Continuous quality improvement based on Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises

Manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) experience increasing demands with respect to quality levels of products and processes. Continuous improvement is crucial to stay in competition, and the Lean Six Sigma approach offers promising opportunities to make it work in practice.
This thesis presents four empirical studies dealing with subjects relevant for the deployment of Lean Six Sigma based continuous improvement in manufacturing SMEs. In the first study tools and techniques are selected and assigned to project phases. The second and the third study focus on the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing SMEs, starting with studying the critical success factors and the barriers for implementation and finalising with a proposal for an implementation framework. The fourth study has been carried out in a polymer injection moulding SME, and presents a case study on the application of statistical techniques to optimize the injection moulding process for newly developed products.