Gearing Food Manufacturing Industry Towards Lean Six Sigma Implementation: An Exploratory Study on Readiness Factors

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a technique for business improvement that has flourished over the past decade due to its ability to minimise variations and increase efficiency, which enhanced the business performance and market credibility. However, LSS in the food industry was far away behind compared with other manufacturing settings. This paper focuses on the stage of LSS pre-implementation, with an intent to fill in the gap in the literature as to what type of competency is necessary to implement LSS in the food manufacturing settings. The objective of this study is to identify factors that influencing the readiness of LSS implementation in the food manufacturing industry. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve food industry practitioners involved in quality management activities. Six LSS readiness factors are customised for the food manufacturing industry identified through 29 nodes. This study helps develop the LSS readiness framework and self-assessment tool, which can be a future reference for quality practitioners in the food industry.