Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2019, Vol. 11(2) 1–17
Ó The Author(s) 2019
Integration of value stream mapping DOI: 10.1177/1687814019827115
journals.sagepub.com/home/ade
with DMAIC for concurrent
Lean-Kaizen: A case study on an
air-conditioner assembly line

Wei Guo1, Pingyu Jiang1, Lei Xu1,2 and Guangzhou Peng2

Abstract
This article proposes a new model for concurrent Lean-Kaizen based on the Lean production thinking. According to the
concept and application scenarios of value stream mapping and DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Control), we proposed an integrated VSM-DMAIC by adopting their advantages and avoiding their disadvantages. The
VSM-DMAIC model is applied to tackle the production problems on production line. Value stream mapping is used to
identify the production problems during production processes by waste identification. Then, the production problems
are clustered into different production problem sets according to the changed types of production resources while sol-
ving production problems. The data envelopment analysis method is used to rank the production problems by input–
output ratio, and the most important production problem in each set can be the concurrent Lean-Kaizen. DMAIC pro-
vides a structured problem-solving method for production problems. Finally, the production problems and production
problem sets will be reassessed for the next concurrent Lean-Kaizen. A case study of an air-conditioner assembly line
verified the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed VSM-DMAIC model, which can be used to improve the economic
benefits and decrease the waste of production line.

Keywords
Value stream mapping, DMAIC, Lean production, concurrent Lean-Kaizen, case study

Date received: 31 August 2018; accepted: 4 January 2019

Handling Editor: Xichun Luo

Introduction and Defects.3 The core of LP is to locate production

Following the market competition in superheating and
rising cost of production, enterprises try to overcome
this situation and become more profitable, and they
turned to Lean production (LP), which is a concept
based on the Toyota Production System.1 LP is gener-
ally considered to be a systematic method for produc-
tion waste minimization by enhancing value added
(VA) activity and eliminating non-value added (NVA)
activity with specialized Lean principles.2 Within the
context of production systems, there exist original
seven types of production waste: Overproduction,
Waiting, Transport, Processing, Inventory, Motion,
waste and find appropriate methods for eliminating
them. LP also emphasizes that elimination processes
should have a continuous improvement mind-set in
productivity and quality.
1
State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an
Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
2
Hefei Haier Air Conditioner Co., Ltd, Hefei, China
Corresponding author:
Pingyu Jiang, State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems
Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710054, China.
Email: pjiang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

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open-access-at-sage).
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
The first step of LP is identifying production waste
and pointing out improvement directions. Value stream
mapping (VSM) is a visualized Lean-management
method for analyzing the current production state and
designing a future production state by current VSM
and future VSM, respectively, so the production waste
would become clear by recognizing the gaps between
current VSM and future VSM.4 The production waste
may cause different kinds of production problems
(PPs), such as imbalance of production line, stopping
line, and waiting. However, VSM as a systematic Lean
tool avoids sporadic implementation of improvements
and builds toward a dependable system that everyone
connected within the value stream could work together
to improve the whole not just optimize the parts.5
However, VSM has some inherent defects as: (1) VSM
is a powerful diagnostic and planning tool, but it fails
to propose feasible solutions. Even though some other
Lean tools or methods may apply to tackle these PPs,
the procedures of PP-solving and Lean tool selection
are chaotic;6,7 (2) The identified PPs are static and the
relations among them are fuzzy, so the PPs may inter-
ference with each other during the procedures of
improvement. After one PP has been solved, the rest of
the related PPs may change. These two defects have
impeded the development and application of VSM and
need to be solved.
Unstructured PP-solving procedure and confused
relationships among PPs are the main problems during
VSM application. Scholars proposed different kinds of
solving procedures or models for VSM according to the
characteristics of the PPs and enterprise’s capabil-
ities.8–10 The proposed procedures or models applied
VSM with other Lean tools to solve practical PPs and
achieved desired results. However, these procedures or
models are lack of universality for various PPs and need
a mess of cases to verify their reliability. Proposing a
novel procedure or model may not be a feasible way for
various PPs, and VSM should integrate with a mature
procedure tool and build a relationship evaluation
method to overcome its defects. This article proposed a
novel model to tackle the mentioned defects of VSM by
establishing a standard procedure for PP-solving and a
dynamic evaluation mechanism. For PP-solving proce-
dure, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve,
and Control), as an effective problem-solving method
in Six Sigma, provides a structured problem-solving
procedure, and it is suitable for rather extensive
problem-solving tasks.11 Integration of VSM with
DMAIC is a novel method to accomplish standard pro-
cedures for increasing PP-solving performance. For the
relationships among PPs, we applied incidence matrix
and data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to clar-
ify them. This article aims at proposing the VSM-
DMAIC model, and verifying the feasibility and
efficiency of this model by a case study of air-
conditioner assembly line.
The rest of this article is organized as follows: sec-
tion ‘‘Literature review’’ reviews the related works on
VSM, DMAIC, and their integration. Section ‘‘The
model to be applied’’ details the methodology of VSM
and DMAIC integration for PP-solving. Section ‘‘Case
study’’ analyzes a case of air-conditioner assembly line
from a Chinese white electrical appliances enterprise.
Section ‘‘Discussion’’ discusses the generalizability of
the proposed model. Conclusion, limitations, and
future scope conclude this article.
Literature review
The development of LP
The foundation of LP is waste elimination, by enhan-
cing VA activity and eliminating NVA activity for
finally achieving zero waste. Panwar et al.12 investi-
gated the status of Lean manufacturing in Indian pro-
cess industries and declared that the implementation
level of LP in Indian process industries is still low, but
LP thinking has already been accepted by some enter-
prises and confirmed very useful to reduce waste and to
increase quality. Zhou13 studied more than 200 small-
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United
States about the implementation of LP, and the results
suggest that most of the SMEs have a relatively accu-
rate understanding of Lean thinking and principles;
varied Lean tools have been applied and they are posi-
tively related with performance of SMEs. Chiarini14
observed five European motorcycle components manu-
facturing enterprises which have implemented five Lean
tools: VSM, 5S, cellular manufacturing, Single Minute
Exchange of Die (SMED), and Total Productive
Maintenance (TPM). He found that implementing LP
principles and tools not only decrease the waste during
production but also help enterprises to reduce environ-
mental impacts and realize manufacturing-greening
processes. Taj investigated the adaptation of LP and
assessed its current state of practice in 65 plants of
China. He found that the petroleum industry is in lead
among all industries, followed by computer, telecom-
munication/wireless, and electronics industries.15 Jasti
and Kodali16 reviewed and analyzed recent research
articles on LP, and they believed that LP has a big
impact on academicians and is very useful for produc-
tion around the world. Based on the results, the sugges-
tions for the future scope of research possibilities and
development are identified. LP thinking has applied to
a lot of areas and achieved considerable benefits on
waste elimination. Enterprises pay more attention on
introduction and implementation of LP thinking to
production. Lean tools support the realization of LP
thinking based on special LP principles, and different
Guo et al. 3

Lean tools assist enterprises to eliminate waste from

various perspectives. VSM, as one of the basic Lean
tools for LP, is used as a tool for identifying waste and
directing improvement.

VSM and DMAIC for Lean-Kaizen

LP is a procedure of waste elimination and efficiency
promotion; however, Toyota Production System
focuses on not only improvement but also continuous
improvement. Kaizen is a Japanese word for ‘‘continu-
ous improvement,’’ hence Lean-Kaizen means continu-
ous elimination of waste and efficiency promotion.17
For realizing Lean-Kaizen, Kaizen event is proposed as
a focused and structured improvement project which
concentrates on a special target to produce positive
change in business results.18 Since Lean-Kaizen devel-
ops based on LP, the principles and tools of LP are
equally applicable to Lean-Kaizen.
Identifying and locating waste are the preliminary
steps for Lean-Kaizen, and VSM is the most commonly
used Lean tool for representing production flows and
identifying some types of waste.19 Hines and Rich20
presented a set of seven mapping tools and linked to
the identification of the seven wastes. Yang et al.21 pro-
posed five factors for designing future VSM and used
VSM tool for reducing the work in process (WIP) and
increasing the service level of a fishing net manufactur-
ing system. Matt22 studied an Italian steel construction
company to identify best practice guidelines for the
adaptation and use of VSM in the design of Lean
engineer-to-order production systems. Based on the
original VSM, researchers have extended VSM to more
specialized and complex production systems for adapt-
ing the diversity.23,24
After waste identifying, hundreds of tools assist
VSM to eliminate the waste, such as Pareto chart,
Fishbone diagram, and poka-yoke. As the procedures
of waste elimination are confusing and undisciplined in
most scenarios, a structured problem-solving frame
should be introduced to VSM for guiding waste elimi-
nation. DMAIC as a widely used Six Sigma approach
for quality improvement, and it provides a structured
and systematic problem-solving procedure. In most
cases, DMAIC is applied to improve the performance
and quality of production.25–27 From the perspective of
problem-solving, DMAIC is a generic and versatile
method which can be extended for rather extensive
problem-solving tasks. De Mast and Lokkerbol11 ana-
lyzed the characterization of the types of problems for
which DMAIC is a suitable method, and the results
showed that DMAIC is applicable to empirical prob-
lems with larger scope ranging from well-structured to
semi-structured. So, DMAIC can be used as a powerful
tool for realizing structured waste elimination proce-
dure. In addition, integration of VSM with DMAIC
Figure 1. Three model types on integration of VSM with
DMAIC.
should be a way to perfect the contents of VSM and
extend VSM method to more application domains.
Integration of VSM with DMAIC
According to attributes and applications of VSM and
DMAIC, there are mainly three integration model
types as shown in Figure 1.28 The first model type pre-
sents DMAIC is a part of VSM that identifies and
locates waste and PPs from current VSM to future
VSM, then solving the PPs by the procedure of
DMAIC. This kind of model is close to the integration
model proposed in this article. Based on this model, we
developed and perfected this model by defining the
functions and mechanism of VSM-DMAIC, realizing
concurrent Lean-Kaizen, and dynamic updating of
PPs. The second model type presents VSM is part of
DMAIC that acts as a tool for supporting the specific
phase of DMAIC. This kind of integration is often
called as Lean Six Sigma, and most of scholars focus
on this type model.29–31 The third model type presents
that VSM and DMAIC are used separately from each
other to solve different types of PPs. In this mode, the
PPs should be separated according to their attributes.
According to what we have discussed above, LP is
applied to different kinds of enterprises for waste elimi-
nation and obtained plentiful achievements. VSM is a
powerful LP tool for identifying and locating waste to
assist PP improvement; however, the procedures of
waste elimination are confusing and undisciplined.
DMAIC can provide a structured procedure for prob-
lem-solving, and scholars proposed three types of
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 2. The framework of VSM-DMAIC.
Figure 3. The relationships among waste, PPs, production resources, and resources attributes.
VSM-DMAIC models for different scenarios. We
selected and developed the first model (DMAIC is a
part of VSM), since the PPs of assembly line are VSM-
driven.
The model to be applied
For realizing concurrent Lean-Kaizen, the integration
model is proposed with the basic functions of PPs: iden-
tifying, clustering, ranking, and solving. Based on the
idea of integration of VSM with DMAIC, and Lean-
Kaizen, a systemic PP-solving model is proposed, as
shown in Figure 2. The VSM-DMAIC model consists
of five steps for realizing identifying and solving PPs.
The five steps of VSM-DMAIC are detailed as follows:
Step 1: identifying PPs. Finding and locating PPs are
the preliminary steps of Lean-Kaizen. The PPs can
be identified from current VSM to future VSM by
analyzing the waste during production processes. In
essence, PP-solving is to optimize the attributes of
production resources of each station in production
line. The relationship mapping among waste, PPs,
production resources, and resources attributes is illu-
strated in Figure 3.
The seven wastes may cause PPs, and the relation-
ships among them are many-to-many. To solve a PP
equals to optimize the production resources of relevant
production station which include man, machine, mate-
rial, method, and environment (4M1E). Each kind of
resource may have the attributes of activity, quantity,
position, function/type, and performance. By changing
the attributes of production resources, PPs can be
solved suitably.
Step 2: creating PP sets. In most cases, researchers
just found and tackled the PPs and the relationships
among them are neglected. During the procedure of
PP-solving, two or more solving procedures may
change attributes of the same production resource.
So, the solving procedure can only focus on one of
PPs and tackle them one by one.32,33 To realize con-
current Lean-Kaizen, the relations among PPs must
be cleared and related PPs should be clustered into
one PP set.
Guo et al. 5

1X m
s+
i2
min 1 + ð1Þ
m i = 1 Ri

X
n
Subject to lj xij + s +
i1  si2 = xi0 , i = 1, . . . , m
j=1
j6¼0
ð2Þ
X
n
lj yrj  s+
i1 = yr0 , r = 1, . . . , s
j=1
Figure 4. The relationships among PPs by incidence matrix. j6¼0

A team is built up with engineers from equipment
department, industrial engineering (IE) department,
product department, quality department, and engineering
department. The engineers independently analyze the
relationships among PPs and then the team holds a meet-
ing and analyzes the relationship from overall perspective
with the method of Brainstorm or Delphi. Based on engi-
neers’ experience, incidence matrix is applied to identify
the relationships among PPs with different production
resource attributes. If solving procedure of PP1 has an
impact on the activity of man a11 , then marked with 1;
otherwise, marked with 0 as shown in Figure 4.
Step 3: PP importance ranking. In the last step, the
relationships among PPs are clustered into PP sets.
In a PP set, which PP should be tackled first is
decided by IOR or results of PP-solving. The stan-
dard DEA method has been successfully applied for
the evaluation of efficiencies where multiple inputs
and outputs occur.34 Based on this characteristic,
researchers extend DEA to the field of ranking, such
as cross-efficiency DEA ranking, super-efficiency
DEA ranking, and benchmark DEA ranking.35
This article applies super-efficiency DEA ranking
method36 for realizing IOR rank of PPs, and the
method can be described as below
lj , s + +
i1 , si2 , sr ø 0, i = 1, . . . , m; r = 1, . . . , s; j = 1, . . . , n
where j represents PP (j = 1, ..., n) that all the PPs have
m inputs xij (i = 1, . . . , m) to produce s outputs
yrj (r = 1, . . . , s). Assuming that Xj = (xij ) 2 Rm 3 n and
Yj = (yrj ) 2 Rm 3 n are non-negative. Ri is maximum of
all ith inputs; s+ 
i1 and si2 are, respectively, the slacks for
decrement and increment of ith input; and s+ r is output
slack.
The inputs of super-efficiency DEA ranking on PPs
are the changing cost of 4M1E and the outputs are eco-
nomic benefits and cost-saving. It is a typical multiple
inputs and outputs model and can be properly handled
by super-efficiency DEA ranking method.
Step 4: Kaizen events based on DMAIC. According
to PP sets and ranking results, the most important
PP in a set should be tackled first, then comes the
second, and so on. The PPs in different sets can be
improved concurrently. Each PP corresponds to a
Kaizen event which is a focused and structured
improvement project with the potential of improving
both a technical system and a social system.37 The
DMAIC-based Kaizen event is proposed as shown
in Figure 5, and full name of the tools are illustrated
in Appendix 1. Each phase of DMAIC has corre-
sponding tools to support it,38 and the tool selection

Figure 5. Kaizen events based on DMAIC.

6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 6. The production line layout of air-conditioner outdoor unit.
is based on the outputs of previous phase. One PP
may use one or more tools at a phase.
Step 5: changes on PPs. After a round of concurrent
Lean-Kaizen, the most important PP of each set is
tackled and the rest PPs may change. The variational
directions of PPs can be described as follows:
 New PP generation. Solving the previous PPs
may cause new PPs, since they change the attri-
butes of 4M1E. In a general way, new PPs have
lower importance than tackled PPs.
 Original PPs vanish. During the procedures of
PP-solving, some other unresolved PPs may van-
ish since the solved PPs have strong relationships
with them. That means the solved PPs include
the procedures of solving vanished PPs.
 Changing on original PPs’ importance. PP-solving
may have effects on the rest PPs; unlike PPs van-
ishment, the effects may change the ranking of
the rest of the PPs. Some PPs may become less
important and others become more important
than before.
According to the changes on PPs, the ranking of PPs
and PP sets should be reassessed synchronously. And
then, the concurrent Lean-Kaizen will run again based
on the five steps of VSM-DMAIC.
Case study
The chosen enterprise is a leading air-conditioner manu-
facturer, which commands 17% of the air-conditioner
market in China. The identity of the manufacturer is
protected; however, we shall refer to it as HR. In China,
total sales of air-conditioner increased from 110 to
140 million between 2013 and 2017. However, the profit
of single air-conditioner has declined 19% since the
increasing cost of labors and original materials lead to
increased manufacturing cost. However, the saturation
of urban markets compels air-conditioner manufacturer
to reduce the price for expanding the rural markets.
Facing the challenges mentioned before, HR
upgraded one of its air-conditioner outdoor unit
assembly line in 2016 by adding automation equip-
ments, such as automatic nut machine, automatic cas-
ing machine, and automatic refrigerant inject and test
equipments. Also, HR has added digital equipments
for recording production processes and production
data. The assembly line layout is illustrated in Figure 6,
and it can be divided into four areas with 55 main pro-
cesses: component assembly area, electronic assembly
area, inject and test area, and final assembly area.
These areas assemble original materials to make inte-
grated air-conditioners. The assembly processes are
complicated and rely on assemblers, machines, assem-
bly techniques, original materials, and environment,
which can be seen as production resources or 4M1E.
Based on the production resources, each area can per-
form the specified tasks as shown in Figure 7.
The new assembly line did not sharply improve the
production efficiency and decrease the production cost.
On the contrary, the product quality, assembly line
capacity, and production continuity decreased. In some
worst scenarios, more than 1 h stopping line took place
in a shift and rejected air-conditioners are fully piled up
on the repair area. The upgraded assembly line failed to
realize the preset goals and made the production even
worse. Therefore, we try to apply the novel integrated
method VSM-DMAIC and relative tools to tackle the
PPs of this assembly line.
Data collection and analysis—current VSM of the
assembly line
The assembly line assembles different types of air-con-
ditioner outdoor units, but they have similar assembly
processes and takt time only with a slightly difference
on refrigerating capacity of compressor. We selected
the maximum yield product type KFR-35W/1222AT as
research object, since it has greatest impact on produc-
tion and the improvement will be maximized. The data
were collected by taking personal visits to the manufac-
turer over a period of 35 days. The data contain two
parts: (1) production data exported from the manufac-
turing execution system (MES) system of HR, it
Guo et al.
Figure 7. Brief description of production line task.
included daily output, production types of air-condi-
tioner, lead time, stopping line, yield, customers’ infor-
mation, suppliers’ information, and so on. (2)
Production process data are obtained from stopwatch
and video. By analyzing these data, cycle time (CT),
changeover time (C/O), numbers of assembler, WIP
inventory, and VA activity were recorded. Based on the
collected data, some key indicators of the assembly line
are proposed to support the development of current
VSM.
Takt time. Takt time is the rate or time required mea-
sure at which a manufacturer must produce a product
to satisfy customer demand.39 Equation (3) is used to
calculate the takt time (T) of assembly line, and HR is
operating on two shifts (S) of 10 h per day with an aver-
age customer demand of 23,510 units per week (O).
The number of effective days in a week (D) is 6 days by
excluding Sunday, and average number of working
hours per shift (H) is 8 h by excluding lunch break of
1 h and dinner break of 1 h for each shift. The takt time
is 14.7 s—that means the assembly line must assemble
an air-conditioner within 14.7 s. So, the assembly line
should be optimized in such a way to meet the calcu-
lated takt time
D3S 3H 6 3 2 3 8 3 3, 600
T= = = 14:7 s ð3Þ
O 23, 510
Line of balance rate. Continuous flow is one of the most
important targets of LP, and it requires CT of each
assembly station to be as close as possible to takt
time.40 Line of balance (LOB) provides a feasible way
for realizing continuous flow by balancing the CT of
7
each assembly station within takt time. The LOB state
of this assembly line is shown in Figure 8.
The CTs of green marked stations are very short
and far away from the takt time, and the CTs of the
red marked stations are very long and beyond the takt
time. In general, this assembly line is in an unbalanced
state, and the LOB rate h can be calculated using equa-
tion (4) below
P
N
ti
i=1 673:01
h= = = 72:6 ð4Þ
n 3 maxðtÞ 55 3 16:86
PA
where i = 1 ti represents total time of all stations, n is
the quantity of stations, and max(t) is the maximum
CT.
Motion analysis of assembly station. For most assembly sta-
tions, the motion analysis includes not only VA activity
and NVA activity but also necessary but non-value
added (NNVA) activity, for example, holding and posi-
tioning. We recorded videos and decomposed assembly
motions of each station. Table 1 shows the analysis
results of fixing cut-off valve station, and the other sta-
tions were analyzed in the same way.
There are two NVA motions: one is pick up motion,
since the cut-off valves are put on the floor and assem-
blers have to stoop for picking up the valves; the other
is adjusting valves’ position motion, since sometimes
the cut-off valve should be adjusted to the right position
before fixing. The VA rate of this station is 46.32%.
Current VSM provides a pictorial view of existing
processes and guides to identify gap areas for improve-
ment. Figure 9 shows the current VSM of the air-
conditioner assembly line. From the current VSM, it is
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 8. LOB rate of assembly line.

Figure 9. The current VSM of air-conditioner assembly line.

Table 1. Motion analysis of fixing cut-off valve station.

Station No. Motion Type Cycle time (s)

1 2 3 4 5 Average

Fix cut-off valve 1 Pick-up valve NVA 2.12 3.48 2.57 4.02 3.63 3.16
2 Set cut-off valve NNVA 4.43 4.52 4.46 4.45 4.51 4.47
3 Adjust position NVA 1.38 1.46 1.43 1.37 1.42 1.41
4 Fix cut-off valve VA 7.84 7.78 7.86 7.82 7.77 7.81
Sum 15.77 17.24 16.32 17.66 17.33 16.86

NVA: non-value added; NNVA: necessary but non-value added; VA: value added.
Guo et al.
Table 2. The identified waste and PPs of assembly line.
No. PPs
1 Imbalance
2 Excess WIP
3 Preparation time
4 Stopping line
5 Long changeovers
6 Defective product
7 Logistics waiting
8 Waste motion
9 Equipment failure
10 Supply delay
11 Low VA activity
12 Material delivery delay
LOB: line of balance; WIP: work in process; CT: cycle time; VA: value added; NVA: non-value added.
found that about 270.41 s, or 2.80% out of 9673.01 s,
were VA activities, compared to 9402.6 s or 97.2% of
NVA activities. Except the preparation time and logis-
tics waiting time, the VA activities are 40.18%. Other
data such as defective rate, equipment failure, and stop-
ping line duration can be drawn from the enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system directly.
Identifying PPs
According to the recorded data and key indicators cal-
culated before, the current VSM has been developed as
shown in Figure 9. So, the waste and PPs can be identi-
fied and are illustrated in Table 2.
We summarized 12 relative important PPs of the
assembly line which can be easily identified by the
seven wastes and have obvious influence on produc-
tion. These PPs may have relationships with each other,
and the Kaizen event for each PP may cause conflicts
with other PPs.
Using VSM-DMAIC for concurrent Lean-Kaizen
For realizing concurrent Lean-Kaizen, the first thing is
to clarify the relationships among PPs. The incidence
matrix is proposed for distinguishing the unrelated PPs
according to the production resources with 4M1E.
Mapping to the air-conditioner assembly line: man rep-
resents the assembler; machine includes torque gun,
tooling car, and so on; material represents the compo-
nent for assembly; method is the assembly technique of
air-conditioner; environment includes luminance, tem-
perature, and so on. If the Kaizen events of two PPs
change the same production resources, they cannot be
improved synchronously since they may conflict with
each other during the Kaizen events. The PPs incidence
matrix of the air-conditioner assembly line is shown in
Figure 10, and the relationships are determined by
experiences of engineers. HR built a special
9
Description
The LOB rate of the assembly line is only 72.6%.
Pre-assembly line causes 750 pieces of WIP inventory.
It takes 1 h to prepare the production materials.
It waste 0.5–1 h of each shift and cause work overtime.
There are three stations with changeover time beyond 60 s.
87% reject rate cause by welding failure.
It takes 1.5 h for waiting for the logistics trucks.
Some stations’ waste motion accounts for more than 50% CT.
The added automation equipments failed sometimes.
Some suppliers cannot offer just-in-time delivery.
Some stations’ NVA activity account for more than 50% CT.
Assemblers wait for the production materials.
Figure 10. The PPs incidence matrix of the air-conditioner
production line.
improvement team includes 13 engineers that have 5.4
average years of Lean-Kaizen experience from equip-
ment department, IE department, product department,
quality department, and engineering department.
According to the incidence matrix, the 12 PPs can
be clustered into four PP sets: (1, 2), (3, 5, 7, 10, 12), (4,
6, 9), and (8, 11). After that, the IOR of each PP should
be calculated and ranked by super-efficiency DEA
ranking method. The estimated inputs and outputs are
illustrated in Table 3. The inputs represent the chang-
ing cost of 4M1E and outputs represent benefits in
3 months after changing, since HR completes a Lean-
Kaizen cycle around every 3 months.
Table 4 shows the rank result of PPs by super-
efficiency DEA ranking method; we neglected the inter-
mediate results, and only left final rank and score
result. So, the PPs of each set can be ranked as (1, 2),
(3, 12, 10, 5, 7), (4, 9, 6), and (8, 11). The PPs of No. 1
imbalance, No. 3 preparation time, No. 4 stopping line,
and No. 8 waste motion should be concurrent Lean-
10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Table 3. The estimated inputs and outputs of PPs (Unit: 1000 RMB).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Inputs Man 15 20 0 5 0 8 0 12 25 0 60 65
Machine 320 450 5 5 5 8 3 0 49 0 15 0
Material 5 0 0 12 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 05
Method 2 8 15 7 8 12 4 15 13 23 25 05
Environment 0 0 0 29 0 6 5 0 68 0 0 25
Outputs Benefits 2980 1040 360 548 97 20 18 26 54 25 675 15
Cost saving 170 560 650 450 102 75 56 22 95 14 455 35

Table 4. The ROI rank result of PPs.

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

PPs 1 3 2 12 4 8 11 10 5 7 9 6
Score 11.46 6.12 5.42 4.77 2.83 2.41 1.10 1.00 0.49 0.32 0.16 0.14

PP: production problem.

Table 5. The tools apply to DMAIC.

Define Measure Analyze Improve Control

Tools Benchmarking Data collection plan Fishbone diagram ECRS SOP

Team building Histogram SOD Ergonomics
Pareto chart 5S

Kaizen first since they obtain relatively high scores in team is built, and detailed responsibilities and time lines
each set and have no relationship among them, espe- are assigned to every participator.
cially imbalance problem which obtained the highest
score of 11.46. Excess WIP, preparation time, and stop-
ping line are also important comparing with other PPs. Measure phase. We used stopwatches to measure the
Since imbalance problem and excess WIP problem are operation time of each station, and the result can be
in the same set, they cannot be tackled simultaneously. seen in Figure 8. For reflecting the accurate operation
Four PPs can be concurrently tackled and apply the time of air-conditioner assembly line, the measurement
VSM-DMAIC framework. Considering the length of times are calculated by equation (5) according to the IE
this article, we chose the most important and represen- handbook from HR
tative imbalance problem as an example to explain the sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 n 2ffi
idea of VSM-DMAIC. By analyzing the current VSM P n
2
P
and production data, the current state of LOB rate is 40 n xi  xi
1 1
clear and DMAIC is ready for tackling this PP. Table 5 n0 = P
n ð5Þ
shows the tools in each phase of DMAIC, and it should xi
1
be pointed out that the tool selection is based on the
output of last phase. where n is the predefined measurement times of sta-
tions, we measure the operation time of each station
Define phase. The imbalance problem of air-conditioner five times (n = 5). Then, we selected a key station’s
assembly line can be defined as improving the LOB rate operation time as standard times, x1 = 16.08 s,
of assembly line. By applying benchmarking tools, we x2 = 14.24 s, x3 = 13.99 s, x4 = 14.59 s, and
compared the air-conditioner assembly line with bench- x5 = 14.10 s, respectively. The calculation result is 8.77,
marking assembly line in air-conditioner industry. Gaps approximately equal to nine times. So, each station
and disadvantages are analyzed, and the aim of LOB should be measured four more times despite predefined
rate is set around 85%–90%. Then, the Lean-Kaizen measurement times.
Guo et al.
Figure 11. Fishbone diagram for imbalance factors analysis.
Figure 12. Pareto chart for importance of imbalance factors.
Analysis phase. Fishbone diagram was used to analyze the
possible factors for imbalance of the air-conditioner
assembly line from the aspects of 4M1E as shown in
Figure 11. Based on the factors, the importance of each
factor is determined by SOD (Severity, Occurrence,
Detection) method. Severity represents the influence of
each factor on the imbalance problem, Occurrence repre-
sents frequency of each factor, and Detection represents
whether the factors are easy to detect or not. Integers 9, 6,
3, and 1 are applied to show the importance of factors, 9
means very important and 1 means unimportant. In total,
12 engineers are invited to grade the factors. To clearly
reflect the importance of factors, Pareto chart is used to
illustrate proportion of each factor as shown in Figure 12.
According to Figure 12, cumulative percentage of
assembly motion, assembler status, material mix up,
11
and assembly sequence accounts for more than 80%.
So, these four factors are the important factors for
imbalance problem and need to be tackled.
Improve phase. For solving these four factors, ECRS
(Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, and Simplify),
Ergonomics, and 5S tools are applied to enhance LOB
rate. ECRS is often used to optimize assembly tech-
nique by combining two stations into one station, sim-
plify assembly motion of a station, or rearrange the
assembly sequence.41 According to results of motion
analysis of each assembly station, whether a station can
be eliminated, combined, rearranged, or simplified will
be clear. The ECRS result for imbalance is shown in
Figure 13. Blue blocks represent the eliminated station,
green blocks represent combined stations, and red
blocks represent simplified station.
After applying ECRS tool, some stations still are the
bottlenecks because unfit assembly motion may affect
the assemblers’ status. Ergonomics was introduced to
analyze the assemblers’ status, and it aims at reducing
the assemblers’ fatigue and increasing assembly effi-
ciency.42 Figure 14 shows an example on changing from
standing posture to sitting posture during assembly.
Material mix-up is another important factor on
imbalance, and it might cause assemblers take wrong
materials or take a long time to find the right materials.
5S tools are used to standardize materials placing of
the assembly line, and Figure 15 shows an example on
12 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 13. The ECRS for imbalance problem.

Figure 14. Ergonomics was applied to improve assemblers’ status.

Figure 15. Using 5S tools for standard materials placing.

Guo et al.
Figure 16. An SOP document (in Chinese and English).
improving the materials placing of motor assembly
station.
Using the tools of ECRS, ergonomics, and 5S, the
LOB rate of assembly line has increased from 72.6% to
87.8%. The four important imbalance factors have
been tackled; the improved assembly line is economical
and efficient than ever before, but there is still space for
Lean-Kaizen.
Control phase. To maintain the achievements of Lean-
Kaizen, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) method
is proposed for standardizing the motion of assemblers.
Figure 16 shows a station’s SOP document, which
13
includes assembly motions, materials, and announce-
ments with pictures for illustration.
An Xbar-R control chart was introduced for moni-
toring the balance rate along with a control plan.
Stopwatches were used to measure the operation time
of each station five times per shift and then calculate
the average LOB rate. In total, 20 shifts were measured
and the average LOB rate of each shift was calculated
as shown in Table 6. Based on that, the Xbar and R
charts were used to control the stability of LOB as
shown in Figure 17. The charts show that LOB improv-
ing tools obtain a satisfied result and stable fluctuation
with the model of VSM-DMAIC.
14 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Table 6. The average balance rate of 20 shifts.

Shift 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

LOB 86.6% 88.2% 87.9% 89.3% 88.5% 87.1% 88.4% 87.4% 87.7% 87.7%
Shift 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
LOB 87.0% 87.1% 88.5% 86.4% 87.6% 88.5% 87.3% 87.8% 87.1% 88.1%

Figure 17. The Xbar-R charts for LOB.

Evaluation on Lean-Kaizen results
Since the VSM-DMAIC is a concurrent Lean-Kaizen
model, a single evaluation indicator cannot reflect the
results of concurrent Lean-Kaizen. Based on other
researchers’ studies,7,43,44 we proposed 10 evaluation
indicators as shown in Table 7.
In this case, the concurrent Lean-Kaizen PPs are Nos
1, 3, 4 and 8. After the first round of concurrent Lean-
Kaizen, the evaluation indicators are calculated, and
radar chart is applied to illustrate the Lean-Kaizen results
as shown in Figure 18. The normalization procedure is
applied to simplify the value of evaluation indicators.
The LOB rate, average WIP, and supply delay have
obviously improved after the first round. However, VA
rate and synergistic ability of work station are still at
low levels. We should pay more attention on the PPs
which have relations with the two evaluation indicators.
For an air-conditioner manufacturer, promoting
economic benefits is the ultimate and core goal. The
economic benefits from tackled PPs can be calculated
by equation (6), which quotes from the ‘‘Calculating
method for economic benefits of enterprise innovation’’
by China State Council
Etotal = (U1  U0 ) 3 WT 3 (Pr  Cp )
! Second, the challenges and risks are discussed for clari-
X
n ð6Þ
+ Pa 3 DCp  Ca + Co
i=1
where U0 is the output per minute before concurrent
Lean-Kaizen, U1 is the output per unit time after con-
current Lean-Kaizen. WT represents production time
in 3 months. Pr is the price of an air-conditioner, Cp is
the production cost of an air-conditioner. Pa is actual
output during the 3 months, and DCp is the difference
cost
Pn between before and after concurrent Lean-Kaizen.
i = 1 Ca is the costs for tackling PPs, n represents the
quantity of PPs, n = 4 in this case. Co represents other
costs during concurrent Lean-Kaizen. In this case, the
total economic benefit is calculated in equation (7), and
the first round of concurrent Lean-Kaizen has created
797,051 RMB profit per month
Etotal = (3:8  3:1) 3 69, 120 3 (780  620)
+ 283, 500 3 52:1  (4, 210, 000 + 130, 000) ð7Þ
= 8, 667, 475 RMB
Discussion
First, generalizability of the VSM-DMAIC model is
discussed for verifying that the model can achieve con-
current Lean-Kaizen not only for an air-conditioner
assembly line but also for other production scenarios.
fying the direction of VSM-DMAIC model improve-
ment. Third, theoretical and managerial implications of
the article are illustrated.
Guo et al. 15

Table 7. Evaluation indicators for concurrent Lean-Kaizen.

Evaluation indicators Formulas Notations

Total value added rate: g total P

n VAt : total VA time in the process.
Ati TL: total time in the process.
VAt i=1
gtotal = = n 3100% Ati : assembly time of ith station.
TL P
(CTi + Trai, i + 1 ) CTi : cycle time of ith station.
i=1 Trai, i + 1 : transport time from ith to
Synergistic ability of work station: l jHi  CTi j i + 1th station.
li = qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi l = min l *
i
(CTi  Hi )2 + si 2 li : synergistic ability of ith station.
Hi : standard operation time of ith
Average value added rate of station: g Tti Ati
gi = = 3100% station.
CTi Rti + Sti + Ati + Cti + Wti si : Standard time deviation of ith
1 Xn
g= g station.
n i=0 i gi : VA rate of ith station.
Bottleneck capacity: § jmax CTi  CT j Tti : effective operation time.
§= Wti : waiting time.
CT
Line balancing rate: h P n Sti : setup time.
CTi Cti : proving time.
h = i=1 3100% Rti : material transport time to ith
n3 max CTi station.
Maximum changeover time: COmax COmax = max COi , i = (1, 2, 3, . . . , n)
Pn wt: equipment work time.
Average WIPavg
WIPi, i + 1 st: downtime.
i=1 f : quantity of defective product.
WIPavg =
n1 sum: quantity of product.
Supply delay times: dn Times of stopping line due to lack of
material in a shift.
Equipment utilization: v v = (wt  st)=wt
First time yield: FTY FTY = (1  f =sum)3100%

VA: value added; CT: cycle time.

assembly line. However, the generalizability theoretical

Figure 18. The evaluation indicators before and after
concurrent Lean-Kaizen.
It is obvious that VSM is a powerful tool for identi-
fying waste and DMAIC provides a structured proce-
dure for problem-solving, and integration of VSM and
DMAIC has been verified by a case study that the
VSM-DMAIC model is useful and reliable. The VSM-
DMAIC model was applied to an air-conditioner
assembly line, which is a typical production line, and
these kinds of lines have similar production flow and
always face similar PPs, so the VSM-DMAIC model
can be applied to identify and tackle PPs of various
saturation of the model still should be enhanced by
multiple cases in the future. We will apply VSM-
DMAIC to other production lines of HR.
The proposed VSM-DMAIC model was verified by
only one case, and this model is in an early stage of
implementation. Some challenges and risks are still
need to be solved, and they are illustrated as follows:
(1) we just consider 4M1E to analyze the relationships
among PPs; sometimes, 4M1E cannot contain all pro-
duction resources. Two PPs may interact with each
other and the procedures of improvement may change
the same production resource. (2) DMAIC is used to
realize the improvement; however, some PPs are solved
properly and some others are not, such as eliminating
time waste problems cannot obtain satisfied result. (3)
The PPs summary, PPs relationship analysis, and PPs
rank are empirical, and if some engineers leave the com-
pany, that may result in decision-making mistakes and
have a direct effect on the PPs improvement.
The VSM-DMAIC provides a method to realize con-
current Lean-Kaizen, and the relationship analysis
among PPs and dynamic PPs update mechanism greatly
improved the efficiency of PPs improvement. This
model applied feedback mechanism to realize continu-
ous improvement, and we can manage the unordered
PPs with problem sets.
16
Conclusion and further research work
VSM is a visualization Lean-management method for
identifying the PPs by finding the gaps between current
VSM and future VSM. DMAIC is a generic and versa-
tile method which can be extended for rather extensive
problem-solving tasks, and it provides a way of solving
problem. VSM and DMAIC have their own advantages
and disadvantages; VSM can easily and accurately
identify PPs, but do not offer an idea to tackle them,
and DMAIC offers a structure for problem-solving,
but lacks in identifying PPs. So, integrating VSM and
DMAIC is a feasible approach to adopt their advan-
tages and avoid their disadvantages. In this article, we
proposed the framework of VSM-DMAIC that VSM is
applied to identify PPs and then DMAIC is applied to
tackle them. Beyond that, PP set and PP ranking are
used to realize concurrent Lean-Kaizen.
The case study focused on a new air-conditioner
assembly line with the aim of solving the PPs during
assembly processes. In total, 12 PPs have been identi-
fied by VSM and classified into four PP sets. That
means the most important PP in each set can be tackled
at the same time. In this article, the most important
and typical problem on imbalance was selected and
then DMAIC applied for improving LOB rate of this
assembly line. The calculation results of evaluation
indicators show that LOB rate, average WIP, and sup-
ply delay have obviously improved, especially the eco-
nomic benefits—the first round of concurrent Lean-
Kaizen has created 797,051 RMB profit per month.
This case study was the first application of VSM-
DMAIC in production and practice. It has demon-
strated significant improvement on air-conditioner
assembly line. However, this model is in the early stage
and needs to study more cases in the future.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This research was supported by the Innovation
Method Fund of China, and Ministry of Science &
Technology (MOST), with grant no. 2016IM010100.
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SIPOC Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer
QFD Quality Function Deployment
SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
MSA Measurement System Analysis
DPMO Defects Per Million Opportunities
FMEA Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
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FTA Fault Tree Analysis
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Abbreviation Full name
5W2H What, Why, When, Where, Who, How, How much
RACI Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed
DOE Design Of Experiments
RSM Response Surface Method
PDCA Plan, Do, Check, Action
TPM Total Productive Maintenance
5S Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke