| I have personally have seen that senior management | | | | - Improved knowledge across the organization on |
| in many organizations view Lean Six Sigma as another | | | | various tools and techniques for problem-solving, |
| quality improvement initiative or flavor of the month. | | | | leading to greater job satisfaction for employees. |
| We are often told by many engineers and managers | | | | - Reduced number of non-value-added operations |
| in small and big companies that there is nothing really | | | | through systematic elimination, leading to faster delivery |
| new in Lean Six Sigma compared to other quality | | | | of service, faster lead time to production, faster cycle |
| initiatives we have witnessed in the past. | | | | time to process critical performance characteristics to |
| In response, I often ask a simple question to people in | | | | customers and stakeholders, etc. |
| organizations who practice total quality management | | | | - Reduced variability in process performance, product |
| (TQM), 'what do you understand by the term TQM?' | | | | capability and reliability, service delivery and |
| We often get many varying answers to this question. | | | | performance, leading to more predictable and |
| However, if we ask a bunch of Lean Six Sigma | | | | consistent level of product quality and service |
| practitioners, 'what do you know of the term Six | | | | performance. |
| Sigma?' we often get an answer which means more | | | | - Transformation of organizational culture from being |
| or less the same thing that we would have expected. | | | | reactive to proactive thinking or mindset. |
| In my opinion, the following aspects of the Six Sigma | | | | - Created new customer opportunities, improved |
| business strategy are not accentuated in previous | | | | market position relative to competitors, etc. |
| quality improvement initiatives: | | | | - Improved internal communication between |
| Organizations adopting Six Sigma business strategy | | | | departments, groups, etc. |
| will have the following benefits: | | | | - Lean Six Sigma creates an infrastructure of |
| - Effective management decisions due to heavy | | | | Champions, Master Black Belts (MBBs), Black Belts |
| reliance on data and facts instead of gut-feelings and | | | | (BBs) and Green Belts (GBs) that lead, deploy and |
| hunches. Hence costs associated with firefighting and | | | | implement the approach. |
| misdirected problem-solving efforts with no structured | | | | - Lean Six Sigma emphasizes the importance of data |
| or disciplined methodology could be significantly | | | | and decision-making based on facts and data rather |
| reduced. | | | | than assumptions and hunches! |
| - Increased understanding of customer needs and | | | | - Lean Six Sigma utilizes the concept of statistical |
| expectations, especially the critical-to-quality (CTQ) | | | | thinking and encourages the application of well-proven |
| service performance characteristics which will have | | | | statistical tools and techniques for defect reduction |
| the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and | | | | through process variability reduction methods (e.g. |
| loyalty. | | | | statistical process control, Value Stream Mapping, and |
| - Increased cash flow by making processes more | | | | design of experiments). |
| efficient and reliable. | | | | |