Implementation of Lean Six Sigma to Enhance Bottling Productivity: A Case Study of Jumeirah Water Plant, Sudan with Comparative Insights from African Industries (2020–2025)

This paper investigates the implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) at Jumeirah Water Plant (Sudan) to enhance bottling productivity and operational efficiency. Using the DMAIC framework [1], the project identified root causes of downtime and defects and deployed countermeasures including SOP standardization, targeted equipment calibration, and workload balancing. Measured outcomes show a reduction in defect rate from ~3% to <1%, weekly downtime from ~8 h to ~3 h (–62.5%), changeover time from 60–75 min to 38 min (–37% to –49%), and inventory days from ~30 to 12–14 (–53% to –60%). Throughput increased from 2,085 to ~2,945 packs per 9-hour shift (+41.25%) with a postimprovement cycle time of 11 s/pack. The case demonstrates that structured LSS can yield sustainable, quantifiable gains in semi-automated, resource-constrained plants. As future work, we outline a practical roadmap for low-cost IoT monitoring to sustain gains and enable predictive maintenance