整合精實與六標準差方法論於服務品質之改善與創新設計

Abstract

在今日蓬勃發展的服務業經濟時代裡，提供顧客高品質與快速的服務已經廣泛地被許多世界級的公司視為達成卓越企業績效的重要方法。然而，以快速方式提供高品質服務給顧客的能力，和是否具備良好的服務流程設計有密切的關連。因此，本研究的目標是基於下列兩個觀點，以發展能夠快速提供高品質服務的服務流程的方法；其中一個觀點是關於如何改善現有的服務流程，而另外一個觀點則是和設計或重新設計新的服務流程有關。

首先，針對改善服務流程這個目的而言，本研究探討了兩種當代最新發展的品質方法，亦即精實生產(Lean Production，簡稱Lean)與六標準差(Six Sigma)方法，並且將其整合應用以發展精實六標準差方法論。整合當前品質管理領域中這兩種最熱門方法的理由，是基於能夠從這兩種方法的個別執行結果中獲得互補性質的效益。另外，在設計與重新設計新的服務流程這一方面，本研究提出一個整合精實與六標準差設計(Design for Six Sigma)方法所發展出來的方法論。類似前述結合精實與六標準差方法的策略，整合應用後者這兩種方法的理由也將被說明。

最後，藉由三個實務案例的導入說明，以檢驗本研究所發展出來的這兩種整合式方法論在服務業應用方面的功效。這些案例當中，其中兩個案例是和執行精實六標準差方法論有關，另外一個案例則是有關精實六標準差設計方法論的執行。從這些實務案例導入後的效益中，可彰顯本研究所提出這兩種方法論所具有的效力，同時因此我們相信這些整合性的方法論可適用於服務業的服務流程改善或設計的任務。

關鍵詞：服務；精實方法; 六標準差方法; 六標準差設計方法。

In today’s booming service economy, providing customers with high-quality and quick services has been widely recognized by many world-class organizations as an essential means of achieving business excellence. Moreover, the capability of delivering excellent service quality in a fast time-to-market manner is directly tied to a superior service process for the service delivery. Therefore, this doctoral research aims at developing strategies for obtaining the service processes which are capable of fast delivering higher level of service quality based on two different perspectives. One perspective is about how to improve the existing service processes, and the other one is to deal with the issues of new service process design and/or redesign.

Firstly, for the purpose of service process improvement, two state-of-the-art quality approaches, Lean Production (Lean) and Six Sigma were investigated and applied together to developing a Lean Six Sigma methodology. The rationale for the combination of these two popular initiatives in the modern quality management field is based on the complementary benefits obtained from implementing Lean and Six Sigma methodologies individually. On the other hand, to serve the need for designing and/or redesigning new service processes, an integrated methodology was developed by combining Lean with Design for Six Sigma. Similarly to the Lean Six Sigma strategy, an argument for the combined approach was also demonstrated.

Finally, three empirical case studies were conducted to examine the efficacy of these integrated methodologies for their applications to service in particular. Among them, two cases were for the implementation of the Lean Six Sigma methodology, and the other one was then for the application of the Design for Lean Six Sigma methodology. The achievement obtained from implementing these project cases have highlighted the good capabilities of the methodologies proposed in this research, and therefore it is believed that they can be applied to the service field for performing the tasks of process improvement and/or new process design.

Keywords: service; Lean; Six Sigma; Design for Six Sigma.