What is Lean Six Sigma?

Posted on 25. Dec, 2008 by Monique in Articles

Lean Six Sigma is the merger of two methods that aim to improve and maintain customer satisfaction.

Lean is a system that uses visual tools and data to identify waste in a process. Lean projects are often called kaizen (continuous improvement) events. Any process has steps in it that either add value or do not add value from the customer’s prospective. So you have to follow the money and think, “Is the customer willing to pay for this?” If not, then we can call that waste. We want to make what the customer wants using the fewest number of resources and effort to increase the profit on the product or service. The acronym commonly used to put waste into categories is TOM-D-WIP.

Transportation

Imagine. . . Ordering a Big Mac, the sandwich is prepared, the cashier takes the sandwich and runs outside around the MacDonald’s parking lot twice before handing you your burger. Are you willing to pay for that? NO!

Overproduction

Imagine. . . Gas prices are through the roof, consumers are desperate to find ways to reduce their fuel consumption, the demand for SUVs has dropped dramatically, but an auto manufacturer continues to build SUVs. . . ”Just In Case”. Alternative: Make items when needed

Motion

This mainly refers to ergonomics. Design work processes to use a minimal amount of energy to complete the task. This can apply to designs for humans and animals.

Defects

Anything that is not supposed to happen in the process. Imagine. . .You go to the video store to rent “Dark Knight” and you get home and find a Beyonce CD inside the case. That’s a defect!

Waiting

Nothing is happening in the process. Are you willing to pay for that? NO!

Inventory

Imagine. . .An inbox full of service requests to be processed or the number of 2- liter bottles of Coke on the shelves at Wal-Mart. Inventory ties up cash for storage space and prohibits process flow.

overProcessing

Doing more processing than the customer requires. Example: Overcooking a rare steak or duplicate process steps

leansteps2

Six Sigma is a method of using math to determine how much variation is in your process. Variation is considered a waste that the customer is not willing to pay for. You want to provide a product or service as consistently as possible. Six Sigma projects can be broken broken down into distinct phases called the DMAIC (duh-may-ic) process. DMAIC is normally used for existing processes and DMADV is for DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) projects that are creating a new process, product or service. DMADV stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify.

Define – What is the problem? Why is this important? Who will be involved in the project? When will the project start and end?

Measure – What is the current process? Collect data to describe the process.

Analyze – What is the real source of the problem? Use data to identify root causes.

Improve – How can we make the process better? Use data to prioritize solutions with immediate results.

Control – How can we prevent the problems from re-occuring or detect the undesirable changes in the process sooner?

The six sigma method uses an wide number of tools for each phase, but the important thing to realize is that this is cycle of steps that you follow every time.

Lean and Six Sigma go hand in hand because variation is a waste that should be eliminated in a process. Six Sigma helps you close the loop to keep the process in control by continuous monitoring of the process after the proposed changes are implemented. Lean Six Sigma is the bridging of two very powerful methods to improve customer satisfaction and design processes that result in long term growth and profitability. I also feel that that tools are relevant to ANY process, so you will see more examples of what I mean on later posts.

Welcome back to Lean Six Sigma Source! Thanks for your continued support.

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