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What is Lean Six Sigma by Peter Peterka
Written by: Peter Peterka
Lean Six Sigma combines the quality improvements that come from
using Six Sigma with the speed improvements that come from using
Lean manufacturing principles . Six Sigma is a disciplined,
data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in
any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from
product to service. Lean manufacturing focuses on improving the
speed of a process and the elimination of waste primarily by
eliminating non-value added steps. Lean Flow and Six Sigma are
strongly compatible. Combining these two powerful process
improvement methods are combining the contents of two toolboxes
that can help your organization improve quality and efficiency.
Lean Six Sigma and Lean Flow initiatives go by many names,
including Lean Enterprise, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Sigma, and
Lean Service. These concepts are a natural complement to Six
Sigma and can be applied to every type of business and process.
Both Lean and Six Sigma have points of commonality in their
strategies and methods. Both are built around the idea that
businesses are composed of processes that serve customer needs.
They share the goal to identify and eliminate sources of waste
and activities that do not add value, in order to create flow
with maximum productivity, capacity, and throughput. Both place
great emphasis on training to bring members of an organization
to a high level of understanding and expertise on the tools and
processes of the methodology. Also, both lean and Six Sigma
require and encourage the engagement of management and key
mentors within the organization to assure that the prioritized
projects are executed as part of a way of doing business.
Lean methods and data are used to reduce costs, shorten cycle
times, expand capacity, and improve productivity. Lean concepts
and the Lean Flow system quickly identify improvement
opportunities through the use of value stream mapping. Lean
emphasizes all-encompassing principles together with targeted
recommendations to achieve improvements. However, Lean
principles are oftentimes inadequate to solve some of the more
complicated problems that require advanced analysis.
Because Six Sigma requires in-depth statistical metrics to
analyze quality at all levels of the supply chain, eliminating
defects it can improve all Lean methods. Six Sigma - when
combined with Lean - allows for easier identification and
quicker resolution of quality issues or problems, and reaps
quick results while opening people's eyes to new and better
possibilities on plant floors. Six Sigma's core implementation
strategy of establishing dedicated Six Sigma champions and black
belts who oversee and mentor process improvement projects
provides crucial structure and guidance, thus greatly enhancing
Lean initiatives. Therefore, Six Sigma is very valuable when
introduced during the deployment of Lean principles to ensure
that the improvement roadmap includes a generic problem-solving
approach.
Lean Six Sigma creates greater understanding of the value of
your work by defining it as something that your customers want
to pay for. Lean Six Sigma helps build customer loyalty by
driving improvement in areas most important to your customers.
Its metrics generate clear targeting of customer needs, and
drives real, tangible value creation.
Lean Six Sigma is a highly sustainable approach that becomes
woven into the fabric of the organization and involving people
at all levels - from the executive suite to the front line. Full
deployment of Lean Six Sigma will f oster an environment of
continuous improvement where the cultural norm of your
organization becomes striving for the total elimination of waste
through a succession of small, action-oriented ( kaizen ) events
within the production process.
Lean Six Sigma fulfills your overall strategy and future success
by significantly improving quality and reducing waste. It
empowers every employee with new ways of thinking about your
processes and helps make drastic improvements to the
organization's performance. Lean Six Sigma creates a powerful
linkage from your strategic priorities to operational
improvements and facilitates the transformation of a business.
Peter Peterka is President of Six
Sigma us. For additional information on
DMAIC or other Lean
Flow Six Sigma project programs contact Peter Peterka http://www.6sigma.us/
About the author:
Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant in practice areas of
DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing
as a Master Black Belt, and has over 15 years experience in
industry as an improvement specialist and engineer working with
numerous companies, including 3M, Dell, Dow, GE, HP, Intel,
Motorola, Seagate, Xerox and even the US Men's Olympic Team.
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