| Summary: | This paper is about the new methods and metrics used in industry and business today striving for better revenues and larger market shares. It investigates the relations between the old fordistic and tayloristic way of manufacturing and compares it to the models used in industry today for being competitive, seeking to please customers and becoming more flexible. More specific the paper is about if Six Sigma and lean production are the key for succeeding these days. SKF:s factory in Gothenburg and other companies will make an example for how these methods are used in practice. The aim is to try to answer if these systems with inherited tools and methods are the right way to get the flexibility that is needed for being able to deliver the right goods to customers and market. For a company to be flexible decisions must be made fast and needed changes must be able to be done easy and without too large costs and investments. Both in Six Sigma and lean production the total staff in a company is involved with quality matters and continuous improvements. This brings an atmosphere and a certain way to work that makes it possible to reach high defined goals and move towards a common vision. Flexibility can be reached in both production and in developing new products when a company has an atmosphere that makes it possible for all personnel to talk the same language and strive for the same thing. Six Sigma and lean production have the possibility to achieve a higher level of flexibility, that is, when being applied in right places in the right way.
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