The Significance of Lean Six Sigma Principles

 

The Lean Six Sigma Principles are based on a set of principles that combine lean methodology and the six-sigma approach. While lean deals with eliminating wasteful activities, Six Sigma aims to improve quality by removing the causes of defects. Since both methods share similar methodologies, values, and tools, one of the main reasons is that lean six-sigma was born out of it. Lean six-sigma provides the best of both worlds and offers an unique way for organizational culture to change.

Now, it's time to explore the ground principles of Lean Six Sigma.

• Focus on the customer

  The focus is to offer products and services for which customers are willing to pay, and that is the sole reason Lean Six Sigma advises every organization to put customers and their needs first. Before doing anything else, every marketer should try to fit themselves into the customers' shoes and realize whether their products are fulfilling the expectations of their clients. Always remember that successful companies deliver added value defined by their customers's needs. When a company comes up with innovative marketing ideas, it doesn't matter if the customer doesn't reap any benefits from the products and services.

• Map out the Value Streams to understand the work process

  A value stream map defines all the steps you follow in your work process necessary to deliver value to clients. It represents the flow of work and resources from your organization to the end customer. Identifying and mapping your value streams is crucial for creating a successful company because it assists you in improving your work processes and becoming more effective by nature.

•       Manage and improve the process flow

 More than having the value streamed mapped out is required, as this is just the beginning. You can address the loophole within your workflow while discovering process bottlenecks and investigating the root cause of all the process issues. You can use various tools and techniques to uncover bottlenecks and resolve flow impediments. For example, you can easily visualize your project's workflow through a Kanban board, spot the backup, and seamlessly analyze where the work got stuck. You can identify the problems and easily use unique designs such as five-why analysis to find the potential cause and resolve them.

•       Remove non-value-added steps and waste

           Taiichi Ohno is considered the father of TPS, and he dedicated his career to building a solid and effective work process. The primary goal of removing waste originates from the Toyota production system. In the lean world, waste means non-productive activities, and Mr. Ohno describes what Toyota did with their own company. They look at the timeline, from when the customer gave them an order to when they collected cash. He even said they are reducing the timeline simply by removing the non-value-added waste. Eliminating wasteful activities can aid companies in improving their operational efficiency, optimizing resources, and increasing profitability.

 

There are seven types of waste, and they are as follows:

•        Waste of Transportation
•       Waste of Inventory
•        Waste of Motion
•        Waste of Waiting
•        Waste of Overproduction
•        Waste of Overprocessing
•        Waste of Defects

Before moving on, we must remember how to differentiate between necessary waste and pure destruction.

1. Necessary Waste

This is a non-value-adding activity that is essential to getting things done in a quality manner—for example, testing, planning, etc.

2. Pure Waste

This is a non-value-adding and unnecessary activity, as it represents anything that doesn't produce customer value and can be removed from the process immediately.

3. Involve and Equip people in the process

Process improvement is an essential part of the Lean Six Sigma culture. You must listen to the people involved to make the right decisions about improvement. Always remember that front-line employees will receive insightful feedback on improving a process. Lean Six Sigma advises organizations to have a dedicated process improvement team responsible for Six Sigma processes. It is always believed that improvement doesn't occur occasionally, but it happens due to the collective effort of all people with an exact vision. To support the team, your organization needs to provide process improvement training and ensure employees are well-versed in different lean six sigma tools and measurement methods.

                         

        Undertake Improvement in a Systematic way

Experts always believe that lean six sigma requires much change. You must create a culture where employees are ready to embrace differences. Nobody likes random changes, and it should be backed up by data.

 How does data help?

Using data-based arguments, you can show workers where a change comes from and how you can make a particular decision. The number makes it much easier to explain the benefits of any changes in the overall work process.

 It can be said that lean six-sigma offers scientific and systematic approaches and tools for collecting and analyzing the data.