The fields of interest of lean six sigma through PDCA cycle and 4P excellence model

The aim of this paper is to review the focus of research carried out on Lean Six Sigma (LSS). A screening of 116 papers related to LSS from renowned and open database searches including DOAJ, ResearchGate, MDPI on the period of 2006 to 2021 have been done. This paper provides a review of Leans Six Sigma (LSS) in the context of the Plan Do Check Act cycle and the 4P Excellence Model to identify areas for future research and opportunities to deliver business excellence. 21% of the papers (25) contribute on Plan phase of using LSS, 62% of the papers (72) are focused on «DO» phase which is the practical deployment of LSS, 15% of the searches (17) related to Check phase which concerns the questioning of the methodology and 2% of the papers is looking for adapting and adopting the LSS, this is the Act phase. From the 72 papers classified as focused on «DO» phase, 70% of the papers are focused on processes which are using the LSS tools for achieving a specific goal of reducing waste and variation. How to innovate the Products by LSS approach took the second interest, it represents 26% of the various papers. People, Partnership and Leadership which are fundamentals for culture change share the last part. We have also seen a great interest in publications in the tangible parts of using LSS in processes and products during a visible period from 2006 to 2013, then several studies look more into the importance of the nontangible parts of using LSS as an improvement process after 2013.