| Article ID: | iaor20119651 |
| Volume: | 10 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Start Page Number: | 239 |
| End Page Number: | 254 |
| Publication Date: | Sep 2011 |
| Journal: | International Journal of Services and Operations Management |
| Authors: | Devadasan S R, Gnanaguru R, Puvaneswari K, Mallick Jogendra, Jegadheesan C, Sivakumar V Mohan |
| Keywords: | Japanese management methods, aerospace |
6‐S (5‐S and sixth 'S' as Safety) is considered as foundation of all the improvement activities like TQM, TPM, Lean, etc. Implementation of 6‐S principles helps everyone in the organisation to live a better and safe life. The sustenance of 6‐S requires a small team. The team should be a self‐directed work team adept in problem solving in addition to their regular work. But, practically most of the organisations have failed due to improper communication regarding 6‐S related issues and low responsibilities. To overcome this subjectivity, the authors introduced Toyota's A3 report in 6‐S process as an improvement tool. The A3 report is named because the report is printed on an A3 size sheet which contains pictures, diagrams and charts. This paper presents a case study to show how A3 reports are implemented in 6‐S process improvement in an aeronautical industry.