Lean Six Sigma
Integrating Lean and Six Sigma
The Power Of An Integrated Roadmap by March 1, 2011 Both the Lean and the Six Sigma methodologies have confirmed over the last twenty years that it is possible to accomplish extraordinary improvements in quality, cost, and time by concentrating on procedure performance. Whereas Six Sigma is concentrated on reducing discrepancy and improving procedure profit by following a problem solving method using statistical tools. Lean is principally concerned with reducing waste and increasing flow by following the Lean principles and a defined method to execute each of these principles (Bertels, PP1). The extraordinary results firms such as General Electric, Toyota, Motorola and many others have achieved using either one of them have encouraged many other companies to follow their illustration. As a result, a majority of firms have either a Lean or Six Sigma program in operation. But, using either one of them by their self has limitations: Six Sigma will remove defects but will not deal with the question of how to optimize process flow; and the Lean principles leave out the advanced statistical tools often necessary to accomplish the process capabilities needed to be truly ‘lean’. As a result, most companies consider both methodologies as complementing each other and while each method can effect in remarkable improvement, utilizing these two methods concurrently holds the promise of being able to address all types of process problems with the most appropriate toolkit (Bertels, PP2). Mr. Bertels says, “For example, inventory reduction not only requires reducing batch sizes and linking operations by using Lean, but also minimizing process variation by utilizing Six Sigma tools.” As a result, a lot of companies are looking for a method that will allow them to combined both Lean and Six Sigma into an integrated structure or advance roadmap (Bertels, PP3). Mr. Bertels states the differences concerning the Lean and Six
The Power Of An Integrated Roadmap by March 1, 2011 Both the Lean and the Six Sigma methodologies have confirmed over the last twenty years that it is possible to accomplish extraordinary improvements in quality, cost, and time by concentrating on procedure performance. Whereas Six Sigma is concentrated on reducing discrepancy and improving procedure profit by following a problem solving method using statistical tools. Lean is principally concerned with reducing waste and increasing flow by following the Lean principles and a defined method to execute each of these principles (Bertels, PP1). The extraordinary results firms such as General Electric, Toyota, Motorola and many others have achieved using either one of them have encouraged many other companies to follow their illustration. As a result, a majority of firms have either a Lean or Six Sigma program in operation. But, using either one of them by their self has limitations: Six Sigma will remove defects but will not deal with the question of how to optimize process flow; and the Lean principles leave out the advanced statistical tools often necessary to accomplish the process capabilities needed to be truly ‘lean’. As a result, most companies consider both methodologies as complementing each other and while each method can effect in remarkable improvement, utilizing these two methods concurrently holds the promise of being able to address all types of process problems with the most appropriate toolkit (Bertels, PP2). Mr. Bertels says, “For example, inventory reduction not only requires reducing batch sizes and linking operations by using Lean, but also minimizing process variation by utilizing Six Sigma tools.” As a result, a lot of companies are looking for a method that will allow them to combined both Lean and Six Sigma into an integrated structure or advance roadmap (Bertels, PP3). Mr. Bertels states the differences concerning the Lean and Six
References: Bertels, Thomas (September, 2009). Capturing Financial Benefits From Lean Manufacturing. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c030721a.asp