History, evolution, and future of process improvement: An examination of Six Sigma, Lean, TOC, and TRIZ

Six Sigma and Lean are the most popular methodologies today, used by a majority of the Fortune 500 companies. Methodologies such as Theory of Constraints and TRIZ are gaining popularity by allowing organizations to uncover hidden sources of efficiency. This thesis examines how aforementioned methodologies have evolved to solve complex problems and the changes needed for them to solve problems of the future.The paper will provide an overview of these methodologies, including the techniques and tools an analysis of their applicability, advantages and disadvantages will also be included. The research will further demonstrate how process improvement can be applied in every function of an organization. The goal of this thesis is to prove how integration and application of these methodologies further upstream in business processes has allowed organizations to create processes and products that are more robust from the start and require less work later to manage and optimize...