What is Lean Six Sigma?

http://www.goleansixsigma.com/

What is Lean? What is Six Sigma? Lean Six Sigma is the combination of Lean and Six Sigma to improve effectiveness and efficiency within a company or organization. This blog will explain the origins of Lean Six Sigma, the goals of the methodology, its practical applications within different organizations, as well as, a review of the Lean Six Sigma method.

Origin and Background 

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of Lean and Six Sigma. Lean is a manufacturing concept developed by Toyota that employs the very early workings of Henry Ford’s streamlined manufacturing concept which he called “flow production.” Flow production was essentially an assembly line that consisted of workers using standardized work processes and consistently interchangeable parts used to assemble Ford’s Model T. In the 1930’s, Toyota saw an opportunity to expand on Ford’s flow production past the original model that was created for a single product, Ford’s Model T. Toyota integrated new processes that streamlined the efficiency of manufacturing machines and the manufacturing process. The Lean Enterprise Institute states in their history section on Lean: (A Brief History of Lean, 2013)

This system in essence shifted the focus of the manufacturing engineer from individual machines and their utilization, to the flow of the product through the total process. Toyota concluded that by right-sizing machines for the actual volume needed, introducing self-monitoring machines to ensure quality, lining the machines up in process sequence, pioneering quick setups so each machine could make small volumes of many part numbers, and having each process step notify the previous step of its current needs for materials, it would be possible to obtain low cost, high variety, high quality, and very rapid throughput times to respond to changing customer desires (A Brief History of Lean, 2013).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lean_Six_Sigma_Structure.jpg

Lean Six Sigma was strongly used when computers were not as common as they are in today’s workforce. In the 1980's, both the techniques of Lean (removing waste) and Six Sigma (improving quality) were taught in consultant training.  After 2002, an official combination of the two techniques was the now called Lean Six Sigma (Morgan, 2009).

The concepts of Lean Six Sigma were first introduced in the book by Michael George titled Lean Six Sigma: Combining Six Sigma with Lean Speed.  Lean Six Sigma is similar to Six Sigma, but uses the Lean system, eliminating waste (George, 2004). It uses a belt training system.  Like karate, the belt system has white belts, yellow belts, green belts, black belts, and master black belts.


Lean Six Sigma's Goals

Lean

The main goal of the lean production system is to increase the efficiency of production through the elimination of eight forms of non-value adding waste.

1. Over processing – Adding value to a product that the customer doesn't want, and 

   

   http://www.yuktianalytics.com/lean-six-sigma/introduction/

   won't pay for.
2. Transportation – Unnecessary movement of product, materials, or information.
3. Inventory – Having projects in motion not necessitated by a current customer requirement.
4. Wait Time – The time spent on a project unnecessarily.
5. Defects – Flaws in products that do not meet a customers’ expectations.
6. Overproduction – Products in excess of the customers’ needs.
7. Motion – Unnecessary movement of employees.
8. Unused Human Resources – Having more employees than the process requires.

Lean also seeks to improve product quality and production speed, reduce lead time, and reduce the overall cost of a process (Sunder, 2013).

Six Sigma

http://www.yuktianalytics.com/lean-six-sigma/introduction/

The main goal of Six Sigma is quality control. Six Sigma seeks to reduce variability and errors of processes and products. Through the use of statistical methods Six Sigma aims to achieve an error rate below 3.4 defects per 1 million opportunities. The Six Sigma process for achieving these goals is DMAIC.

1. Define – Describe the expected outcome and what processes will be improved.
2. Measure – Know your current situation by gathering data that will help identify problems.
3. Analyze – Use statistical tools to identify problems with your process.
4. Improve – Take necessary actions to correct previously identified problems.
5. Control – Make the solutions into new processes that can be monitored and improved upon as needed (Dreachslin, 2007).

Lean Six Sigma

http://pmpsolution.com/lean-six-sigma/

Despite the substantial differences between the two methodologies, Lean Six Sigma seeks to blend the waste reduction methods of Lean with the quality control emphasis of Six Sigma to create a flexible robust hybrid of the two. The Lean Six Sigma model combines the goals of Lean and Six Sigma to emphasize the delivery of the following four business necessities.

1. Robust and defect free products and processes.
2. Institutionalizing a quality improvement culture.
3. Improved organizational data on performance and activities
4. Exceptional customer service through exceeding customer expectations.

Practical Applications in the Workplace

Originally, the Lean Six Sigma was only used in the manufacturing business, but due to its practice of reducing unnecessary steps and decreasing the defect rate in a product, it has led to a widespread use in many sectors. According to Six Sigma Online, this methodology is now being used in over 80% of businesses globally. Some of the more notable ones like manufacturing, healthcare, law enforcement and the military have utilized Lean Six Sigma to streamline their operations.

Sorenson Forensics, a forensics lab that utilizes the Lean Six Sigma theory to provide forensic testing in police crime labs, has supplied their services to more than 500 law enforcement agencies all over the world. The Monroe County Crime Lab, located in northwest New York, consulted with Sorenson Forensics in 2008 on how to streamline their case-work, decrease turn-around time on cases, and increase the overall quality of crime lab reports. After instructing crime lab personnel in Lean Six Sigma principles and applying them to sections with the worst backlogs, namely DNA and toxicology analysis, the crime lab saw significant improvements. Plans to further utilize Lean Sigma Six to other departments such as latent prints and drug analysis, has the MCCL projecting a 400 percent increase in cases completed. Similar results have been achieved in other crime labs around the world. The Louisiana State Crime Lab – DNA Section, increased their productivity by 1000 percent, virtually eliminating their backlog of DNA evidence in a matter of days and the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences – DNA Section in eastern New York, saw a respectable improvement of over 50 percent after evaluation of their staffing with Lean Six Sigma showed that they were understaffed and hired an additional analyst (Wyllie, 2013).
    

The United States Army's begun deployment of Lean Six Sigma in 2006 and since then nearly 19.1 billion dollars has been saved by improvements to Army processes, a return on investment of 700 percent. During the 2011 fiscal year, 2,111 process improvement projects were underway representing a savings nearly $3.6 billion ("The Army's Lean Six ...”, 2011). Some of the more notable projects in the U.S. Army's use of Lean Six Sigma focused on identifying waste in Army programs. At the Army’s Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California, a center providing foreign language instruction to Army personnel, 20 percent of attendees were found to be personnel from other branches of the armed services, CIA, and other agencies. This prompted the Department of Defense to write new regulations that specified that non-Army agencies taking advantage of the language classes must share and equate the burden of cost. These measures led to saving the US Army $400 million (Schmidt, 2011). Using value stream analysis procedures, the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox found that the previous process for recruits required 32 steps, 27 approvals and 47 hand-offs of information for applicants. A major reduction in unnecessary steps needed for recruitment was developed that used only 11 steps, 14 approvals and 14 hand-offs, increasing the rate of new recruits entering the Army (Schmidt, 2011). Using Six Sigma's DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), West Point found that certain meals at the academy weren't mandatory and cadets often didn't show up if they didn't have to. They were then able to forecast how many students will show up for any given “voluntary” meal, thereby making food planning easier and cost efficient (Schmidt, 2011).

The National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement presented a comprehensive Lean Six Sigma plan for Radiology Departments in hospitals in Hereford, England in 2005. Using value stream mapping they identified that 92 percent of patients with long waits for radiological tests were in three categories (urological, lower gastrointestinal, and skin) and that over 99 percent of time spent for diagnostic inpatients was non-value adding. After the methods of handling patients and the procedures that they received were completely reworked average waiting times for patients plummeted 97 percent, saving almost 100,000 dollars every year. The restructuring was so successful that the inpatient diagnostic radiology department, which had an average monthly backlog of 2000 patients, had to be opened to both inpatient and general practitioner's referrals due to inability to fill daily open slots (“Lean Six Sigma ...”, 2011).

In summary

Lean six Sigma has specific and powerful methods for improving   businesses in their efficiency and effectiveness.  Here are six principles to focus on: 

1. Make sure you focus on the customer

2. Make sure you can identify and understand how the work is getting done.

3. Where you can, improve the process flow.  Making it a smoother process will improve the process from start to finish which will save time and money.

4. If there are steps you find that are of no value, remove them.

5. Involve the people that are already part of the process.  Also, equip them with the tools they need to succeed.

6.When making improvements, do so in a systematic way rather than all at once.  This will cause fewer kinks in the stages (Lean Six Sigma for Dummies, n.d.).

What do we think?

In the examples above, it appears that with the correct implementation, follow up, and training, the Lean Six Sigma method does work.  This is not always the case though. In a study titled, "Guiding inpatient quality improvement: a systematic review of Lean and Six Sigma", found that "...[Lean Six Sigma] can aid institutes in tackling a wide variety of problems.[...] However, the true impact of these approaches are difficult to judge given the lack of rigorous evaluation." (Glasgow, 2010). This study looked out inpatient medical groups that attempted to implement the Lean Six Sigma method and failed due to improper follow up or not following all of the steps in the method.

With any implementation of a new process, everyone involved needs to be open to the changes, willing to work hard towards them, and make a plan to follow up with these changes. The Lean Six Sigma method is able to make positive changes in improving customer services, decreasing waste (leading ultimately to better products), and contribute to better more efficient processes if the method is followed.

Works Cited

Dreachslin, Janice L., and Peggy D. Lee. ''Applying Six Sigma and DMAIC to Diversity Initiatives." Journal of Healthcare Management 52.6 (2007): 361-367. Business Source Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

George, Michael L., Dave Rowlands, and Bill Kastle. What is Lean Six Sigma?. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.

Glasgo, J., Jr, S.-C., & Kaboli, P. (2010). Guidiing inpatient quality improvement: a systematic review of Lean and Six Sigma. JT Comm, J Qual Patient Saf, 533-40.

"Lean Six Sigma - Using Common Sense and Common Science to Achieve Uncommon Results." NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. National Health Service, 11 Dec. 2005. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. <http://www.institute.nhs.uk/images//documents/FinalVersionLeanSigmaDec11Orlandopresentation.pdf>.

Morgan, John, and Martin Jones. Lean six sigma for dummies. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.

“New to Lean Six Sigma?” Morestream.com, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013.

Schmidt, Elaine. "Lean Six Sigma Is in the Army Now, Improving Efficiency." iSixSigma: Six Sigma Resources for Six Sigma Quality. iSixSigma, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://www.isixsigma.com/industries/government/lean-six-sigma-army-now-improving-efficiency/>.

“Six Sigma Methodology in the Workplace.” Six Sigma Online. Aveta Business Institute, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013.

"The Army's Lean Six Sigma Program." STAND-TO! - A daily compendium of news, information, and context for Army leaders.. The United States Army, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2013. <http://www.army.mil/standto/archive/2011/04/11/>.

Vijaya Sunder, M. "Synergies of Lean Six Sigma." IUP Journal of Operations Management 12.1 (2013): 21-31. Business Source Premier. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

Wyllie, Doug. "NY crime lab improves efficiency with 'Lean Six Sigma' process." Police Officers, Cops & Law Enforcement. PoliceOne.com, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. <http://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/6177004-NY-crime-lab-improves-efficiency-with-Lean-Six-Sigma-process/>.