Lean Six Sigma to Improve Office Productivity Research Paper

Introduction

In the realities of the modern world, people spend a huge amount of time at work. To make their working process effective, there is a whole industry of office, business centers, the areas of which include the place of work itself as well as related premises such as cafeterias, studios, and workshops. Competent layout of these areas and spaces ensures not only a safe stay of a person in the workplace, but helps to increase the efficiency of work in the whole enterprise, which is the ultimate goal of office space design. Designing offices and office centers is an essential area of engineering, affecting both the life and needs of one particular person and the whole enterprise. The specifics of designing office centers combine several areas of engineering solutions and technologies. When constructing office centers, everything is subject to detailed study – architectural and structural solutions, engineering networks, fire safety, because these sections of the design greatly affect the subsequent work productivity and safety of people in these buildings and structures.

This project is focusing on designing a new facility layout to achieve the company’s goals. The company employs many technical and administrative employees, the number of which is constantly growing and results in crowded work spaces and subsequent decrease in employees’ satisfaction and productivity of their work. At present, several company’s departments are divided into two different locations due to the absence of space for all employees in one area; this situation leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding between the workers. In addition, it affects the employee performance, attendance, and safety. To combat this situation, the company commissions building a new extension to shift administrative employees there and wants it designed based on the departments’ needs.

The project comprises several stages: preparatory stage aimed at collection of initial data and customer’s wishes; design concept; design project; and architectural and construction section. Moreover, heating, ventilation and air conditioning considerations that are not a part of this project will have to be added before the building is fully completed. Preparatory stage includes identifying the employees’ needs and developing a plan of building with arrangement of equipment, as well as establishing the total capacity and suitability of the potential premises for the needs of the company (Andrade & Bragança, 2019). Design concept presupposes visualization of the main functional areas and determining an estimated cost of the project.

Design project is developed on the basis of design concept and consists of measurements of the building; design solution with indication of all the necessary dimensions of premises; a plan with the arrangement of furniture and equipment. Moreover, it comprises six sigma DMAIC methodology with engineering tools (Abualsaud et al., 2019). Architectural and construction section is the optimal set of working drawings necessary and sufficient for obtaining a construction permit and carrying out construction work (Rezaei et al., 2019). Finally, heating, ventilation and air conditioning considerations that are to be examined after the project is finished include determining the capacity of heating and air conditioning system, axonometric scheme, and specification of equipment and materials. The contribution of this project lies with the fact that the new extension will allow employees to have a more comfortable workplace that will boost the effectiveness and productivity of their work.

Literature Review

The importance of comfortable working environment and the necessity to design spacious office layouts has long been recognized. Researchers stress the interconnection between comfortable work space, productivity, and effectiveness and focus on effects of ambient environment features in employees’ job satisfaction (Lee & Brand, 2005; Öhrn et al., 2021; Solomon, 2018). The studies found that removing partitions and small offices and replacing them with large areas often facilitates interaction and cooperation between employees. This approach can be especially useful for departments that rely on creativity to solve operational and marketing issues. Among the factors that have a direct impact on employees productivity, researchers name low noise levels, good light, décor elements such as plants, rugs and pictures, non-linear placement of furniture, adequate ventilation and heating issues (Lee & Brand, 2005; Öhrn et al., 2021; Solomon, 2018). All these elements should be planned in an office design that, nowadays, is seen as a determining factor in enhancing employees’ performance.

Practices of Designing Office Layouts

Designing offices has long been seen as a major part of office building; however, it’s very concept during the years has undergone significant changes. Initially seen as any premises where any amount of work could be done, offices have transformed from dim crampy places into spacious suites suitable for business meetings and presentations. Seitz (2019, p. 5) states that transformation of office space began with “the proliferation of paperwork associated with the Industrial Revolution” as the quantity of the administrative work increased. In the first part of the twentieth century, offices were seen as crampy spaces with numerous desks for employees. The design left little room for movement and comfort of employees with the focus of sitting as many people as possible into limited spaces. The desks conformed to straight lines and no room for décor elements was provided. The first changes were introduced with the development of Bürolandschaft office design concept in 1958 that “entailed the strategic arrangement of large open-plan spaces, with desks and plants placed at odd angles […], carpeting and acoustic ceilings to absorb sound, and sophisticated heating and cooling systems maintaining an even temperature” (Seitz, 2019, p.7) This design was seen as more employee-friendly as it allowed more room for self-reflection, which ultimately translated into higher productivity.

The next step of evolution of office design comprised making partitions to enhance employees’ privacy. The best-known concept of this design is the cubicle, a relatively small space with a table and a computer surrounded by walls of grey fabric panels (Beno, 2021). While ensuring privacy, cubicles did little to boost employees’ performance since the enclosed space made people feel depressed and gloomy. Due to this, in the 1990es, office designs underwent a transformation towards an open plan office designs. Open plan office is the layout of a workspace where there are no walls as such. The only exception may be the executive offices with glass walls. The transparency of the partitions supports the concept of an open plan office (Beno, 2021, Seitz, 2019). The advantages of such a layout lie with the easy interaction between departments, openness and transparency of working processes. Moreover, it facilitates communication, though privacy issues may be compromised.

Nowadays, after the COVID pandemic, the concept of facility designs has undergone significant transformation. Design solutions of modern offices are moving towards transformable multifunctional spaces. The same room can be a meeting room, a collaboration area with a podium and marker boards, a training class or a gathering place for all employees (Kaufmann-Buhler, 2021). Such a request for mobility of solutions is born due to the rapid mobility of employees: one day a hundred employees may come to work, and the other one hundred and fifty. More and more people work and do not need a fixed office space. Managers try to anticipate these risks and ask to create a space without walls, using mobile partitions that two people can take and simply move, if necessary. An increase in the proportion of those who work remotely requires appropriate office equipment. Screens, cameras, microphones, interactive electronic boards with the possibility of collaboration should be installed in meeting and conference rooms (Pimenova, 2019). Moreover, Plexiglass or glass screens separating managers from customers and visitors from each other, have become widely used in 2020. Furniture manufacturers are working to ensure that offices after the coronavirus are not only safe, but also stylish. Another modern trend is the inclusion of natural elements in the interior of the office (Gnedina et al., 2019). It is not simply beautiful: the abundance of plants, the use of natural materials and sufficient natural lighting have a positive effect on the physical and mental health of employees, their performance.

The Impact of Office Layouts on the Employee Productivity

Due to the fact that a number of approaches have been adapted to development of office design, such as cubical offices, open-space offices or modern transformational offices, researchers cannot come to an agreement as to the optimal features modern facility layout should have to boost employees’ productivity. Moreover, the methods through which such a layout can be designed differ greatly in different studies. Thus, Reggasa (2013, p.54) emphasizes the necessity of “placing the manufacturing resources […] within the available floor area” and “the determination of the network system to support material flow interaction between facilities”. The method she recommends is the simulation of process flow, which presupposes the creation of a mathematical-logical model of a real layout and then subjecting this model do different tests using computer-based programs. Liggett (2000) sees the most important layout factor that enhances productivity in assigning different activities to different locations done through the use of automated space allocation algorithms. Ali Naqvi et al. (2016) stress the importance of ‘lean manufacturing’ which they consider the combination of material flow that allows to get rid of storage spaces with the increased efficiency of workforce. Wei et al. (2019) highlight the importance of creating flexible environments that will allow the enterprise to reduce costs when changes have to be made. The methods proposed to design such layouts is ‘a chaotic generic algorithm with improved Tent mapping’ that allows to model the space in different time settings and improve its effectiveness.

The Novelty of the Project

The abundance of different approaches raises the question as to what an optimal layout should be and through what methods it can be achieved. This research sets the task of determining an optimal layout for the facility as well as the method suitable for building an extension to it. The research aims to combine the mentioned above elements and work out a layout that would at the same time be comfortable and stimulating for workforce. While the strength of other studies lies with the fact that a variety of settings and designs have been developed, the drawback is that there is no universal approach that can be used for similar facilities. That is why, the project will have to be developed from scratch using the solutions outlined in scientific literature. Moreover, it is essential to bear in mind that each project is unique and aims to meet the needs of particular group of managers and employees which necessitates finding the right properties and methods used.

While the proposed techniques, such as simulation of process flow, automated space allocation algorithms, and lean manufacturing help to tackle the problem of design layout from different perspectives, their usage in my project is limited due to the specific tasks set by the managers of the company. The novelty of this research lies with the method used for design which is six sigma DMAIC methodology with engineering tools. Though this methodology is a common way of designing production processes, there are few studies as to how it can be used for office space design. This project aims to close this gap in knowledge by applying six sigma DMAIC methodology with engineering tools in designing an office extension for the company, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Moreover, the difficulties encountered in the implementation of this method will be outlined for future researchers to work on the improvement of this project’s techniques.

Research Purpose, Objectives and Scope

This research project aims to develop an office layout that increases the employee productivity and reduces the potential lean wastes.

Research Objectives

The following research objectives clarify the purpose behind conducting this project, which will guide in achieving the study aim:

1. To identify the factors that affect employee productivity.
2. To identify the best practices of office layout.
3. To assess and improve the current working environment.
4. To design an improved facility layout that satisfies the current needs and future demands.
5. To evaluate the impact of the new layout on employee productivity.

Research Scope

The specifics of designing office layout are such that they cover and combine several areas of design making up a whole range of engineering solutions and technologies. When designing office centers, architectural and structural solutions, engineering networks and fire safety should be considered because these sections of the design greatly affect employee productivity. The scope of this research embraces layout solutions as well as engineering networks, while fire safety, water, heating and ventilation systems are out of the scope of this project. They will have to be further elaborated once this project is finished.

Employee productivity will be assessed in terms of communication between departments and reducing time wasted whether on going between the departments or on accommodating the necessary materials such as paper documents, necessary appliances, computers and so on. For the aims of this project, lean waste will be considered as hindrances to productivity in terms of time and resources and their possible allocation. Working environment will be considered as working space within which business activities of the company take place.

DMAIC is a part of Lean Sigma technique that will be chosen as a method of office layout development. The key components of this research include data collection, data analysis and case study. The main feature of this tool is that it allows finding a permanent solution to the problem of improved office layout in the long term.

Methodology

The DMAIC methodology will be used as a Project Execution Methodology and in each phase Lean Six Sigma Tools and Techniques will be implemented. Six Sigma is an innovative quality system based on process improvement through the search and elimination of the causes of errors that take into account the output parameters critical for the customer. “Six Sigma” is considered a systematic, scientific, statistical and smart approach to innovation management based on the knowledge or the information. The essence of “Six Sigma” is the integration of customer, process, workforce and strategy in such a way as to ensure innovation management (Abualsaud et al., 2019). Six Sigma provides a scientific and statistical basis for assessing the quality of the proposed layout by measuring the quality level. The Six Sigma method allows comparisons between all the possible variants and shows the best of them. The DMAIC methodology which is a primary method used for developing a layout in this project, includes the following stages: data collection, data analysis, and case study. Each of these stages will be examined in more detail.

Data Collection

Data collection would include literature review of how office layout are made and what tools can be used to develop an optimal one. Moreover, data collected for this project would include collecting information about the desires of the company’s management in terms of optimal layout and information as to the difficulties the employees experience in present settings.

Data Analysis

The analysis of data presupposes finding deficiencies in the present layout setting and proposing ways to override them; the proposed ways should be assessed in terms of sustainability, eco-friendliness and employee and management satisfaction. To achieve these aims, statistical analysis will be used, including such tools as regression, correlation and ANOVA. In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a study used to assess the relationship between variables. This mathematical method focuses is on the relationship between the dependent variable and one or more independent ones. More specifically, regression analysis helps to understand how the typical value of a dependent variable changes if one of the independent variables changes while the other independent variables remain fixed. Correlation analysis is a statistical method that allows using correlation coefficients to determine whether there is a relationship between variables and how strong it is.

The purpose of ANOVA analysis is to check the significance of the difference between the averages in different groups by comparing the variances of these groups. Dividing the total variance into several sources allows comparing the variance caused by the difference between groups with the variance caused by intra-group variability. The hypothesis being tested is that there is no difference between the groups. If the null hypothesis is true, the estimate of the variance associated with intra-group variability should be close to the estimate of the intergroup variance.

Case Study

The DMAIC case study focuses on identifying, clarifying and solving the root problem of the process. The case study aims to identify the problems of the project as well as problems the company faces in terms of current layout and its influence on productivity. The effectiveness of a case study is easy to measure, taking into account the fact that the set of phrases is pre-determined and, therefore, by evaluating the effectiveness of each phase, one can measure the effectiveness of the entire process (Abualsaud et al., 2019). Moreover, DMAIC implies a gradual transition from a general understanding of the problem to its most effective solution, with minimal costs. A case study includes such phases as define phase, measure phase, analyze phase, improve phase, and control phase.

Define Phase

In the define phase, the scope of the project will be determined and its goals will be outlined. Interviews and surveys will be used to study the deficiencies of a current layout and to determine what improvements the company visualization in the new one. Value stream mapping will be used to identify the wastes. A value stream map is a graphical representation of all the necessary actions or operations, from layout development to its implementation in stone and concrete (Ramani & KSD, 2019). Drafting value stream map will allow identifying the main production losses and, more importantly, finding the causes of these wastes. The value stream map is the basis for implementing improvements.

Measure Phase

To measure available area and the number of employees in each department as well as determine the key prerequisites of forming an optimal layout, basic data will be collected. These data includes the number of departments, the number of sections in each department, the number of employees in each section, the number of secretaries for each manager, and types of storage for each department. Then the information obtained in value stream mapping is used to generate Rank Order Clustering Algorithm (ROC). ROC uses independent variables with weights and reorganizes the data that helps form cells to design the optimize layout. This procedure is used to reduce the number of bottlenecks in regrouping the departments to improve the productivity and eliminate the cross-line flow. By using Rank Order Clustering Algorithm, the Component Group Analysis based on production flow analysis can be found.

Analyze Phase

Analyze phase presupposes the use of Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) tool which includes flow of materials, activity relationship chart, activity relationship diagram, space requirements for departments, workstations and storage area as well as space available. At this stage, layout alternatives will be developed by using AutoCAD Program.

Improve Phase

In improve phase Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) will be used to evaluate the layout alternatives. This tool uses matrix with different criteria displayed, each criterion is assigned with weights based on importance. These criteria will be economical and non-economical to cover all characteristics of the decision. Finally, it ends up with performance scores for each alternative with ranked number, and the number one being the best alternative choice which satisfies the majority of the criteria.

Control Phase

Since the project period is limited a simulation of the current layout and improved layout will be done to evaluate the implications. The simulation will include drafting the layouts and then reproducing them at a smaller scale using digital tools.

Conclusion

This project involves a comprehensive study of literature and assessment of methods used to develop office layouts. The novelty of this research lies with using six sigma DMAIC methodology with engineering tools for developing an improved layout. The main aim of the project is defined as elaborating an office layout that increases the employee productivity and reduces potential lean wastes. To achieve this task, methodology involving data collection, data analysis and case study will be implemented. Case study involves defining the scope of the project, measuring available area by using Rank Order Clustering Algorithm (ROC). Moreover, case study encompasses analysis phase that requires drafting activity relationship chart and improvement phrase involving a number of engineering tools. Finally, control phase will be implemented that presupposes the simulation of the current and proposed layout to see what improvements are going to be made.

Reference List

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