SUPPLIER SELECTION PROCESS OF OUTSOURCED LOGISTICS SERVICES - A LEAN SIX SIGMA APPROACH
Huay Ling Tay
School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore
Hui Sen Aw
School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore
This paper focuses on addressing the challenges in the supplier selection process (SSP) for logistical activities. An action research case study approach in a large multinational healthcare technology company was conducted. Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC (DefineMeasure-Analyse-Improve-Control) methodology was applied to alleviate bottlenecks and improve the SSP of the case company. Two research questions were raised to address the key challenges faced in the SSP of the case company. The first research question aimed to understand the current state of company A’s SSP and identified three possible root causes to this issue. The second research question focused on identifying areas that the Lean Six Sigma can be incorporated to improve the SSP. While the findings and proposed lean six sigma solutions to enhance the SSP in the case company are encouraging, the study is limited in a single case, the proposed approach needs to be further tested and refined in more services purchasing organisations. Research in service procurement and supplier selection rarely link continuous improvement ideology to support strategic selection and procurement of logistics services. This action research contributes to research and practice by explicating the value of lean six sigma as a total quality management framework to drive service improvements in the supplier selection and procurement processes.
[Download Full Paper] [Bibtex]
author = {Tay, Huay Ling and Aw, Hui Sen},
title = {SUPPLIER SELECTION PROCESS OF OUTSOURCED LOGISTICS SERVICES - A LEAN SIX SIGMA APPROACH},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Operations and Supply Chain Management},
year = {2020},
doi = {NaN}
}
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