Difference Between Lean And Six Sigma Approach

While looking to enhance quality levels, a group of Motorola engineers designed a set of quality management tools that utilized statistical data as an approach toward the reduction of defects, and the improved maintenance of quality (Reddy & Hutton, 2013). Focusing on process improvement and variation reduction, Six Sigma uses a measurement-based strategy to improve quality, based on a systematic methodology known by its acronym - DMAIC (iSixSigma, 2012). Once problematic issues are recognized, the DMAIC model strives toward finding a long-term solution through the five phases of defining systems. By measuring key aspects of the current process for data collection, analyzing the collected data and verifying cause and effect relationships, improving current processes from data analysis, and controlling operations to prevent impact in any future process disruptions (Wallace & Webber,

Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything than in mass production: less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment tools and less engineering time to develop a new product. A company becomes lean by continuously increasing its capacity to produce high-quality goods while simultaneously decreasing

Successful deployment of Lean Six Sigma is often considered a function of the inputs with those being shown below in figure 1.1. As the companies are evaluated keep in mind those critical X’s are often evaluated as the function Y = f(X) or Outputs = f(Inputs). In other words by controlling the inputs an organization can predict the output of the Lean Six Sigma implementation. This point is key when evaluating the difference between successful and not-so-successful implementations.

“Lean is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste (non-value-added activities) through continuous improvement by flowing the **product at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection.” Lockwood [24].

Six Sigma is a business metrics that seeks to identify and eliminate causes of errors or defects as well as failures in business processes by focusing on output that are critical to customers (De Feo, Barnard 2004). It is also a measure of quality that strives to eliminate defects using the application of statistical methods. In this case, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to customer dissatisfaction. Six Sigma’s statistical quality control is the method used to measure variability in a product for evaluation and corrective actions. When the product metrics exceeds the bounds of acceptability, based on statistical inference, the product can be rejected with reasonable assurance that does not meet requirement. It aims to identify and eliminate waste in order to increase speed and flow from start to finish. It also identifies the critical steps, and deleting those not required or nonessential. There are so many metrics process in today’s business industries but the metrics that Six Sigma’s statistical thinking can also be defined as a thought process. In which it recognize the variation is all around us and present in everything we do. The Six Sigma’s interconnected processes and identifying, characterizing, quantifying, controlling and reducing variation provide opportunities for improvement within any organizations or firms. That is to say,

Six Sigma is a quality improvement philosophy and a methodology and collection of statistical techniques used to implement that philosophy. Six Sigma’s focuses on reducing or removing identifiable sources of changes in order to decrease the number of defects in a product. Six Sigma was developed by Bill Smith and was used to standardize the way in which defects are tallied (Meredith, 2013). As a new way of doing business, six sigma can have a significant impact on the end result of business. There are many way six sigma can be applied. For example, the scientific component of methodology is a structure approach that takes

Six Sigma was first introduced in the 1980’s by none other than Motorola. It was not however necessarily a novel concept at the time so much as it drew from a conglomerate of proven manufacturing principles. It is strikingly similar to the scientific method in design. Six Sigma approaches areas that may not necessarily be viewed as problematic with an open mind. It seeks to analyze problems or questions with a stepwise, statistical, and quantitative focus in order to discover, fix, or disprove problems that may or may not exist within a process. By doing this Six Sigma can improve efficiency and therefore improve positive outcomes for whatever the endpoint may be (Mast, Bisgaard, & others, 2007).

Successful Lean Six Sigma (LSS) deployments rely on the ability of a deployment to effectively apply Six Sigma DMAIC methodologies with the ability to concurrently apply Lean tools in order to drive Continuous Improvement into the culture of the business. Designing a Lean Six Sigma deployment to be an integrated model ties together the Six Sigma well structured approach with the Lean approach of matching quantity and quality to satisfy customers. Various companies have begun

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that creates processes within an organization to cut waste and improve the company’s performance. However, studies have shown that over the past decade applying Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma can create problems for companies financially and potential problems for employees. Companies should take great care before implementing a Lean Six Sigma solution because in some instances, going lean can do more harm than good both financially for the organization as well as destroying employee loyalty and moral.

Lean Six Sigma approach is recognized widely and has been implemented predominately in manufacturing rather than other industries. To illustrate the point, this paper draws attention to the adoption of Lean Six Sigma in various industries with a case study. The combination of Lean tools and Six Sigma methodology is used to improve the process and quality by eliminating the variations and creating workflow in a process. The hypothesis of this study was that the Six Sigma technique can be used along with lean tools in order to improve process and quality in any area of industries. The review of case study discovered the use of

Six Sigma means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined and data-driven approach or methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process , from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service. The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A defect is defined as any process output that does not meet customer specifications. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation

Lean management looks for different ways to eliminate factors that waste time, effort or money. This is achieved by analyzing a business process and then revising it or cropping out any steps that do not create value for consumers. Lean Management philosophy is based on the idea that organizations should set their strategies according to what the consumers really value, systematically eliminating waste both within the firm and along the process of supply chain. Many companies when implementing the Lean Management ideology complains that traditional Management Accounting Systems are unable to support their projects. At best, they are perceived as bureaucratic tasks, and at worst, they are considered a key constraint to both the acceptance and success of lean projects implemented in their organizations. The failure of these traditional Management Accounting tools and techniques has led to management consultancies in coming up with and developing a few range of Lean Accounting

Over the last thirty years, the views on quality management shifting from a focus on product inspection and problem identification to the theme that product quality is determined by the process used to produce the product (Jayaraman, Kannabiran, & Kumar, 2013; Kerzner, 2013). As a result many quality/process improvement initiatives and methodologies have been developed over the last few decades; one such methodology is known as Six Sigma and has become the most popular of the quality improvement initiatives (Ismyrlis & Moschidis, 2013). This paper will provide a brief overview of Six Sigma along with an explanation of the DMAIC methodology. The paper will present an example from the author’s workplace in software engineering to illustrate effective application of the DMAIC process.

Six Sigma has evolved to become the most successful business improvement strategies and is attributed with reducing the number of defects in manufactured goods to less than 3.4 per 1 million units. Six Sigma uses two different sets of methodologies, DMAIC and DMADV, as lenses to examine and address complementary aspects of business processes. The DMAIC and the DMADV methodologies are aimed at viewing different sectors of a business simultaneously but addressing them separately. Despite unique distinctions, the methodologies overlap during the examination process and share the same end goal -

Part 1 Lean Quality Theory and Quality Theory In the modern organizational environment, sometimes issues are so complex that a small change in design, manufacturing, or control can impact the organization dramatically. Lean quality theory, sometimes called "flexible" theory or "flexible" manufacturing, attempts to improve quality, customer service, and cost savings by taking all parts of the process, using them interdependently, and then combined for the best results. It uses highly trained (to the nth level) employees at every step of the process, incorporates the most modern and efficient uses of technology, and requires a clear change in organization systems and culture that focus on employee participation and accountability and a robust effort to focus upon the customer. The process is continually evolving, and employees and management alike are trained to attack waste and inefficiency; there is always room for improvement. Quality theory is more generic it uses theory as a process management improvement method that works to improve the quality or service of the product. It is a methodology that tends to operate on a variety of levels, depending on that theory. Six Sigma, for instance, is problem focused and focuses on reducing variation; the Theory of Constraints tries to manage constraints at each step of the process; while lean thinking is flow focused and focuses on removing waste (Daft, 2008, 262-5; Nave, 2002).