What Is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a team-focused managerial approach that seeks to eliminate resource waste and defects to improve performance. It also strives to optimize time, effort, and talent while assuring production quality and organizational processes. Lean Six Sigma essentially teaches that using resources that don’t create value for the end customer is considered wasteful and should be eliminated. It combines 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Six Sigma methods and tools with the Lean manufacturing/澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Lean enterprise philosophy.

Understanding Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of lean methodology and Six Sigma strategy. Lean methodology was established by automaker Toyota (TM) in the 1940s. Its purpose was to remove non-value-adding activities from the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:production process.

Six Sigma, on the other hand, was established in 1986 by an engineer at U.S. telecommunications company Motorola (MSI) who was inspired by Japan’s Kaizen model. It was 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trademarked by the company in 1993. Its method seeks to identify and reduce defects in the production process. It also strives to streamline the variability of the production process.

Lean Six Sigma emerged in the 1990s as large U.S. manufacturers attempted to compete with Japan’s better-made products. The combination strategy was introduced by Michael George and Robert Lawrence Jr. in their 2002 book "Lean Six Sigma: Combining Six Sigma with Lean Speed."

The Lean Six Sigma Concept

The Lean in this concept refers to any method, measure, or tool that helps in the identification and elimination of waste. The concept focuses on the reduction and elimination of eight kinds of waste known as “DOWNTIME,” an acronym for defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing.

The term “Six Sigma” refers to tools and techniques that are used to improve manufacturing processes. The strategy attempts to identify and eliminate the ca🍎uses of defects 🌼and variations in business and manufacturing processes.

Six Sigma’s DMAIC phases are utilized in Lean Six Sigma. The acronym stands for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control—all of which are explored in more detail below. Together, they refer to the data-driven five-step method for improving, optimizing, and stabilizing business and manufacturing processes.

A Lean Six Sigma approach that combines lean strategy and Six Sigma⛄’s tools and techniques highlights processes that are prone to waste, defects, and variation and then reduces them to ensure improvement in a company’s operational processes.

Lean Six Sigma Techniques

The techniques and tools used to accomplish essential goals of the Lean Six Sigma strategy include:

• Kanban: This involves workflow management practices, such as work visualization and limited work in progress, which maximize efficiency and promote continuous improvement.
• Kaizen: This is a Japanese word that denotes change for the better or continuous improvement. Practices that engage employees and promote a work environment that emphasizes self-development and ongoing improvement are its focus.
• Value stream mapping: This technique analyzes places to eliminate waste and optimize process steps.
• 5S tool: This technique ensures an efficient, productive, safe, and successful workplace.
  

Lean Six Sigma Phases

The DMAIC phases of Lean Six Sigma are used to identify and improve existing process problems with unknown root causes.

• Define: Define the problem from a company perspective, stakeholder perspective, and customer perspective. Figure out the quality expectations that customers have and the extent of the problem.
• Measure: Examine the current process and how it contributes to the problem. Determine whether the process can meet customers' previously defined quality expectations. Match each process step to your quality criteria. Support your measurements with actual performance data.
• Analyze: Examine all information gathered thus far to finalize the exact nature of the problem, its scope, and its cause.
• Improve: Solve the problem and verify the improvement. Collaborate to structure a solution that eliminates both the problem and its cause. Use your data to ensure that the solution fits the issue at hand. Test the solution and derive performance data to support it.
• Control: Monitor improvement and continue to improve where possible. Finalize acceptable performance criteria. Establish a plan that can deal with variations that occur, sustain improvements, and prevent a reoccurrence of the original problem.
  

Lean Six Sigma Belt Levels

Lean Six Sigma training usღes belts to denote Lean Six Sigma expertise. The exact specifications for each belt may𝓰 differ depending on what organization provides the certification.

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

The benefits of Lean Six Sigma methods extend to employees, customers, vendors, and the company:

• By increasing the efficiency of important processes, companies can improve the work experience for employees and the customer experience for buyers. This can build loyalty inside and outside of a company.
• Streamlined, simplified processes can increase control and a company’s ability to capitalize on new opportunities quickly. They can also lead to increased sales and revenue, lower costs, and more successful business results.
  
• Involving employees in a group or a company-wide efficiency effort can improve their skills (e.g., analytical thinking and project management) and growth opportunities while boosting camaraderie. By preventing defects, companies save on the time, money, and human effort previously required to identify and eliminate them.

Lean Six Sigma vs. Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma are two related strategies that can solve process problems. Both can help companies make noteworthy improvements in quality, efficiency, and u🌺se of time by analyzing the way their processes function. Both use the DMAIC phases/method. Both are based on creating a problem-solving workplace culture.

Six Sigma is focused on reducing defects and process variability to improve process output and quality to meet customer expectations. Lean Six Sigma is focused on reducing or eliminating the wasteful use of resources and defects to i🌠mprove workflow and create more value for customers.

Lean Six Sigma combines aspects of Six Sigma (such as data analysis) and aspects of the Lean methodology (such as waste-eliminating tools) to improve process flow, maintain continuous improvement, and achieve business goals.

The Bottom Line

Lea✨n Six Sigma is a management approach and method that endeavors to eliminate the wasteful use of resources plus defects in production processes to improve employee and company performance. It draws on the Lean concept of the 1940s established by Toyota to reduce waste and the Six Sigma strategy of the 1980s established by Motorola to reduce defects. By combining these teachings, Lean Six Sigma puts the best of both to work to streamline efficient operations and financial outcomes for all kinds of organizations.