depending on the level of training they have received.
Like nearly all large manufacturers,
Crown Equipment owns production

facilities in several countries; however,
the majority is still found stateside:
New Bremen, OH (five plants)•
Connersville, IN•
Greencastle, IN•
Kinston, NC•
Celina, OH•
Fort Loramie, OH•
New Knoxville, OH•
U.S. Manufacturing Operations
http://www.asq.org
Crown initiated its Six Sigma program in 2005 with four-day
“Champion” training for key upper-level managers. Rather than
addressing any particular challenge, the training was a natural
extension of the ongoing improvement philosophy championed
by company management.
Green Belt Training
In late 2005, all of Crown’s U.S. business unit managers were
invited to submit names of potential candidates for Green Belt
training. Managers were directed to consider candidates who
were:
• Personallymotivatedtodotheirbest

• Recognizedtohaveamathematicalmindthatwouldbe
well-suited to the statistical nature of the improvement effort
• Willingandabletopassaninternallydevelopedteston
quality tools and statistics
Each candidate was required
to suggest a project that would
bring improvement to the com-
pany. Members of a Six Sigma
steering committee ultimately
selected 12 Crown employees
to participate in the company’s
Green Belt training and cer-
tification, basing selection
primarily on the potential long-
term benefits of the projects.
The Green Belt training was conducted at company headquarters
by a certified American Society for Quality (ASQ) trainer. Six
Sigma Green Belt training is typically conducted in two week-
long increments one month apart. The Crown sessions were
held in October and November 2005. At about the same time, a
half-dozen Crown employees from the company’s Kinston, NC,
facility attended similar training conducted at North Carolina
State University.
Both the ASQ and NC State training sessions followed similar
formats. All of the Green Belt candidates presented basic details
oftheirproposedprojectstothegroup,andworkbegan.Projects
ranged from general process improvement to scrap reduction,
improved machine operation, and more efficient gas usage,
among others.
The first week of training was devoted to strategizing how to

organize resources and eliminate roadblocks; the second week
wasdevotedtocreatingPowerPointpresentationsabouteach
project that participants could take back to their local manage-
ment to begin actual on-site implementation. At the end of the
second week, participants took a four-hour 100-question exam
about Six Sigma concepts and received certification upon pass-
ing. Group participants continued to meet via teleconference
every couple of weeks thereafter to ensure each of the projects
remained on track. Each Green Belt was tasked with completion
of a project within the following six months.
Black Belt Training
The next phase of Crown’s Six Sigma effort occurred the fol-
lowing year, with 15 individuals moving on to take Black Belt
training. As in the Green Belt program, each participant sug-
gested an improvement project for the group to undertake. Black
Belt projects focused on:
• Eliminationofdefects
• Optimizationofprocesses
• Eliminationofnonvalue-addedsteps,suchassecondary
handling of goods
• Improvementofoverseasoperationsinordertoeliminate
secondary handling of goods in the United States
Also like the Green Belt program, participants represented
varied
experience levels and a range of disciplines:
• Manufacturingengineers
• Qualityengineers
• Qualitymanagementsystem(QMS)trainersofmachinists
• Qualitytechnicians

• Plantmanagers
Six Sigma Black Belts lead problem-solving projects by training
and coaching project teams at their facilities. Black Belts must
thoroughly understand and use all aspects of the DMAIC model
in accordance with Six Sigma principles. In addition, Black
Belts
must understand and use other key Six Sigma tools, such as:
• Qualityfunctiondeployment(QFD)
• Failuremodeandeffectsanalysis(FMEA)
• Basicrobustdesignprocesstools,includingnoisestrategies,
tolerance design, and process capability tools
• “DesignforX”strategies
Crown’s Black Belt training occurred in the New Bremen facili-
ties during December 2006 and January 2007. Two certified
ASQ trainers led the effort, which culminated with a four-hour
150-question written exam for the 15 participants.
Million-dollar Results
Every successful quality improvement program has both
tangible
and intangible results—concrete, measurable results (tangible),
and beneficial though impossible to measure results
(intangible),
such as improved morale, increased loyalty, higher employee
self-esteem, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Crown has
cho-
sen to focus on tangible, hard savings for measuring the success
of its Six Sigma efforts.
To date, Crown’s Green Belt efforts have resulted in hard sav-
ings of $1.2 million for the company. The company’s Black Belt

efforts have brought $285,000 in hard savings so far, with more
expected as the projects proceed further. While the time
require-
ment for the first 12 Green Belts to undertake training was a
whopping 2,400 hours (total for all 12), the company has calcu-
The Six Sigma perspective views
all work as processes that can
be defined, measured, analyzed,
improved, and controlled. Processes
require inputs (x) and produce outputs
(y). If you control the inputs, you
will control the outputs, generally
expressed as y = f(x).
Design for X
http://www.asq.org
lated that it has saved a little over $500 per hour for each hour
spent in training.
“Strongest Tool”
Crown’s results indicate Six Sigma is the “strongest improve-
ment tool you can use,” according to John Daeger, quality
engineering manager of the New Bremen headquarters facili-
ties. Company managers learned one important lesson, however:
Timing is everything. While the Green Belt training rendered an
almost immediate $1.2 million in savings, the Black Belt effort
has moved at a much slower pace because of its timing and

because participants weren’t assigned to the effort full time. As
the Black Belt candidates didn’t have the opportunity to focus
on
their Six Sigma projects full time, the timelines languished.
Now that demands have stabilized, Crown management is re-
energizing the Black Belt effort. The team’s plan is to move the
15 projects from the process development stage into the imple-
mentation and control phases. Budgets have been approved to
include full-time commitment to the Black Belt program. Full-
time dedicated positions are currently being filled for a Master
Black Belt and a Black Belt.
The company also has plans to train a minimum of 10 Green
Belts each year, with the intent that the growing number of
Green Belts will help spread training throughout all branches of
the company. In the broader scope, the company is also evaluat-
ing how its Six Sigma and lean programs should work together
for total ongoing quality improvement.
In the meantime, Crown has been recognized with numerous
awards, including outstanding achievement in waste mini-
mization and pollution prevention. The U.S. Environmental
ProtectionAgencyhasdesignatedCrownasa“Waste
MinimizationPartner,”oneofonly27inthecountry.Theaward
recognizes the company’s success in substantially reducing
the amount of hazardous waste involved in manufacturing by
eliminating the chromium from paint formulations. Additional
waste minimization occurred because of installation of a power
painting operation. This equipment has reduced the generation
of
waste paint sludge and air emissions.
Crown has also received the Governor’s Award in Ohio for
OutstandingAchievementinPollutionPrevention.Oneofonly
eight award recipients, Crown earned the nomination not only

because of its actual achievements in pollution prevention, but
also for serving as a role model for other industrial generators
by
demonstrating the feasibility of pollution prevention.
For More Information
For more information about Crown Equipment Corporation,
visit
http://crown.com.
For more information about Six Sigma and other quality tools,
visit the American Society for Quality Web site, www.asq.org.
Contributing to this Article
• Mark DeGrandchamp is director of quality and Lean/Six
Sigma for Crown Equipment. With a bachelor of science
degreefromPurdueUniversityandamaster’sdegreefromthe
University of Indiana, he has more than 23 years of experience
working with quality initiatives. DeGrandchamp, an ASQ
certified quality engineer, has been with Crown for eight years
and can be reached at [email protected]
• John Daeger is quality engineering manager for Crown
Equipment, responsible for all New Bremen facilities. He
joined the company in November 2004. Daeger holds ASQ’s
quality manager, quality engineer, and quality auditor
certifications and has completed ASQ’s Six Sigma Green
Belt and Black Belt training programs. He holds a bachelor’s
degree from Concordia University and a master’s degree
from Indiana Wesleyan University. He can be reached at
[email protected]
• Jeff Caudill is Crown’s New Bremen operations lean leader
and has specific expertise in analyzing data and statistics.
Though a relative newcomer to Crown—joining the company
in 2006—he has long-standing career involvement with lean

and Six Sigma activities and is an ASQ certified quality
engineer. He can be reached at [email protected]
About the Author
Jeanne Chircop has been helping organizations share their suc-
cesses for more than 20 years. She has written about quality
efforts in the education, manufacturing, and natural resources
sectors. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and resides in
the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
http://crown.com
http://www.asq.org
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.asq.org
International Journal of Lean Six Sigma
Application of continuous improvement techniques to improve
organization
performance: A case study
Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan, Mohamad Amin Kaviani, Brian J.
Galli, Palvisha Ishtiaq,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan, Mohamad Amin Kaviani, Brian J.
Galli, Palvisha Ishtiaq, (2019) "Application
of continuous improvement techniques to improve organization
performance: A case study",
International Journal of Lean Six Sigma,
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-05-2017-0048
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Application of continuous
improvement techniques to
improve organization performance
A case study
Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan
Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering
Management,
University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Mohamad Amin Kaviani
Young Researchers and Elite Club, Shiraz Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
Brian J. Galli
School of Computer Science, Innovation and Management
Engineering,
Long Island University, Brookville, New York, USA, and
Palvisha Ishtiaq
ASPIN Pharma Private Limited, Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study, analyze and
implement continuous improvement (CI)
techniques in an interior design case company, which faces
challenges in different departments that affect the
case company performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The proposed methodology
implemented in three departments of an
interior design company in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
First, the authors analyzed and identified
problems using Pareto chart and cause and effect diagram. After
that, they improved identified problems
using Kaizen, 5S, developed project selection form and
modified organization chart. The result has been
shown savings regarding money and time.
Findings – Successful implementation of the proposed
methodology reduced project in pipeline time from
16 weeks to nine weeks, profit margin increased from 25 to 27
per cent, sales win ratio increase from 11 to 32
per cent, better project and financial forecasting and 92 per cent
of tender submission deadline achievement. A
habit of clean, tidy and organized workplace has been developed
among workers.
Originality/value – Proposed solutions contributed significantly
to saving time and effort spent to
accomplish different tasks in the case company. The company
approved the proposed solutions and
implemented them, which show that these proposed solutions
are feasible and practical. In addition to that, in
literature, most of the CI applications are in the manufacturing
or production sectors. This was the first study,
which implemented CI techniques in an interior design
company.
Keywords Process improvement, Kaizen, Continuous

improvement, 5S, Cause and effect diagram,
Waste minimization
Paper type Case study
Authors would like to thank the studied case company
management and their staff for a corporation
with us in doing the current research. Authors are also thankful
to Miss Lina and Miss Anoud for the
initial collection of data and its analysis from the case company.
Continuous
improvement
techniques
Received 25 May 2017
Revised 11 November 2017
25 March 2018
Accepted 29 April 2018
International Journal of Lean Six
Sigma
© EmeraldPublishingLimited
2040-4166
DOI 10.1108/IJLSS-05-2017-0048
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-4166.htm
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-05-2017-0048
1. Introduction
Because of ever-rising customers’ demands, their expectation,
globalization and increasing
competition are forcing organizations to continuously improve
their way of doing business.
There is always a potential for improvement in components of
any systems, but it is also
essential to identify the particular areas of the components that
need improvement (Khan
and Zaidi, 2012). This will help organizations to remain
competitive in the market and fulfill
customer demands effectively and efficiently. Previous studies
on continuous improvement
(CI) demonstrate that the applied tools in this area are the
planned, organized and systematic
approaches, which lead to improving the organizational
performance (Aleu and Van Aken,
2016; Galli and Kaviani, 2018). It is also evident from the
literature that CI techniques are
useful in improving process performance and help organizations
in minimizing wastes,
organizing the process and information flow and increase
facilities utilization. Moreover, it
also helps in continuously improve the processes within the
company as well as to enhance
their work productivity and efficiency (Sidhu, Kumar and Bajaj,
2013; Indrawati and

Ridwansyah, 2015; Randhawa and Ahuja, 2017). The popularity
of CI tools in general and
Kaizen in particular also has been caused by increasing the
application of these effective
tools (Glover et al., 2014).
Globalization and ever-rising customer demand forcing
organizations and decision
makers to come up with strategies to improve process and
products continuously. To do
that, they need a commitment from all stakeholders and the
effective and efficient
implementation of CI tools and techniques. However,
organizations pay more attention to
improving their technical skills rather than human behaviors
that required implementing
quality improvement programs (McLean and Antony, 2014;
Assarlind and Gremyr, 2016).
Processes providing the products and services should be
improved with the aim of
preventing defects and increasing productivity by reducing
process cycle times and
eliminating waste. Process improvement occurs through value-
added process mapping,
problem isolation, cause analysis and problem resolution. Many
processes develop over
time, with little concern for whether they are the most effective
manner in which to provide a
product or a service. To remain competitive in the world
marketplace, companies must
identify wasteful processes and improve them. The key to
refining processes is to
concentrate on the process from the customer’s point of view
and to identify and eliminate
non-value-added activities (Summers, 2011).

In the present era, CI tools and strategies are growing as an
essential element to survive
among the fastest growing industries worldwide. To compete
with rivals and to fulfill
customer demand effectively, different organizations have used
CI techniques, and still
many of them are striving for more improvements for overall
system’s enhancement. In the
past 50-55 years, some researchers have been working on this
including a comprehensive
review of the past and current practices of CI methodologies
and their implementation,
survey-based studies and case studies. Indrawati and
Ridwansyah (2015) used different lean
tools in Iron Ore Industry (Indonesia) to improve manufacturing
process capability. Waste
analysis has been done using process mapping approach
following by failure mode and
effect analysis method. After gap/waste analysis, a CI program
has been developed and
implemented based on redesigning of equipment.
Notably, if an organization tends to be successful, its managers
should develop and
implement high-quality standards for their products, process
and workers’ skills (Oropesa
Vento et al., 2016). Implementing the CI technique in an
enterprise need leadership attitude
and support from top managers. It also requires supporting from
middle managers to
encourage workers and all members involved in the process to
be committed to increase
process performance. Quality improvement is a philosophy and
needs to be implemented at

IJLSS
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all levels of an organization (Galli and Kaviani, 2018). For
example, according to Topuz and
Arasan (2013) study, effective and efficient implementation of
Kaizen brings economic
benefits not only to the process but also for human resources.
Professional service (PS) companies are unique as they straddle
both the manufacturing
and service contexts. Therefore, traditional CI tools used
predominantly in manufacturing
environments (SPC, Statistical Testing, etc.) are not directly
relatable to the PS
environments. As PS environments are more of a hybrid of
manufacturing and service in
that they have process traits of both environments, the
traditional tools had to be tweaked
by the company and team leaders. It is not to say that the
traditional tools are not directly
relatable to PS environments, but to use them, they have to be
appropriately modified to fit
the process traits of a PS context.
The contribution of this paper is divided into three parts, which
are as follows:

(1) We identified the problem area that has an impact on a case
company efficiency
and productivity by using Pareto chart and cause and effect
diagram.
(2) We implemented CI techniques in a case company to
improve their sales
department, shop floor and the project team department.
(3) The proposed methodology has been successfully
implemented and after two
months of implementation, case company experience savings
regarding time and
money.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides
a research background in
the area of application of CI tools and technique in different
sectors. Section 3 provides the
company overview and problem description, Section 4 proposes
the methodology to solve
the identified problems as described in Section 3. Section 5
draws the conclusion and
identifies the limitations of the study and the recommend future
research directions.
2. Research background
The scope of CI methodologies has been enlarged due to
substantial advancements in
technologies, modern innovations and rapidly changing market
demands. In this section, we
will provide the background of widely used CI techniques and
tools as well as the objective
of this research.

The 5S method appears as an expeditious tool adopted by
numerous organizations
working at different small/large scales, globally. It would not
be wrong to call 5S a base of
Lean House. It has been exploited by all sectors of
manufacturing and services.
Organizations initiated using 5S as a CI methodology from the
late 1970s, and currently, it is
considered as the most dominant and fruitful tool of Lean tool
case. A 5S methodology is a
lean tool developed by Japanese manufacturing companies,
comprising five stages: sort
(seiri), set in order (seiton), shine (seiso), standardize (seikatsu)
and sustain (shitsuke). These
five terms are interrelated with each other and play an important
role in the achievement of
the Lean system, if implemented systematically. Hence, they
serve as an essential
foundation of lean systems (Krajewski et al., 2009).
On the other hand, 5S is a systematic technique, which often
used by companies to
organize, sorts and cleans the workplace to improve
productivity and efficiency. It also helps
organizations in continuously improving the performance of the
organizations (Singh et al.,
2014). It also helps in reducing downtime, lead time, wastes and
defects. Pranckevicius et al.
(2008) implemented the 5S technique in a plastic cap
manufacturing company. In addition to
that, they implemented the DMAIC cycle to improve the
process. Randhawa and Ahuja
(2017) presented a comprehensive literature review on 5S
applications and identified
Continuous

improvement
techniques
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research gaps based on their findings. This study is focused on
5S initiatives for the
sustainable performance of the organization.
Sorooshian et al. (2012) studied the experience of implementing
of 5S in an organization
in the context of its influences on the work environment. Bayo-
Moriones et al. (2010) tried to
identify the relationship between 5S use, contextual factors and
operating performance. This
study was based on surveys of 203 Spanish companies and
hypotheses were verified using
analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Gapp et al. (2008)
identified and presented key
concepts of 5S from the perspective of Japanese management.
They collected data from
different Japanese companies who implemented 5S, and data
were analyzed using computer-
aided lexical analysis (Leximancer). Results indicate that 5S
implementation has visible
(technical) and intangible (philosophical) benefits. Gupta and
Jain (2015) implemented the 5S

technique in an instrument manufacturing company. Findings
reveal that tool-searching
time on the shop floor has been reduced from 30 to 5 min and
improved in overall
organization performance.
5S aims to create a productive environment by appropriate
categorization and an orderly
arrangement of all workplace stuff. 5S philosophy develops
discipline and working standard
among employees (Hilton and Sohal, 2012). Organization of
workplace not only achieves
optimized production but also builds a safe, secure and under
control atmosphere. Patel and
Thakkar (2014) implemented 5S in Storage and Insulator
departments of Ceramic
manufacturing factory in India. In this regard, red tags,
workstations organization, GEMBA
board to highlight KPIs and in last 5S monitoring check sheets
are used. After implementing
successfully space utilization, worker’s safety, improved
inventory systems, increased
productivity, clean environment and many other benefits are
observed. History of Lean
shows that 5S adoption is not only done to increase productivity
but also for improvement of
safety systems within organizations.
On the other hand, Kaizen is a Japanese terminology means,
“change for the better.” It is
the process of CI in small increments that make the process
more efficient, effective, under
control and adaptable. Improvements are usually accomplished
at little or no expense,
without sophisticated techniques or expensive equipment
(Cherrafi et al., 2016). It focuses on

simplification by breaking down complex processes into their
sub-processes and then
improving them. The Kaizen improvement focuses on the use of
value-added and non-value-
added work activities; Muda, which refers to seven classes of
waste-overproduction, delay,
transportation, processing, inventory, wasted motion and
defective parts; and the 5S’s for
workplace organization (Singh and Singh, 2009).
Kaizen relies heavily on a culture that encourages every
employee to improve the jobs/
process or provide suggestions about the enhancement of
particular process efficiency, as it
is believed that employees know better about their specific jobs.
Suárez-Barraza et al. (2011)
conducted a literature review to analyze the application of
Kaizen in academic and
practitioner literature. Findings demonstrate that the literature
of Kaizen is displayed fewer
than three umbrellas, which include a series of principles and
techniques. Arya and
Choudhary (2015) implemented Kaizen in a machine vice
manufacturing company in India.
Results show that Kaizen has the significant impact on
production techniques and lead
times. Paul Brunet and New (2003) implemented Kaizen in
Nippon Steel Corporation in
Japan to assess uniformity. Results indicate that Kaizen is an
integral element to improve
operations management systems operations. Arya and Jain
(2014) implemented Kaizen in a
small-scale Indian company. Results prove that processing time
has been reduced by 44.4
per cent and the amount of Rs. 64,000 has been saved by better
utilization of area and

workflow. Farris et al. (2008) describe results related to Kaizen
event effectiveness regarding
primary event outcomes and its sustainability. Oropesa Vento et
al. (2016) analyze the
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effects of managerial commitment and professional development
of the workforce on benefit
in obtaining Kaizen implementation specifically in the planning
phase. A survey-based case
study has been conducted and implemented in Mexican
maquiladora companies. Based on
the obtained results, the managerial commitment has a direct
impact on economic benefits.
In addition, Pareto analysis and cause and effect diagram are
also statistical process
control tools mostly used where quality-related problems are the
center of attention. Pareto
Charts highlights the major problems (the reason behind most
many defects) and supports
management in decision-making, whereas the cause and effect
diagram is a brainstorming
technique used to identify the principal cause of the problems.
If Pareto charts help us to

prioritize our efforts and to focus on the most serious issues,
then cause and effect diagram
supports to isolate the cause of that identified problem (Ahmed
and Ahmad, 2011). The core
idea of lean manufacturing is to maximize customer value and
to minimize waste by
controlling the extra use of resources. A lean organization
understands customer value and
focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The
ultimate goal is to provide perfect
value to the customer through a perfect value creation process
that has zero waste. To
accomplish this, lean thinking changes the focus of management
from optimizing separate
technologies, assets and vertical departments to optimizing the
flow of products and
services through entire value streams that flow horizontally
across technologies, assets and
departments to customers (Summers, 2011).
Anything that does not add value to the product or for which
customer is not willing to
pay can be defined as a Waste. To avoid/determine Waste, Lean
defines five simple steps
“Define Value, Identify value stream, Eliminate waste, Pull
Production, Strive for perfection.
The basic objectives of a lean system are as follows:
� eliminate waste within the organization; this refers to all
types of waste including
downtime;
� reduce costs within its operations, not only in production but
also office and
administrative expenses; and

� improve customer satisfaction; this should be the main driver
of implementing
lean, as differentiation through customer service can be a
powerful competitive
advantage; this can be achieved through the reduction in lead
times, increase in
product and service quality and price competitiveness.
Table I summarizes some of the recent related works on CI tools
implementation in different
industries.
Table I.
Applications of CI
tools in various
domains
Author(s) Application domain
Suarez Barraza et al. (2009) Service industry
Suárez-Barraza and Ramis-Pujol (2010) Public sector
organizations
Sidhu et al. (2013) Agriculture industry
Shang and Sui Pheng (2013) Construction industry
Gupta and Jain (2014) Educational equipment of laboratory
manufacturing industry
Jiménez et al. (2015) Metalworking manufacturing industry
Arya and Choudhary (2015) Machine vice manufacturing
industry
Dweiri et al. (2015) Software developing industry
Kanamori et al. (2015) Health-care services
Gonzalez and Martins (2016) Automobile industry
Omogbai and Salonitis (2017) Manufacturing industry
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2.1 Research gap
Focusing on the research background, presented in the previous
section, CI tools and
techniques have been successfully and vastly implemented in
many improvement projects
and various industries. The effectiveness of the CI tools such as
Kaizen, 5S and Pareto
methods is proven and well argued in the literature. Taking
Table I into consideration, there
is no study in the literature in which the role of CI in quasi-
manufacturing or services
industry has been investigated, the current study aims to fill this
gap by implementing the
CI tools in an interior design company and to analyze the
obtained findings. Obviously, the
application of various CI tools in different industries will give
the managers of companies a
deeper view of how they can implement these techniques in
their companies.
2.2 Significance of the study
This study is unique and has been implemented in a different

business environment
(Interior Design Company in service industries) as compared to
the manufacturing/
production sectors in terms of the following aspects:
� In the manufacturing/production sector, knowledge gained by
the managers and
experts directly affects the performance of the improvement
tools. On the other
hand, in the studied company, the operations and processes vary
and are somewhat
customized. Therefore, this study is unique in the sense that we
have gathered all
the knowledge and experiences of the managers and the decision
makers from the
company to improve the performance of the CI tools and
techniques.
� In a manufacturing or production sector, lessons learned are
categorized by
specialty group or working group. In contrast, in the studied
case company the
lessons learned are limited to the specialty group who is
responsible for a certain
project or product. Therefore, this study expands the horizon of
lessons learned and
increases the domain of the knowledge from specialty group to
key personals that
are usually involved in process or product.
� Employer involvement is essential for the successful
implementation of the CI
techniques, however, in any sector other than manufacturing or
production
operations where employee involvement is dominant. On the
other hand,

improvement suggestions at the operational level are limited to
the interior
design company. This study increases the participation of
workers who are
involved in operations in the case company, which shows the
uniqueness of the
application of the CI techniques.
3. Research methodology
Following the objective of the study, we evaluated and analyzed
an interior design company
and tried to implement some CI tools like 5S, Kaizen, Pareto
and cause and effect diagram
approaches to improve the organizational performance of the
studied company. In this
regard, we applied a framework, which was based on five main
steps as follows:
(1) Step 1. Case selection: In this step, we select the company
for the doing the CI
project.
(2) Step 2. Current situation analysis of the company: In this
step, we assess the
primary situations of the company for identifying the challenges
and problems,
which the company faces too. Moreover, collecting the required
data by different
process observations and investigating the documents would be
done.
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(3) Step 3. CI tools implementation: In the current step, we
implement the CI tools
based on their principles and procedures.
(4) Step 4. Improvement results analysis: In this step, we
compare the before situation
which was evaluated in Step 2 to the results have been obtained
after implementing
the CI techniques.
(5) Step 5. Recommendations for the company: Finally, some
recommendations would
be provided to the managers of the company.
Figure 1 depicts the mentioned steps of the research framework.
4. Case study
In this section, we explain in details the conducted steps of CI,
noted in Section 3, in an
interior design case company as below:
4.1 Step 1: Case selection
In the first step, we choose XYZ Interior Design Company (the
name is withheld due to
confidentiality) which is based in one of the developing
countries in Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC). It is evident from the literature that CI
improvement techniques have been
implemented successfully in many sectors especially in the

manufacturing and production
industries. The reason behind it that in the manufacturing
sector, a set of steps is constant
and process redesigning is not mandatory. However, focusing on
the literature, very little
applications of CI technique are available in organizations
which are not basically
manufacturing oriented. This is because of the reason that
companies apart from the
manufacturing sector, have to deal with a variety of products
and customer expectations
which are diverse from customer to customer. Therefore, we
decided to select an
organization in which the nature of the business is somewhat
different than manufacturing-
oriented companies. Moreover, ease of access to the case
company is another main reason to
select such a case company. Since 1991, XYZ Interior Design
Company has to provide
turnkey construction solutions in the field of Design,
Contracting, Interior Fit-Out, Specialist
Ceiling and Partition Systems, 3D Rendering and Custom-made
Joinery with an emphasis on
detail and quality. It is a private company, located in the
industrial area of the city and has
Figure 1.
The steps of the
research
methodology
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180 staff members. So far they have successfully finished
around 620 different projects for
different customers such as 3M, CISCO, The address and DHL.
4.2 Step 2: current situation analysis
After choosing the XYZ Company, we started noticing and
identifying some problems
within the XYZ Company such as unorganized painting section,
inappropriate
organizational structure and problems in project quotation phase
were the most significant
problems affecting the company efficiency. To identify the
problems in each department, we
used the quality tools to help us in identifying causes,
understanding processes, collecting
and analyzing data and finally proposing solutions. Some of the
required data were collected
manually from the drawings, check sheets and documents, while
the rest were obtained
from our contact person in a case company as well as the rest of
the employees. Then we
analyzed and studied the data collected to find the best

solutions to the identified problems.
We started observing the process of each department in the
company on a daily basis.
However, we focused on the departments that redound in
accomplishing the projects, which
were sales and marketing department, project team department
and the shop floor/factory.
This helped us to understand the flow of the project execution
process from receiving it until
its submission. Thus, the current situation of the major
departments of XYZ Company was
analyzed to specify the challenges the company faces. The
screened departments included
the sales and marketing, shop floor and project team
departments. First, we had a meeting
with the operation manager, the sales manager and the project
manager to discuss the
current problems that the company is going through. They
identified problems in the
mentioned departments. After detailed discussions with the
managers, we decided to spend
some time to observe the process in each department to identify
the real causes. After the
observation procedure and consultation with the managers of
each department, the list of
problems we found in each department was listed as below:
4.2.1 Sales department challenges
� They waste a lot of time and effort while pricing a project
spending two to three
weeks; eventually, they will lose the opportunity to get the
project due to the lack of
the project selection process.

� The sales manager attends all the meetings and negotiations
with customers to get
the projects by him due to the lack of enough resources, i.e. no
assistant.
� No documentation of data, as there is no specific person to
enter the data, i.e. bill of
quantity (BOQ), causing delays and defects in getting the exact
estimation for the
customers leading to problems even before starting the project.
4.2.2 The shop floor challenges
� An inappropriate designed cell; this results in excess motion
which causes fatigue, lack
of concentration, waste of effort and failing in achieving the
exact design. Also, it led to
the higher potential of having damaged products because of the
excess transportation
of materials and finished well between different cells on the
shop floor.
� Lack of resources; the same worker performs different jobs
leading to lack of focus.
Also, no training and motivation programs provided to workers
resulting in
untrained workers and hence increasing the defects in the final
products.
� The operator is under pressure because the workers refer to
him directly when
having a problem, which needs to be solved in addition to his
job that he needs to
finish on time.
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� Half of the machines on the shop floor are either not working
or need an urgent
maintenance.
� Downtime/breakdown. Due to the poor maintenance,
interpreting the production
line causing delays in addition to the time wasted in waiting for
machines to get
repaired.
� The staff in the painting section of the factory face problems
due to the disorganized
area, and complaining about the time wasted searching for tools
and equipment as
everything is misplaced.
4.2.3 Project team challenges
� When they start executing the project, NOCs must be
obtained from various
departments and government authorities. Therefore, this task
will be borne by the
Sales manager due to the lack of resources in the department.
� Miscommunication due to the absence of a built-in designer,

communication
between the draughtsman and the designer (outside the
company) is vague.
Therefore, there is no direct relationship between them. The
project manager is the
link between the two parties, and that causes some undesired
deviations in design,
as the draughtsman do not know what the designer exactly
needs. This requires
them to draw it more than one time (Scrap and rework).
� Some of the workers on the site are unused well as the
management is not providing
testing for the new workers. Testing the workers can help the
project manager
knowing each worker capabilities and putting them in the right
position.
By assessing the whole three departments, we analyzed the
procedure of each department in
details in coordination with our contact person in the company
to indicate the existing
problems. Moreover, data were gathered regarding the main
challenges. Then we used the
lean concept as a tool to classify the problems into the seven
types of waste. Table II lists
the types of waste existed in the different departments of the
case company. Notably, the
percentages of occurrences and the related data were collected
from our meetings with
the departments’ managers based on their experiences and
knowledge and the data
available on the timesheet and check sheets. Data have been
collected over a period of
eight weeks. We have divided data collection time (eight weeks)
equally in every

department and at the end, all percentage occurrences and
categorization of types of
wastes were discussed with each department head for their
approval.
4.3 Step 3: continuous improvement tools implementation
By recognizing the challenges and problems, the best solutions
were proposed to the
management board of XYZ Company. We implemented CI
techniques to solve the problems
and effectively doing the improvement project. The tools, 5S,
Kaizen, Pareto and Cause and
effect diagram, selected for the execution of the improvement
project were each selected due
to their application purpose. Based on the objective defined for
the problem and the project,
we reviewed the list of the available tools, and as the project
progressed through the project
lifecycle, the tools were selected based on their application and
how the problem or task that
needed to be addressed for the project phase and lifecycle. As is
common knowledge, Lean
Six Sigma encompasses many tools, but using team leader
experience and input from the
company stakeholders, the tools that were used was selected due
to their purpose and ability
to solve the question/problem at hand.
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4.3.1 Using Pareto and cause and effect analysis approaches. In
this part, Pareto analysis
was used to identify the types of wastes affecting the company
efficiency. Also, a cause and
effect analysis was carried out to target the causes of the
problems that the sales department
struggles. The Ishikawa diagram acts as a first line for the
solution of problems by
exhaustively generating possible causes. This creates a visual or
pictographic representation
of a process and leads to the immediate identification of
possible causes of issues.
We focused on the problems that represent at least 80 per cent
of the occurrences. We
used the data from the table to identify and target the most
significant problems; we found
that solving 20 per cent of the causes will solve 80 per cent of
the problems. A Pareto
diagram was constructed with the data from Table II and is
shown in Figure 2. As shown in
Figure 2, the significant few causes will produce a large
majority of the problems.
Table II.
Types of wastes
exist in different
departments

S. no.
Types of
wastes Description
Percentage of
occurrence
Cumulative
percentage
of occurrence
1 Waiting Sales and marketing: lack of enough human
resources, the workload will be borne by the
sales manager, which causes delays to the
other departments involved in the process
Shop floor: Poor machines maintenance leads
to a delay in the production process
Project team: The project manager is
overloaded with the tasks and responsibilities
due to the lack of resources
35 35
2 Motion Shop floor: Due to the inappropriate layout
design, which is causing excess motion and
material, handling between the factory areas?
25 60
3 Defects Shop floor: Due to the inappropriate layout
design resulting in workers making an extra
effort in which it will negatively affect their
efficiency and lead to a higher rate of defects
in finished products
Disorganized painting section: causing
frustration to employees as well as time and

effort wasted searching for tools
Project team: Due to the absence of a built-in
designer, some defects arise from the designs
of the project
20 80
4 Over-processing Sales and marketing: No followed procedure
for selecting the project, this process is done
randomly. It is time wasting, and they might
lose the opportunity to win the project
10 90
5 Underused
People
Project team: Improper utilization of
employee’s knowledge, skills and abilities
6 96
6 Transportation Shop floor: Excess movement of material
handling, equipment, and finished goods
between the factory areas due to the
inappropriate layout design. This may cause
damage to the materials and products
3 99
7 Inventory Excess inventory hides problems on the shop
floor, consumes space, increases lead times
and inhibits communication
1 100

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When we deal with a serious problem, it is important to explore
all the potential reasons
that could cause the problem, before we start thinking about a
solution. By doing this, we
would be able to solve the problem completely, first time
around, rather than just addressing
part of it and having the problem run on and on. Cause and
effect analysis helps to identify a
useful way of doing this. At the end of a successful
brainstorming session, we had a long list
of ideas, and we created a manageable list of feasible ideas that
were worthy of further
investigation. A cause and effect diagram was created for the
existing types of waste.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 illustrate the cause and effect diagram for the
main three types of the
wastes exist in the aforementioned departments.
It is noteworthy that the purpose of using the cause and effect
diagram was to get the
answer to three “Whys.” For example, Figure 3 is a cause and
effect diagram for excessive
motion. Three Whys here are “Why there is excessive motion?”
The answer to this question

is because of the inadequate training and poorly design layout.
Another question is “Why
there is inadequate training?” The answer is because of lack of
resources, and the last
question is “Why layout poorly designs?” and the answer to this
is because they do not have
a standard operating procedure. These three Why’s lead to
excessive motion. Similarly, the
other two figures (Figures 4 and 5) were constructed to get the
answer to three Whys.
4.3.2 Implementing kaizen. We implemented Kaizen in XYZ
Company in the previously
noted departments according to the following steps:
Figure 2.
Pareto chart
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

W
ai
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M
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D
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O
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Pr
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si
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U
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ut

ili
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Pe
op
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Tr
an
sp
or
ta
tio
n
In
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or
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Pareto Diagram
Figure 3.
Cause and effect
diagram for the
excessive motion
waste

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4.3.2.1 Analyze the process. We selected the sales department
and the painting section
on the shop floor because their employees were facing various
problems in their sector.
The managers also suggested implementing kaizen in these
departments. First, we
observed the current practices in the painting section with the
supervisor. After that,
we identified the wastes generated in the current procedures.
4.3.2.2 Identify the problem. After a thorough analysis of both
departments in
coordination with the manager and the supervisor, we identified
the following problems:
� waste of time and effort;
� low efficiency; and
� poor safety.

4.3.2.3 Set the goals. After we identified the problems in the
last step, we discussed with the
manager to set the targets to minimize the waste and mitigate
essential problems. After
discussion, we set the following goals:
� reduce cost;
� improve the processes;
� increase sales;
� reduce time and effort that spent in the process of selecting
the right project;
� improve customer satisfaction; and
� improve employee morale.
Figure 4.
Cause and effect
diagram for waiting
for waste
Failure
Downtime/
Brea kdown
No documentation
of data
Ineffective production
planning
Lac k of Enough
Resources
Load and Pressure on
Operation Manager

No Customer
Service
Method Machine
Manage ment Man
Waiting
Design Issue
Lac k of Mu ltiskilling /
Fle xib ility
Poor
Maintenance
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4.3.2.4 Gather the required data. To increase the participation of
the employees in both
departments, we consulted several employees of the departments
and collected data and
information from them to analyze the problems in more details.

4.3.2.5 Make the change. After data collection, we moved on to
the most important step,
which is to make a change based on the data that we collected in
the previous step. We
focused on improving the process in the two areas (sales and
marketing department and
painting area on the shop floor). Our proposed solutions are
listed below:
� development of new project selection form in the sales and
marketing department;
� development of new organizational structure for the
company; and
� implementation of 5S technique in the painting section of the
shop floor.
4.3.3 Implementation of 5S technique. For this purpose, we
scheduled a discussion session
with the managers to select the area on the shop floor, which
needs an urgent action to
improve the process and to enhance the performance. The
painting section on the shop floor
was selected as a 5S model because the work environment was
inappropriately organized,
dirty and cluttered; moreover, the work efficiency and quality
were very low in that part.
The 5S system consists of five stages. According to the Folk
group (2009), these stages are
defined in Table III.
4.3.3.1 Stage 1: Sort. We started sorting the items by letting the
staff going through each
item and decide whether it is necessary to keep it. The needed
items were returned and
stored, whereas the unneeded items were re-evaluated by the
staff to decide whether they

can be recycled, reused or discarded.
Figure 5.
Cause and effect
diagram for defect
waste
No
Inspection
Machine
Inaccuracy
Poor
Maintenance
Lac k of
Resources
Lac k of
Coordination
Method Machine
Manage ment Man
Defects
Lac k of Skill and
Train ing
Lac k of
Build in
Designer

Lac k of Motivation Progra ms
Lac k of Knowledge
Inaccurate Design and
Engineering Issues
Improper
Supervision
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4.3.3.2 Stage 2: Set in order. We located the items, which were
more frequently used in the
workplace close to the worker. On the other hand, the items that
are used together were
stored together.
4.3.3.3 Stage 3: Shine. We then removed the non-essential items
and the remaining items
were put in their proper places, then we cleaned and washed the
two work areas.

4.3.3.4 Stage 4: Standardize. We focused on developing
standard daily practices in which
each employee should maintain the work area tidy and cleans it
during and at the end of
each shift. To emphasize the idea, we created a standardize
poster which helps to ensure the
first three steps are maintained. Desks should be organized
before going home for the day.
Each employee had to do his/her part to ensure that the 5S
standardization is being
implemented.
4.3.3.5 Stage 5: Sustain. The supervisors were asked to check
that each job has duties
based on the 5S stages, and each employee knows his/her
responsibilities to fill the standard
5S audit form weekly.
4.3.4
Solution
s for the project team department. In this part, we shared our
solutions
with the concerned managers and supervisors in the company
including the project selection
form, improved organizational structure and 5S method in the
painting section, where we
took their feedback and notes and made adjustments to them
according to their

requirements. Once the case company approved our proposed
solutions, we implemented
our solutions as follows:
4.3.4.1 Project selection form. The company had no systematic
way for the projects
selection process; therefore, we developed a new project
selection form. A Project Selection
can be defined as a process to assess each project idea and
select the project with the highest
Table III.
5S Stages definition
(Folk group, 2009)
5S Stages Definition
Sort Sorting means distinguishing needed items (such as
materials, tools, gauges) from
unneeded items, and removing unnecessary items such as
broken tools, scrap,
unusable or not frequently used items
Set in order It can be described as organizing the layout so that
the items are easier to find and

accessible to everyone, putting items in a logical storage
location according to their
importance or how frequently they’re used and marked with
signs and labels
Shine This stage concentrates on keeping the work area neat and
clean on a regular basis.
The benefits include an improved worker attitude, making it
easier to identify
abnormal conditions, reducing contamination, and improving
safety. The key point
here is that cleanliness is a regular part of the daily work effort,
not an effort
initiated when the workplace gets too messy
Standardize Standardizing the work practices means operating
in a consistent and standardized
fashion. Everyone knows their role and exactly what his or her
responsibilities are.
Actions are taken the same way – the right way – every time.
Some of the tools used
in standardizing the 5S procedures are visual cues (e.g., signs,
placards, posters,
and display scoreboards), job cycle charts and scheduling of
“five-minute”

5S periods
Sustain Sustaining stage is the most difficult S to implement
since people always tend to
return to the way they did thigs in the past. Practicing and
repeating until it
becomes a way of life. The benefits include establishing a
culture of competence and
shortening training cycles. Tools for sustaining 5S include 5S
training, checklists,
department Tours, performance reviews, and management
support. To prove that
the company is serious about “5S”, an audit must be performed
on a regular basis
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priority. The selection is often made based on some criteria,
which have been set by the
company.
According to the company requirements and after consultation
with the sales manager, we
created a project selection form in which each project was
scored against the selection criteria,
and the total project score was calculated. The distribution of
grades in each section was
determined according to the sales manager requirements. This
method gives the sales manager

the ability to take some possible projects and identify which
project deserves attention and is
viable. Our proposed project selection form consisted of seven
sections, which were as below:
(1) client details;
(2) project details;
(3) estimation;
(4) project information;
(5) relationship;
(6) score;
(7) approval.
The first section covers the client details along with the score,
where it is essential for the
sales manager to receive detailed information about their
potential client. Figure 6
demonstrates the client details section as follows:
It consists of few subsections, which are listed as below:
(1) Project name and brief
(2) Types of the project, which includes three types:
� Design-build: in which the sales manager receives the
information about the

available space, while the company will handle the design and
the materials
used.
� Build only: the client provides the sales manager with the
design and the
information about the available space, the sales manager
decides what material
will be used and manufactures it in the company.
� Joinery: Only Wooden work is done for one section, for
example, the reception desk.
Figure 6.
Client details section
in the project
selection form
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(3) Location of the project. According to senior managers’
opinions, Dubai and Abu

Dhabi are the most desired target markets for their projects, as
the company has
two branches there.
(4) Sector. The scoring is done based on their experience; for
example, they have more
experience in manufacturing furniture for hotels. Therefore, it
will be less risky for
them to handle such a project.
(5) A grade for the project. The studied company prioritizes the
project with the large
budget and high-end furniture such as Executive offices.
Figure 7 illustrates the project details section as follow.
The third section covers the estimation details, which discusses
the financial matters of
the project. Figure 8 indicates the estimation section.
Section four discusses the project information that the client
should provide. Figure 9
shows the project information section.
The description of the business relationship with their clients
was discussed in section

five. Figure 10 depicts the relationship section.
Finally, the last two sections, Score and Approval, were
included the summation of the
scores of all sections that are used to decide the priority of the
project. Also, it included the
final decision, date and the signature of the sales manager.
Figure 11 demonstrates the Score
and Approval Sections.
4.3.5 Development of new organizational structure. After we
observed and analyzed the
case company, we found that the current organizational
structure is not defined and they
need more resources to use in achieving their goals. Therefore,
the following issues were
Figure 7.
Project details section
in the project
selection form
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added to improve the existing organizational structure based on

our analysis and
observation of the process:
� Design department (including senior interior designer, a team
of three interior
designers and a team of two 3D animators) were added to the
organization why the
Figure 9.
Project information
section in the project
selection form
Figure 8.
Estimation section in
the project
selection form
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company faced the problem of miscommunication between the
designer (outside the
company) and the draughtsmen in the project team department.
By adding this
built-in department, the time spent on the designing phase will
be decreased, and
fewer errors on the drawings will occur.
� Production supervisor in the project department. As there was
no link between the
foremen and the operation manager and due to the pressure on
the operation
manager, the new production supervisor fills the gap and helps
to reduce the
pressure on the operation manager.
� Two sales executives to assist the sales manager. One will
assist him in the negotiations
with the clients, and the other will be specialized in recording
the data and documenting
them, which will reduce the delays and defects in any project.
� QHS (Quality Health and Safety) section which combines

both the safety department
and quality department. As XYZ Company does not have such a
department, this
will help them to take the right actions and caught the errors
before they become
defects. Also while taking care of the workers, they will feel
safer and more
confidants.
� Project Manager Assistant. Who will help the project
manager in collecting and
getting the required NOCs and documents, and that will save the
project manager
time and effort to focus on his job and responsibilities.
Figure 10.
Relationship section
in the project
selection form
Figure 11.
Score and approval
sections in the project
selection form

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The improved organizational structure is mentioned in Figure
12.
4.4 Step 4: Improvement results analysis
Once we implemented all the above CI approaches, two months
later, the sales manager
provided us with the results. Table IV shows the comparison of
results as follows:
Table IV summarized the results and compared it with the
initial analysis. After successful
implementation of CI tools and techniques, we found that
results are motivational and give
management a confidence to implement similar CI tools and
techniques in other departments
Figure 12.
Improved
organizational
structure of the
case company

Operations
Manager
Sr.Draught
Mgr
Production
Supervisor
QHS
Project Mgr.
Assistant
(Team of 2)
Draughts Man
(Team of 2)
Factory Manager
Assistant
(Team of 2)

Warehouse
Mgr.
Estimation
Sales Executive
(Team of 2)
Project
Coordinator
Project
Mgr.
(Team of
2) Project
Assistant
Foreman
Foreman
(T f 3)
CEO

General
Manager
Sales
Manager
Procurement
Manager
Marketing
Executive
Head of
Estimation
Quantity
Supervisor
Added
3D Animator
(Team of 2)
Sr.Accountant

Accountants
(Team of 2)
IT Officer Admin and HR
Manager
Design
Manager
Chief Accountant
PRO
Receiptionist
Sr.Interior
Design
Interior
Designer
(Team of 20
Estimation
Team of 2

Foreman
(Team of 2)
(Team of 3)
Table IV.
Improvement results
Description Before After
Projects in pipeline 16 Weeks 9 Weeks
Sales win ratio 11% 32%
Increased profit margin 25% 27%
Tender submission deadline achievement 92% increased
Continuous
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as well. Projects in pipelines lead time reduced to nine weeks,
and this improvement allows
management of a considered case company to improve customer
satisfaction and service
level. This will also allow them to use resources effectively and
efficiently. Successful
implementation of CI tools and techniques also has a positive
impact on sales volume, which

increases from 11 to 32 per cent and leads to increase profit by
2 per cent, which is significant.
Finally, by applying 5S and changes in organization charts
smoothen the process and
information flow and allow the case company to achieve tender
submission deadline
promptly.
4.5 Step 5: Recommendations for the company
At last, we presented the following recommendations to the case
company for future:
� As a recommendation for the developed project selection
form, an update and
adjustment for the content should be done every year as many
changes may occur.
This will make sure that the project selection form is going in
the current direction
of the case company.
� It is highly recommended for the 5S technique to be
implemented not only in the
painting section but also in the entire shop floor area. Also, the
5S Audit must be
performed on a regular basis for the painting section, in which

we implemented 5S,
to ensure the five stages are being implemented and sustained.
� Concerning the organizational structure, we recommend the
management to revisit
it on a regular basis to modify the organizational structure that
we proposed if any
major changes occur in the company.
4.6 Challenges faced during the implementation of continuous
improvement tools and
techniques
Aforementioned results were achieved by overcoming the
following challenges:
� Selected case company did not have the continuous and pre-
defined set of a process
like in manufacturing or production industry. To overcome this
challenge, we
first created a culture in which we encouraged the management
and workers to
identify the “hidden” and “unidentified” reasons that lead to
ineffective process
and operations. Once they started experiencing the
improvement, they adopted a

proactive approach to improve process and operations using CI
tools and
techniques.
� Initially, management response to facilitate this project was
not very much positive.
To overcome this challenge, we met with the concerned
managers and decision
makers in the company and discussed the potential benefits of
this project. In this
regard, we arranged several meetings with the managers to
convince them about
the project.
� Cooperation with the shop floor workers and supervisors
were the most annoying
challenge that we faced during this project. We spent ample
time with the workers
and their supervisors and explained about the benefits of CI
tools by relating it to
their everyday tasks. Once they saw the initial benefits, most of
the workers were
motivated and participated in this project.
� Delivering a comprehensive project report in a short period

was another challenge
we faced. As agreed by the management, we had to deliver a
comprehensive report
within three months. Thus, we distributed tasks related to each
department among
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the group members and conducted weekly meetings to discuss
any difficulty and
the progress of the project.
5. Concluding remarks
The primary goal of this paper was to study, analyze and
provide the solutions to the
most significant problems in different departments that
affecting the case company
efficiency and productivity. In this regard, the three main
problems were addressed in
this paper are:
� problems in project quotation phase;
� unorganized painting section; and
� inappropriate organizational structure.
To solve the aforementioned problem, we proposed and
implemented the following solutions.
� For Project selection problem, we developed a project
selection form. The main

objective is to guide the organization about the important
details they need to
consider before choosing a project. Also, it will assist the sales
manager by
providing a procedure for comparing the importance of the
different projects then
prioritize them. Finally, select the most suitable project to
undertake.
� The importance of having an organized work area is to avoid
the storage of unneeded
items as well as to eliminate the time wasted searching for tools
and equipment. The
existing work area in the painting section is disorganized and
cluttered, and it is affecting
the employees’ morale. Employee morale is directly related to
company productivity, thus
keeping their morals high will enhance productivity. Therefore,
a 5S technique needed to
be implemented there to save the employees some space, time,
money and energy.
� The current organizational structure does not include enough
human resources, and

it is causing role confusion to the employees. The proposed
organizational structure
is clearer and well defined in a way that each knows his/her
responsibility; also it
includes enough human resources and departments within the
company to enable
them to accomplish the targeted goals.
5.1 Practical implications
One of the practical implications of this case study is that it
shows how basic LSS tools can be
used to solve complex problems in a PS environment, which as
discussed earlier, is a mix of
both manufacturing and service environments. Second, the
results of this project show that to
effectively use LSS tools in PS environments, the team leaders
need to modify the approach of
how LSS tools and concepts are applied in PS environments.
This project shows that if done
properly, the applied LSS tools can be used to solve complex
issues in PS environments. A third
practical implication is in PS environments that are new to LSS
projects; the team leaders
demonstrated that using basic tools to start projects and gain
momentum is an effective

strategy toward ensuring sustainability of the project. A fourth
implication is that despite the
environment, for an LSS project to be effective, communication
at all levels is vital (from
champion down to the frontline staff).
From an academic point of view, a key implication is that the
results of this case study
help to build in the area of applying LSS tools and concepts to
hybrid environments such as
PS environments. This project is academics and researchers to
help explore the use of LSS in
different environments can use a great case study. It is a great
exploratory study of applying
Continuous
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techniques
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LSS tools to a different type of environment. Finally, by
performing this project in a different
environment, this helps to introduce new avenues of research
for academics, and it helps to
build bodies of knowledge for CI and other fields.
5.2 Limitations
During doing this study, we faced several limitations as
follows:

� Employee training to work in CI environment required both
time and money, in
addition to the costs of training to perform the main job.
� Due to the lack of resources (workers and personals) that
were assigned to this
project from the company management, we implemented CI
technique in areas and
departments, which had the biggest impacts on the company
performance.
� As compared to any firm in the services industry in which
many opportunities for
incremental improvements exist, the case company had lack of
incremental
improvement opportunities because of the lack of standardized
processes and
operations.
� As any other qualitative research, the results of this study
cannot be generalized to
the other industries and sectors.
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Corresponding author
Mohamad Amin Kaviani can be contacted at: [email protected]
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please
visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
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6Application of continuous improvement techniques to improve
organization performance1. Introduction2. Research
background2.1 Research gap2.2 Significance of the study3.
Research methodology4. Case study4.1 Step 1: Case
selection4.2 Step 2: current situation analysisUndefined
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4.3 Step 3: continuous improvement tools
implementationUndefined namespace prefix

4.3.2.1 Analyze the process.4.3.2.2 Identify the problem.4.3.2.3
Set the goals.4.3.2.4 Gather the required data.4.3.2.5 Make the
change.Undefined namespace prefix
4.3.3.1 Stage 1: Sort.4.3.3.2 Stage 2: Set in order.4.3.3.3 Stage
3: Shine.4.3.3.4 Stage 4: Standardize.4.3.3.5 Stage 5:
Sustain.Undefined namespace prefix
4.3.4.1 Project selection form.Undefined namespace prefix
4.4 Step 4: Improvement results analysis4.5 Step 5:
Recommendations for the company4.6 Challenges faced during
the implementation of continuous improvement tools and
techniques5. Concluding remarks5.1 Practical implications5.2
LimitationsReferences

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