Lean Six Sigma ? an effective tool for continuous improvement

Posted by tedmark on July 28th, 2015

Although Six Sigma concept was developed by Motorola in 1980, it was only a few years later when Jack Welch of General Motors promoted its principles did global interest heighten. When Jack Welch took over the reins of the company he knew he had a lot to do to turn the company onto a new track. The rest of the story is known to all, GE went on to save about billion within the next five years. The new millennium saw more and more business houses implementing and improvising on Six Sigma concepts. The emergence of Lean Six Sigma is linked to the theory of lean manufacturing practiced by Toyota. The concept is a fusion of Six Sigma and lean engineering. The tool that is utilized to launch and steer Six Sigma projects is the DMAIC method.

The purpose of lean manufacturing is to perform the same function or activity by using less time, less raw material, less energy, less manpower or even less space. The underlying idea of reduction of waste or elimination of redundancy led to cost reduction and more importantly defect removal. It was only in 2002 that Lean Six Sigma was proposed as a parallel theory. With the ultimate objectives remaining same, this theory differs from Six Sigma in its approach of reducing processes or steps that do not contribute towards adding any value, but add to cost. The belt ranking is similar to Six Sigma and the statistical principals applied are also same. DMAIC method is an integral part of Six Sigma but can be used as a standalone tool for continuous process improvement.

DMAIC method is actually an acronym for the five steps that define the roadmap for handling Six Sigma projects. The steps are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Defining a problem indicates defining an objective or goal for the project. The next step is to measure the current scenario to establish a baseline on which improvement would be made. The third step is to identify the root cause of defect or poor performance by employing root-cause analysis. So, till now we have the objective defined, baseline measured and cause of defect analyzed. The fourth step is to improve on the baseline by designing solutions to eliminate the problem. Various brainstorming techniques and statistical tools are used to find solutions. The final step is to control the improvement to ensure sustainable success. Lean Six Sigma uses this methodology to eliminate waste from a process or a service.

Lean Six Sigma strives to eliminate 8 types of wastes. These are defects, waiting time, overproduction, inventory, transportation, motion and extra-processing and non-utilized talent. The DMAIC method of the Lean concept includes the standard Six Sigma tools and the lean tools. Complete training can be availed from consulting companies that train on Six Sigma. If you like to be involved in process improvement or quality management projects then a formal training in Six Sigma will place you ahead of the others. The Six Sigma concept is interesting and its implementation process is challenging, however, the results are always rewarding.

Lean Six Sigma is based on the concept of Six Sigma and lean manufacturing. It uses an effective tool like DMAIC method to map and measure all projects.