Ig. Jaka Mulyana, Moses Laksono Singgih and Sri Gunani Partiwi
Extended Abstract
Improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of Higher education institutions (HEI) are required to alter the teaching and learning process, research, and community service. HEI are also improve student abilities and focus on customers requirement. HEI must redesign business processes to reduce the administrative overhead and improve the services delivered to students, industry partners, faculty, and researchers. As a result, HEI should increase all its resources by using various quality improvement methods. Currently, universities in America, Europe, and Australia adopted several frameworks. Universities can carry out accreditation using these frameworks. Accreditation is comparing specific criteria with established standards. For this reason, HEI must have a framework for improving its quality. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach is one of the frameworks for improvements. LSS is a business strategy and methodology that increases process improvement, resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction and improved processes. Lean Manufacturing (LM) is a manufacturing concept to produce products efficiently by reducing waste. The Six Sigma methodology is a disciplined and structured approach to improving process performance and achieving high levels of quality. Many service industries, including at HEI, implemented Lean Six Sigma (LSS),i.e., the integration of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. So far, the adaptation of LSS has been only partial and has focused on reducing waste rather than a holistic approach. There are not many studies that discuss LSS comprehensively, develop models and carry out cost evaluations. This paper proposes the Lean Six Sigma Framework for Higher Education (LSSF – for HEdu) comprehensively. The framework hopefully can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the HEI so that it can satisfy all customers and reduce costs
Keywords: Lean Six Sigma, LSSF – for HEdu, effectiveness, efficiency, HEI.
1. INTRODUCTION
Higher Education Institution (HEI) was greatly influenced by the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Digitalization affects all aspects of teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and administrative activities (Dräger et al., 2017). HEI must improve and develop teaching and learning strategies, improve student competency and focus on customers, and increase all resource utilization (Davidson et al., 2020; Svensson et al., 2015; Wawan et al., 2018). Currently, universities in America, Europe, and Australia adopt several frameworks. Universities can carry out accreditation using these frameworks. Accreditation is comparing specific criteria with established standards. Accreditation systems widely used include the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA), and Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (JABEE). The framework has no specific methodology for continuous improvement (Davidson et al., 2020). HEI must improve its business processes systematically. Lean Six Sigma is a methodology for improving business processes systematically (Svensson et al., 2015). The American Society for Quality (ASQ) stated many advantages of implementing LSS at HEI, i.e., meeting accreditation requirements, making improvements, encouraging collaboration between organizations, knowing customer desires, identifying and reducing costs (Simons, 2013).
2. METHODS
This article discusses the Lean Six Sigma Framework for Higher Education Institution (LSSF – For HEdu) to improve the effectiveness and efficiency. The framework consists of 4 stages, namely:
a. Identification and Prioritize of Waste.
b. Identification of Critical Success Factors (CSF) and Analysis of its Relationship.
c. Identification Voice of HEI stakeholders.
d. Development of improvement project selection.
3. RESULTS
One of the critical factors for the success or failure of LSS development is determining improvement projects (Albliwi et al., 2014; Laureani & Antony, 2012; Sreedharan V et al., 2019). The improvement project is a process improvement project. A process improvement project is defined as a systematic approach to improving organizational performance, which consists of activities, tools, techniques, and technology, as well as implementing a series of improvement projects. In determining project selection, there are several criteria: the customer perspective, financial perspective, conformity with business strategy objectives, employee perspective, availability of resources, time, and risk. The model for determining the LSS project is grouped into 3, namely the unstructured peer review/ scoring/ranking model, Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model, and mathematical programming (Padhy, 2017).
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this article, we have proposed an integrated LSS framework in HEI. The proposed framework is integrated, starting from identifying waste to determining the improvement project. Lean Six Sigma is a fundamental concept in the development of this framework. This framework helps HEI management to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of HEIs. This framework is unique in that HEI customers are different from other manufacturing or service industries. HEI customers consist of students, lecturers, staff, government, industry. In this framework, the Voice of the customer considered are lecturers, students, administrative staff, and industry. The method of developing LSS in HEI uses some MCDM methods. Some examples of MCDM methods are AHP, ANP, TOPSIS, DEMATEL, MICMAC.