An investigation into strategies for transforming Dairibord Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd. (DZPL) ice cream sticks production section into a lean six sigma profitable enterprise after a partial initial trial

Abstract

The purpose of this research was determine the strategies that could be adopted to implement Lean Six Sigma at Dairibord Zimbabwe (DZPL) in the Ice cream sticks section. The research also sought to assess the initial trial implication that was tried in July 2015 as a test. This research was inspired by the need to improve yields and efficiencies in the ice cream sector as a business strategy to reduce production costs in this highly competitive environment. Improving efficiencies and yields during production will result in better profitability and in a deflationary environment like the one we find ourselves in, such a strategy will unlock value for the shareholder and ensures business continuity. The research sought to achieve this purpose through the use of secondary data in the SAP ERP system to assess the performance of previous years, a research questionnaire was then designed and it sought to get the opinions of DZPL staff in the manufacturing section on how they view LSS. Their opinions were to drawn from their assessment of the initial trial run as well as their general knowledge and understanding of LSS. The Likert scale analysis was used to gather the view of the employees in terms of the knowledge on LSS, Impact that LSS will have on the production efficiencies if fully implemented, strategies that could be implemented in order to fully benefit from the LSS system. Data was collected from staff and it was analysed quantitatively to determine the trends. The normality tests and the reliability tests were carried out. The data was found to be non-parametric. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient showed that the reliability of the data was good. The Chi square test was used to test if there was any significant change in yields after the partial trial implementation of LSS and it showed that the LSS system resulted in yield improving. However the ANOVA analysis could not support the assertion on yields. The study managed to show that the LSS concept, though alien to the Zimbabwean industry can result in significant improvement in yields that would result in better profitability in this harsh economic climate. The study also showed that for DZPL to fully implement and benefit from the LSS system, there is need for training, training should be the basis for fully implementing the LSS system at DZPL. DZPL needs to fully embrace and implement the LSS system for better profitability.