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Up to now Six Sigma has mainly been used for manufacturing. A Six Sigma approach was introduced in 2004 at Tenneco for transactional business This paper illustrates 2 examples where Six Sigma was successfully applied to improve the service quality. One first case is the improvement of a measurement system analysis [1]. In the exhaust system domain the acoustic performance of an exhaust system must meet the requirements in terms of drive-by noise of a vehicle and in terms of subjective sound. Therefore it is vital to measure the so-called “tailpipe noise” of an exhaust system with precision and reliability. Otherwise some iterations take place to confirm the data, or - more critical - an exhaust system design can be rejected when in reality it is just meeting the target curves and inversely, this could be accepted when the targets are not met.

Rybnik Engineering Center (REC) is the new R&D center developed by Tenneco in Poland. One of the key ideas behind the REC is to develop it based on the lean engineering principles. In a first step a white paper was established and agreed upon with senior management. This white paper consisted of: a vision a set of objectives derived from this vision and a road map to reach this vision The creation of REC has been articulated around 3 major themes: 1. PERSONNEL - It is about how to identify and hire people that will fit into our lean culture. A further challenge is to then train and mentor the people. A similar model known as the inverse-T at Toyota was implemented. Lastly, a network of partners has been established and integrated in the Tenneco development processes. 2. PROCESSES - Both engineering and cross functional processes have been systematically reviewed or new ones developed.

After having successfully implemented lean manufacturing in the 1990ies and lean engineering since 2004, Tenneco Europe decided to expand Lean to their administrative organizations in October 2009. The implementation approach was directly derived from lean engineering [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. After having defined a vision and a road map, a lean steering committee, composed of senior managers and a lean coordinator, identified and supported the first areas for implementation of lean in their transactional processes. It was decided to challenge the organization by selecting some critical cross functional processes.

After having successfully implemented lean manufacturing in the 1990ies and lean engineering since 2004, Tenneco Europe expanded lean to its administrative organizations in October 2009. The implementation approach was directly derived from lean engineering previously implemented in Tenneco Europe as this was considered closer to administration processes than manufacturing processes were. A first SAE paper on lean transactional was presented in 2011. This paper covered a vision, a road map and a process to roll out the lean Spirit in the Administrative world. This paper and the papers listed in the reference list provide in detail the lean tools and principles used in lean transactional and engineering. This new paper is focussed on some concrete applications where the lean mindset has been implemented mainly by the finance team supported by sales, project management, marketing, manufacturing and engineering.

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] This paper describes the implementation of lean in the Human Resources department at Tenneco Europe. In the past, the implementation of lean transactional was mainly focused on Sales & Engineering and Finance. Our experience shows that the lean approach can be applied in a similar way as in Finance or Sales & Engineering. This paper illustrates some examples of critical processes related to Human Resources which have been improved. These include the “on-board” or integration process the management of employee flextime accounts process to create and manage a resignation certificate absenteeism reduction in one Tenneco plant For these three last processes, the key workshop deliverables are: project charter.

Several factors influence a company working culture including its industry, its geographical region, as well as the cultural and the educational background of its employees. Despite these, Japanese companies have successfully transferred a company’s working culture from Japan to other countries [2], so that only minor regional differences in productivity remain. Such transfer is possible with a strong process oriented mind set and working style. This paper examines the change in a working culture associated with the prototyping of exhaust systems in India. That change required a shift from a reactive “firefighting” mode of working to a structured, projectable and reliable working environment. The goal was to achieve increased in-time delivery, higher quality, greater flexibility, more innovation and reduced cost. The same process approach may be transferred from India to other parts of the world, while allowing for country-specific influences on a company’s working culture.