What is Lean Six Sigma?
Lean Six Sigma, also known as Lean Sigma, is a marriage of two otherwise distinct business management strategies, lean manufacturing and Motorola's Six Sigma system. While the lean manufacturing methodology concentrates on creating more value with less work, the Six Sigma system strives to identify and eliminate defects in product development. As a result, the combination provides a method to accelerate a company's decision-making processes, while both reducing production inefficiencies as well as increasing product quality.
The lean
manufacturing business management strategy strives to optimize an
organization's production process by reducing costs during product development.
It considers the value of a product from a customer's perspective, and
questions the necessity of all costs associated with product development. Based
on principles derived from the Japanese manufacturing industry, concepts of
lean manufacturing became popular after being adopted by the Toyota Motor
Corporation.
Three types
of waste have been identified by Toyota: muri, which refers to wasteful design;
mura, which refers to wasteful implementation; and muda, which refers to
wasteful activity. Lean manufacturing places greater emphasis on wasteful
activity than on inefficiencies of design or implementation. In line with this,
Toyota has identified seven deadly wastes related to activity rather than
design and implementation: transportation issues, inventory control issues,
unnecessary movement of persons or equipment, faults in time management,
overproduction concerns, over-processing, and product defects. Significant
costs may be attached to each of these types of waste, and these costs are
likely to be passed on to customers, thus decreasing a product's value.
Motorola's
Six Sigma business management strategy relies on statistical analysis to
optimize an organization's production process. The Six Sigma quality management
system is used to measure the number of defects that occur during a process.
Subsequently, the system determines how far this number deviates from a desired
result. No more than 3.4 defects per million production opportunities is
permitted, although a lower nonconformance rate is even more desirable.
By
defining, measuring, and analyzing a business's processes, Six Sigma is able to
improve the effectiveness of its operations as well as to design products of a
quality that is likely to suit the needs of potential customers. Different than
lean manufacturing, which eliminates waste in the production process, Six Sigma
introduces steps to add value to the production process.
When meshed
together as Lean Six Sigma, each of these ideals serves to increase production
speed while decreasing production variations. The lean manufacturing
methodology is used by an organization's leaders and engineers to fine-tune its
daily operations, while the Six Sigma methodology is used to support
innovations in the production process. As a result, while lean manufacturing is
able decrease production waste, Six Sigma is able to implement procedures to
increase product quality.
Lean Six
Sigma, therefore, allows managers to effectively address issues of speed,
quality, and cost. Rather than just eliminating steps that may appear wasteful
or spending months testing a variety of innovative options, it balances the
worth of each of the two methodologies from which it originates.
