Initially adopted by the manufacturing sector, Lean Six Sigma, a process improvement methodology designed to eliminate problems and wastes, increase efficiency and improve working conditions to ensure customer satisfaction is now being adopted by Service Sector, IT Sector and even Healthcare.
This wide concept which can be moulded according to the needs to reach specific organizational goals was founded by Bill Smith, an engineer at Motorola in 1986. Its working is based on facts and focuses primarily on reality rather than assumptions. The methodology of Six Sigma can work with any process, product or service that has definable performance goals and characteristics which can be measured as its working relies on data. Lean is a set of tools which assists identification and elimination of wastes and was developed by Toyota as a part of the Toyota Production System. Lean and Six Sigma are complementary though different. The similarities allow them to blend well together while differences ensure solution options. The original Six Sigma process developed by Motorola was MAIC (Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) but now Six Sigma projects are executed in five phases DMAIC where D- Define was added later. DMAIC focuses on elimination of defects by reducing variability in operation.
There are many misconceptions surrounding the use of Lean Six Sigma in a business. People think it is only for large manufacturing industries, involves a lot of advance statistics and mathematics usage and the cost of its applicability is too high whereas this is not the true picture. No company or organization is either too small or too big for Lean Six Sigma applicability. Even mid-sized business and start-ups have started using it for better results. Also, its working doesn’t require advance statistics and mathematics knowledge. Just drawing a simple process map to identify gaps or bottlenecks is the only major requirement of the Lean Six Sigma process. As far as the cost is concerned it should rather be seen from the point of view of a business investment that will surely yield a significant return if implemented properly.
Manufacturing industries are huge and involve a lot of operations and there are many departments and a big workforce which are to be controlled and all this must be done keeping in mind the sole objective of maximizing profits. There are several areas in which Lean Six Sigma can be applied for better results- reduce quality defects in manufacturing process, reduce manufacturing cycle time, improve employee efficiency, reduce maintenance costs, improve workplace organization, reduce time to develop new products, reduce the amount of obsolete inventory, improve planning and forecasting of demand, improve product performance, improve equipment utilization and much more.
Lean Six Sigma is a reliable and promising management concept which has helped many organizations like Motorola Corporation and General Electric to overcome quality related problems. It reduces costs, increases quality and profits and is also a significant management tool for any organization looking forward to highlighting its presence in the huge competitive corporate world out there.
For KPMG Lean Six Sigma Training registrations mail to in-fmsixsigma@kpmg.com or call at +91 9555688555 or +91 9022033666.
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