Search results

Workflow optimisation is crucial for establishing a viable acute stroke (AS) intervention programme in a large tertiary care centre. This study aims to utilise Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles to enhance the hospital's workflow.

The Action Research methodology was used to implement the project and develop the case study. The study took place in a large tertiary care academic hospital in India. The Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control approach optimised the workflow within 6 months. Lean tools such as value stream mapping (VSM), waste audits and Gemba were utilised to identify issues involving various stakeholders in the workflow. Sigma-level calculations were used to compare baseline, improvement and sustainment status. Additionally, statistical techniques were effectively employed to draw meaningful inferences.

LSS tools and techniques can be effectively utilised in large tertiary care hospitals to optimise workflow through a structured approach. Sigma ratings of the processes showed substantial improvement, resulting in a five-fold increase in clinical outcomes. Specifically, there was a 43% improvement in outcome for patients who underwent acute stroke revascularisation. However, certain sigma ratings deteriorated during the control and extended control (sustainment) phases. This indicates that ensuring the sustainability of quality control interventions in healthcare is challenging and requires continuous auditing.

The article presents a single case study deployed in a hospital in India. Thus, the generalisation of outcomes has a significant limitation. Also, the study encounters the challenge of not having a parallel control group, which is a common limitation in quality improvement studies in healthcare. Many studies in healthcare quality improvement, including this one, are limited by minimal data on long-term follow-up and the sustainability of achieved results.

This study pioneers the integration of LSS methodologies in a large Indian tertiary care hospital, specifically targeting AS intervention. It represents the first LSS case study applied in the stroke department of any hospital in India. Whilst most case studies discuss only the positive aspects, this article fills a critical gap by unearthing the challenges of applying LSS in a complex healthcare setting, offering insights into sustainable quality improvement and operational efficiency. This case study contributes to the theoretical understanding of LSS in healthcare. It showcases its real-world impact on patient outcomes and process optimisation.

Quality management (QM) plays a pivotal role in driving organisational efforts to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. This study aims to explore the most important themes in QM over the past three decades, identifying and analysing the top ten key themes that have shaped the field during this period. This study, involving leading academics and industry practitioners, lays the groundwork for a three-to-four-year exploration of the most influential QM themes worldwide.

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of QM literature over the last three decades from top specialist journals on QM. This is followed by conducting a global pilot survey with leading academics and practitioners to pinpoint the top ten dominant themes of QM for organisations to leverage in gaining and maintaining a competitive edge.

The top ten themes of QM, as identified by authors through input from academics and practitioners worldwide, offer valuable insights for companies of all sizes and sectors. These themes serve as a guide for the successful and sustainable implementation of QM practices and continuous improvement strategies.

Despite a limited sample size, the initial findings provide a glimpse into critical themes. Over the next three years, as the study progresses, we anticipate potential changes in the results. Notably, the comparison of themes between manufacturing and services as well as large and small enterprises, remains unexplored in the current investigation.

The authors of this study assert that their research will pave the way for future themes in the digitalization era. Moreover, this research stands out as one of the most exhaustive examinations from both academic and practitioner viewpoints, offering a unique perspective not commonly found in existing literature.

This study aims to fully assess the readiness for Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Quality Performance Improvement (QPI) in an Italian Public Healthcare ecosystem.

Drawing from previously established survey development and adaptation protocols, a replication study was carried out; Lean, Six Sigma and QPI were extracted and validated through confirmatory factor analysis in an Italian Public Healthcare setting, with a sample of health professionals from the Campania region.

This study reports the adaptation of an existing scale for measuring LSS and QPI in an Italian public healthcare organisation. This analysis extracts six conceptual domains and constitutes an original adaptation of an existing scale to assess the readiness to adopt Lean, Six Sigma and Quality Performance in Italian Public Health Organizations. The constructs show strong levels of internal consistency, as demonstrated by each item factor loading and each subscale reliability.

Managers, policymakers and academics can employ the proposed tool to assess the public healthcare ecosystem’s capability to implement LSS initiatives and strategies to improve quality performance.

This is one of the first studies to assess cross-regional organisational readiness for LSS and QPI in an Italian Public Healthcare environment at this scope and level.

While educators impart FMEA instruction, its practical implementation within the educational sector remains limited. This study investigates the application of FMEA within higher education institutions. Implementing FMEA in these institutions is difficult due to statutory requirements, schedule restrictions, and stakeholder participation challenges. Moreover, higher education institutions struggle with preserving education quality, faculty training, and resource management, complicating organised methods such as FMEA.

This research conducted a global survey to identify the critical success factors, benefits, and common challenges in using FMEA in the higher education sector.

The outcomes highlighted that lack of awareness regarding the tools’ benefits is the primary barrier to FMEA implementation. However, respondents perceive that FMEA can improve process reliability and quality in higher education institutions. Further, the analyses found that knowledge about the FMEA tools is the prime critical success factor, and the lack of time due to other priorities in the organisation is a significant challenge in tapping the potential of FMEA.

A limitation of the study is the relatively low number of HEIs surveyed globally. Further, the study provides a broad perspective rather than a focused study on one HEI.

This study addresses this gap by exploring the potential benefits, challenges, and factors associated with the successful adoption of FMEA in academic settings. Using this information, HEIs can become more successful in applying FMEA.

This study is unique in its exploration of the application of FMEA with higher education institutions for service quality improvement.

This paper aims to report the effect of titanium oxide (TiO₂) particles on the physical, mechanical, tribological and water resistance properties of 5% NaOH-treated bamboo fiber–reinforced composites.

In this research, the epoxy/bamboo/TiO₂ hybrid composite filled with 0–8 Wt.% TiO₂ particles has been fabricated using simple hand layup techniques, and testing of the developed composite was done in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard.

The results of this study indicate that the addition of TiO₂ particles improved the mechanical properties of the developed epoxy/bamboo composites. Tensile properties were found to be maximum for 6 Wt.%, and impact strength was found to be maximum for 8 Wt.% TiO₂ particles-filled composite. The highest flexural properties were found at a lower TiO₂ fraction of 2 Wt.%. Adding TiO₂ filler helped to reduce the water absorption rate. The studies related to the wear and friction behavior of the composite under dry and abrasive wear conditions reveal that TiO₂ filler was beneficial in improving the wear performance of the composite.

This research paper attempts to include both TiO₂ filler and bamboo fibers to develop a novel composite material. TiO₂ micro and nanoparticles are promising filler materials; it helps to enhance the mechanical and tribological properties of the epoxy composites and in literature, there is not much work reported, where TiO₂ is used as a filler material with bamboo fiber–reinforced epoxy composites.

The purpose of this study is to apply bibliometric techniques to critically examine the contributions of Professor (Dr) Jiju Antony in the domain of quality management research over a period close to 30 years (i.e. 1995 to 2023).

The study incorporates a bibliometric analysis approach using VoSviewer software package to critically examine the contributions and trends in publications on Scopus indexed publications of Antony, followed by an industry wide evaluation of contributions made. Thematic analysis of the bibliographic data was imported in comma-separated values (CSV) format by selecting Antony (last name) and Jiju (first name) in the author search tab in Scopus. The search was made on September 09, 2023 and bibliographic records of 429 documents were considered for the analysis. The analysis was carried out in terms of most frequent keywords used, sources with most frequent publications, thematic analysis of most cited works and global collaborations.

Antony has focused his research interest largely in the domain of quality management, publishing his research in top rated journals in the domain with a broad network of international collaborators. Antony has received 18,802 and 40,947 citations in Scopus and Google Scholar, respectively. This signifies the impact that Antony has created through his research publications. His major contributions are on the topics of six sigma, lean six sigma, continuous improvement, critical success factors and quality management practice implementations in various organizations. Diverse methodologies both qualitative and quantitative were utilized to conduct his research. However, his body of work is not without criticism. Such criticism includes the limited scope of work, with narrow focus on ISO 9001 and QMS standards, Total Quality Management (TQM). Critique also highlights the necessity for more depth, following insufficient exploration of distinctions between TQM and operational excellence (OPEX) methodologies like lean, six sigma, kaizen and agile. Antony’s work has yet to consider a diverse range of industry sectors, in terms of implementation of quality management principles, geographical location, the impact of national culture on corporate performance and explore data quality influence on decision-making. Notably, there is clear opportunity to consider the service sector in future research.

To best of the authors’ knowledge, there are few previous studies conducted using bibliometric analysis for analyzing the work of an individual. Therefore, the present study aims to set a trend whereby bibliometric analysis can be used to recognize and critically asses the contributions of other researchers in their respective domains.