What is Lean Sigma and how could it help a company?

From a customer’s point of view or an Organizations’ point of view, who would not want a leaner, high quality experience? The pressure is on product or service providers whether private or public to maintain lean process improvement and increased quality. 

We all want it, but how do we get there? The Lean Six Sigma model is an effective tool to address issues that arise in any Industry. But what exactly is Lean Six Sigma?

We often see Organisations strive to achieve excellence and pursue continuous improvement. Yet even with the best intentions many of these companies’ public or private sectors’ efforts of improvement either slow down or fail. 

Many a time we hear complaints that a product or service “takes too long” or “this is not what I ordered” or similar issues. 

No matter what industry you are in, you would frequently come across customer complaints and even process issues and faults which would result in customer dissatisfaction. Some of us figure out what the problem is and find out the root cause of it. But for some of us, it takes a little longer to figure out where the problem lies and what part or parts are causing it? 

And that is exactly where Lean or Six Sigma comes in handy. Now, hold on a minute. What is Lean and what does Six Sigma mean? If you want to gain more insight into those questions, I suggest you keep reading.

So, let’s just get down to technical terms. 

 

What is the Lean Methodology?

It is a method to handle waste in an Organisation. Lean management helps eliminate waste, help with continuous improvement, reduce cycle time, and provide value to customers.

Where did Lean Management originate from?

Origins of Lean can be traced back to its roots in Venice, 1450. Thereafter, Henry Ford of Ford Motors integrated Lean management in the manufacturing process of Ford Cars. In 1913, Henry Ford put forth the production flow by experimenting with interchanging and movement of different parts to achieve standardisation in process. However, the system did not yield expected results for Form Motors because it failed to produce variety. 

In 1930, after World War II it was Toyota’s founder Kiichiro Toyoda who adapted Ford’s to invent the Toyota Production System. By doing so Toyota used the right-sized self-monitoring machines for precise volumes necessary to ensure quality. Toyota managed to obtain low cost, high variety, high quality, and rapid throughput times to respond to customer needs.

What is 6 Sigma?

6 Sigma is a method that helps process improvement in an Organisation. The roots of this methodology can be traced back to Carl Freidrich Gauss (1777 – 1855) who introduced the normal curve. However, the credit for coining the term ‘Six Sigma’ goes to an engineer at Motorola named Bill Smith. (In fact, Six Sigma is federally registered trademark of Motorola)

Together, Lean Six Sigma is two of the most popular quality management methodologies in the world and that answers the question why it is called “Lean Six Sigma”.

Now, let’s break it down step-by-step.

LEAN Methodology

Lean is a method that helps with waste management of an Organisation.

What is Waste?

Any step or action in a process that users don’t gain any benefit is usually defined as waste. Customers would not want to pay for non-essentials & companies must focus on reducing these elements.

There are 8 main types of waste.

– Transportation: Excess equipment, People, Movement and tools

– Inventory: Having more Products or material than required can cause damages/defects to products

– Motion: Time and effort wasted due to unnecessary movement, people, equipment etc.

– Waiting: Time wasted on information, instruction material or equipment

– Over production: Producing more than required- Over procession: More work or steps in a Production than required

– Defects: Products or services originated that does not meet customer expectations

– Skills: Human potential wastage, underutilised capabilities, tasks delegated to employees who are not adequately trained

There is an array of methods in Lean Management that helps us identify waste. These methods used together helps optimize waste production to maximise results.

1. JIT (Just In Time)This method focuses on reducing the amount of time a system takes to produce and provide an output. It also helps reduce response time from supply time.  
2. 5 S method A method that promotes cleanliness and organisation to improve profits and efficiency
3. KanbanLean Visuals to manage tasks and workforce to identify issues in the process and fix them.

SIX SIGMA

Six Sigma is a set of tools and techniques that are used for process improvement and removing defects to meet customer requirement.

That’s more than enough of the technical abbreviations. Let us try and apply the LEAN 6 SIGMA in a practical Scenario. For those who don’t get the head or tail of the Lean Six Sigma Process, this one is just for you.

Imagine that you are a manager in a Fast Food Chain. You realise that are a few things that need your immediate attention. First, how do you handle the different kinds of waste generated in your Outlet? Next, supply chain issues causing delays in delivering Food & Drinks to your Customers and delivery orders get mixed up leading to customer dissatisfaction and attrition.

We could apply the Lean Six Sigma Methodology in this case, to figure out what causes these problems and how best to rectify them.

The application of the 8 main components of the Lean Methodology would reveal where our waste occur. Is it in Transportation; delivery vehicles breaking down? Is traffic causing delays? Over-production; are we producing more Food than demand which is costing the Outlet by putting pressure on inventory? Motion; is time and effort wasted due to unnecessary movement, waiting; is time wasted waiting for instruction, material, or information? Or is it over-processing that’s causing trouble in delivering food to consumers? Are there more components or steps in the process that is causing delays? Defects; are customers returning plates because of undercooked/overcooked food? Order mismatches? Skills; have we chosen the proper individuals to handle customer service? Are our servers trained to be polite & courteous? Do they know how to handle a difficult customer? Have they received adequate training?

Application of the Lean method will help us answer such questions to identify the root cause of waste.

Then, we can move on to the application of 6 Sigma itself.

In this same case, we could apply DMAIC.

Define the problem, which is to deliver food promptly, and accurately dining in or home delivery. All food must reach customer within 30 minutes. In the Measure phase, current performance is measured. For home delivery, orders leave the outlet within 10 minutes of order placement. The delivery crew member has three alternative routes to reach destination. The Analyse phase reveals the route used currently causes delays due to heavy traffic because of ongoing road construction work. Hence, the crew member could be advised to use one of the other alternative routes which are clear & reach the customer on time. This is the improvement phase. In the last step which is the control phase, you could make regular adjustments by introducing new processes & future performances. You could continue to monitor the traffic movement, explore alternated routes, to continuously improve the process to ensure even faster delivery.

If you noticed, this process change would lead to reduced man hours, costs, hopefully, enhance sales & improve customer satisfaction and retention.

What are the main benefits of the Lean Six Sigma Methodology?

1. Increased profits
2. Simplified and standardised process
3. Reduced Errors
4. Employee development
5. Value to Customers

What we have managed to do here is briefly go through the Lean Six Sigma application on a scenario that could potentially occur in a fast-food restaurant. This covers the tip of the Ice berg of the subject of Lean Six Sigma which in reality is a vast area of study.

The Lean Six Sigma methodology is applicable to any industry or sector which is why it is adapted by many Organisations around the world. It is a proven method of giving lucrative yields.

This is the reason why Global EduLink decided to introduce the Lean Six Sigma Course on our website.

Global EduLink offers you the Lean Six Sigma Course Accredited by the IASSC, an International Awarding Body on four levels.

• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt – Introductory level
• Lean Six Sigma Green belt – trained and certified at a professional level
• Lean Six Sigma Black belt – Fluent in tools and techniques of Lean Six Sigma

Following are some Key areas concerning the Lean Six Sigma Course.

1. How will Lean Six Sigma help my career?

You will receive a certificate by the accredited centre which is highly revered in the management world and will surely broaden your horizons to land the dream job you always desired. The certificate could come in handy in job promotions and salary increments. Following are the potential earnings of 90% of those who are in Job positions mentioned below. (Source: Payscale)

– Senior Project IT Manager – GBP. 83,000

– Senior Manufacturing Engineer – GBP. 48,000

– Process Engineer – GBP. 45,000

– Structural Engineer – GBP. 44,000

– Reliability Engineer – GBP. 56,000

– Warehouse Operations Manager – GBP. 39,000

– Business Process Manager – GBP. 80,000

– Data Scientist – GBP. 60,000

– Project Engineer – GBP. 48,000

– Performance Improvement Manager – GBP.50,000

3. What is IASSC?

The International Association for Six Sigma Certification is an independent third-part certification body dedicated to growing and enhancing the standards of the Lean Six Sigma community.

4. Do you need a college degree to do Lean Six Sigma?

There is no entry requirement to learn the Lean Six Sigma Yellow, Green, or Black Belt courses. There are no prerequisites to sit for the IASSC Certified Lean Examinations.

Key Factors to consider when choosing a Lean Six Sigma Course provider

The course you choose to study must have global recognition and accreditation. Taking into account the current situation of the world caused by the pandemic, it is wise to avoid crowds. Hence, the ideal would be remote learning where you may choose to study in your own time and comfort. In this setting you must have unlimited access to study material and also quality Tutor support. Or else, you may feel stranded and may lose focus.

We at Global Edulink are committed to help our learners gain knowledge no matter what the situation is. We provide an un-interrupted e-learning platform, 24/7 access to study material, a dedicated customer support service to handle queries and not to mention a dedicated panel of Tutors to guide our students along.

Our Courses are accredited by leading prestigious Education Institutions earning us hundreds of positive reviews on Trust Pilot and other review platforms as well. Student satisfaction is our aim.

Enrol with Global EduLink to experience, gain knowledge and learn to apply the Lean Six Sigma method in any industry of your concern.

Join us to open a world of possibilities!