An experimental investigation of Lean Six Sigma philosophies in a high-mix low-volume manufacturing environment.

This article experimentally examines methods for implementing the philosophies of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in a High-Mix Low-Volume (HMLV) manufacturing environment. HMLV environments present unique challenges to LSS paradigms because of the need for extraordinary operational flexibility and customer responsiveness. The subject HMLV manufacturer for this experimentation manufactures (among 8500 others) an example component for which 3 machines work independently to perform the necessary operations to manufacture this component.