Lean Six Sigma ?
Bringing Lean systems thinking to Six Sigma - Used together these methodologies improve each other!
Lean Six Sigma by Paul Mullenhour and Jamie Flinchbaugh
For years companies have struggled with the dilemma of which quality improvement program to use: lean or Six Sigma. While some are still debating the either/or issue, others have come to realize that lean tools and Six Sigma work well together to achieve quick process improvements and greater product consistencies. This is true particularly if you subscribe to a top-level and often misunderstood and misaligned definition of each. Lean equals zero waste. Six Sigma equals zero variation. Certainly theres some overlap here because lean includes variation elimination as well, but the point is, you really cant separate the two when it comes to developing an overall improvement effort.
Lean encourages action along a broad front by empowering people at all levels to contribute. This allows organizations to welcome challenges and implement improvement initiatives. Of course, improvement starts by using the appropriate tools. Were all familiar with the results of lean tools and practices such as process mapping, kanban, kaizen and 5S. Kaizen can help us standardize a process or eliminate waste, and often we see results within days. 5S can help us structure our environment so that problems can be identified more quickly.
Six Sigma brings the discipline of define, measure, analyze, improve and control, as well as the rigor of statistical analysis, to identify a root cause, sustain improvement and provide the solid measurements that create a balanced scorecard. Most of us know by experience that Six Sigma is a solid, scientific methodology for reducing process variability. Process variability affects quality because the more you reduce variation, the more likely it is that the process will produce a good product. Its not just quality, though. Variation reduction also affects the entire value stream (a uniquely lean view) because reducing variation will provide more consistent yields, which means that you can predict what you will get out based on what you put in. Therefore, you can design your process to flow more continuously, with less just-in-case inventory and improved lead times. Very often this is an underappreciated benefit of reducing variation.
If we look at improvement through both lean and Six Sigma lenses, we have the necessary tools, methods and strategies to not only uncover root causes, but also to pay attention to the obvious. In the old days, this was known as common sense, and as Mark Twain once observed, Theres nothing common about common sense anymore.
A winning combination For many of us, its no longer a matter of lean vs. Six Sigma, but one question still remains: How do we integrate the various efforts at improvement to deliver sustainable results?
To answer this question, we have to know how companies fail at integrating lean and Six Sigma. One major way of failing is to do this improvement work strictly for the sake of lean or the sake of Six Sigma. These are the wrong reasons. Companies should execute lean and Six Sigma for the sake of business results. If leaders dont clearly provide a why and how for lean and Six Sigma, the focus will not be on leveraging the methods for business results. 6 sigma training
The second most common way companies fail is in choosing a few toolswhether lean, Six Sigma or something elseand drastically overusing them. An example of this is the overuse of kaizen. There are no magical tools that can do all things. It takes the right tool at the right time. If you cant find a tool to do what you need, you shouldnt force-fit one. Develop your own tool to accomplish what you need.
|