Lean Six Sigma Case Study

Lean Six Sigma concepts were introduced in the book titled Leaning into Six Sigma: The Path to Integration of Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma (Lean Six Sigma). Lean Six Sigma methodologies combine lean manufacturing and Six Sigma strategies to rely on improved performance from a collective team effort that systematically reduces variation and removes seven kinds of waste, known as Muda. Muda includes any unnecessary motion, transport, wait time, inappropriate processing, excess inventory, overproduction, and defects (Lean Six Sigma). Furthermore, Lean Six Sigma methods aim to provide customers with the best possible quality, cost, and delivery (ASQ.org, n.d.). In all, Lean Six Sigma is a business performance improvement strategy that uses a systematic approach to improving the way people advance processes. Its methodologies allow for systematically enriched processes to satisfy the customer and make money. Simply put, Lean Six Sigma as a business enhancer, ingrained with tools and techniques people can use to learn how to improve their processes (iSixSigma,

“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].

Lean Six Sigma combines Lean’s time-focused waste-elimination philosophy to dynamic analytical problem solving toolkit of Six Sigma.

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

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

Originally developed from a Japanese quality control process for manufacturing electronic semi-conductors, six sigma developed the potential of reducing issues or problems effecting customer expectations on key business processes. Six sigma has provided the chance to drive forward vital customer focused initiatives across the Cummins global organization.

What is “lean?” There are basically two definitions of “lean;” it is a systematic approach to eliminating waste through continuous improvement, and, it is a total business process – not just manufacturing. The measurement is from once an order is taken to receipt of payment. And really, “lean” is all about continuous

The basic concepts involved in lean and lean manufacturing was originated from The Toyota, one of the Japanese automaker in the global competition since decades. In 1988, Taiichi Ohno brought the lean concept into operation for the first time at Toyota and called it as Toyota Production System (TPS), to overcome economic crisis due to World War II. TPS was mainly developed to flourish with minimum resources. Owing to the immense shortages of material, human and financial resources, TPS had no other option but to choose the waste reduction policy to cut down the costs at the shop floor. Even in the hard economic crisis, Toyota sustained and was successful because of its higher efficiency in operation and improved production system. In the meantime, inadequacy of the resources which was at first an obstacle to the company transformed into an opportunity to establish Toyota as a world class car manufacturer. ‘Lean’ approach was slowly applied in many manufacturing and management floors over the last few decades.

Lean Six Sigma can be termed as a program of process improvement that incorporates two ideas which are lean, and six sigma. Lean comprises of techniques for minimizing the time required to deliver services or products. Six Sigma comprises of techniques for refining the quality of services and products, significantly contributing to amplified satisfaction of the client. By incorporating them, Lean Six Sigma can be seen to be a proven strategy of business management that assists organizations in operating more efficiently. Many quality improvement experts and business analysts believe that this program is the most prevalent business performance methodology in corporate developments history (Taghizadegan, 2006).

General Electric company terms six sigma as [1] “a highly disciplined process that helps us focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services”. Six sigma has originated for use in the manufacturing industry however, in recent years it is being implemented in typically all IT business structures. Six sigma is the new quality management metric. The quality control checks made by the organizations have helped them in achieving a certain degree of efficiency, however adapting to the six sigma methods can help the organization unleash their full productivity potential. Six sigma is all about achieving quality check in every step of the business process. Six sigma focuses on achieving the highest level of quality right from the start without losing a level of precision and accuracy. Implementing six sigma in a service sector environment reaps several benefits (Jiju Antony, 2007)

Lean and Six Sigma are two different methodologies originally designed to meet the demands of manufacturing companies. Lean was born in the premises of Toyota and their production system. Lean is about eliminating waste to improve processes. Six Sigma, on the other hand, is a management methodology that seeks to eliminate variation in processes (Goldsby & Martichenko, 2005). Where these two methodologies meet, is in their final goal of process improvement. With two different ways of implementation, these methodologies complement each other in practice, this is why many organizations choose to make a multidisciplinary implementation, and apply both Lean and Six Sigma to achieve better and longer results.

I selected Lean Management as the field of research because continuous improvement programs are interesting to me. More specifically I chose to study the characteristics of Lean Six Sigma, a combination of two popular process improvement methodologies.

Six Sigma main purposes were to enhance performance and value. The use of Six Sigma in organization can upgrade communication among employees, customers, and shareholders. An organization which applies Six Sigma within their establishment is taking on a commitment to motivate and instruct their employees on the various principles. In essence, the Six Sigma is has become a way that companies can protect themselves from accountability. “ If a company produces a product that is low in quality or can harm its user, the organization can use the defense that quality is at the forefront in order to be viewed positively” (http://www.tech-faq.com/).

Six Sigma is a business administration methodology initially created by Motorola, USA in 1981. Starting 2010, it appreciates far reaching application in numerous parts of industry, in spite of the fact that its application is not without discussion.