LEAN SIX SIGMA – BEST PRACTICES: A PANEL DISCUSSION.

Abstract

Key words: Six sigma, lean, black belt, kaizen, quality management, project management

Six Sigma & lean deployments involve time and cost of many people in the organization. The interest in Six Sigma & lean has created a momentum in the big and medium sized companies. The implementation success will depend on the results of cost savings, quality improvement, and increase in market share. As such we can take the Six Sigma and lean approach for granted and not realize the implications, if we do not implement properly. The integrated approach using project management has the capability of making breakthrough improvement in all areas including manufacturing.

Introduction:

What's this? Now you want to combine a Six Sigma program with a Lean initiative? Sounds overwhelming to most-but it will be the necessity for the business. Six sigma and lean results are impressive even though there is nothing new.

This combination of with change agents (Champions, master black belts, black belts, and green belts) all around is the strategy organizations can use to maintain and improve their competitive and strategic position in the market.

Six Sigma:

Many companies today operate at three sigma levels, which means 67,000 defects per million operations. Six sigma levels mean less than four defects per million operations. Service firms usually operate at one or two sigma levels while, manufacturing firms operate at four sigma levels.

Six Sigma improvement projects typically return in excess of $100K to $250K per project with a Black Belt returning as much as $ 500,000 to the bottom line each year. Companies including Motorola (1987), Texas Instruments (1988), IBM (1990), Asea Brown Boveri (1993), Allied Signal/Kodak (1994), GE (1995), Whirlpool, PACCAR, Invensys, & Polaroid (1996/98), and many other companies worldwide have successfully implemented Six Sigma. Recently Ford, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Microsoft, American Express and several others have instituted Six Sigma processes. Six Sigma is a cost-effective plan, which is also bringing small and medium sized companies significant cost savings.

There is an aura of mystery around Six Sigma-the hottest quality talk to hit big business since TQM and ISO 9000. Six Sigma is a term to denote a conglomeration of strategies, objectives, tools and methodologies to improve the business' competitiveness and performance.

In short, working to Six Sigma is operating at optimal process performance level approaching zero-defects in order to produce a product or service efficiently and effectively. Elimination of all internal defects is the aim-standardizing the tools and techniques and providing intensive training for their use is the requirement.

Lean:

The goals of lean is:

• Reduce cycle time
• Improve quality
• Reduce Inventory
• Reduce errors in general
• Reduce costs
• Eliminate wastes- Non value added activities

It is clear that six sigma has similar goals. Lean is the process of producing the maximum sellable products or services at the lowest operational cost, while optimizing inventory levels while taking away muda ('muda' means any human activity which absorbs resources, but creates no real value) from the system. This process involves identification of the process, value stream mapping of the identified process, identifying and removing the identified muda from the system.

Lean is a philosophy which, when implemented, reduces non-value added activities thus eliminating muda, the waste. Waste includes waiting time, over production, movement, inventory, transport, unused employee creativity. For example, Six Sigma would not be applied if waiting time to be reduced. Lean tools are more appropriate to reduce waiting time. Six sigma tools are more appropriate if variation is to be addressed. Lean also includes value stream mapping, visual management of the work place (5S) and Kaizen. The value stream map helps team understand how the separate parts, or flows, of the value stream combined to create a product or service.

Project Management.

Alone, two very basic words but together, they can achieve great things. Six sigma black belts and lean experts are project managers. Project needs the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources for a specific time period in order to meet a specific set of objectives. Managing lean and Six Sigma program represents a challenge requiring skills in team building, leadership, conflict resolution, technical expertise, planning, organization, and administration.

Conclusion:

In future, the companies will be successful if they develop the right program combining tools of Six Sigma, lean and project management. Every business is a unique and they may require different set of tools to accomplish specific company objectives.

References:

Breyfogle III, Forrest W., Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions using Statistical Methods, Wiley, New York, NY

1. Pyzdek, Thomas, The Six Sigma Revolution, at www.qualityamerica.com Knowledge Ctr.
2. Dettmer, H. William as appears in Pyzdek, T. (2000). The Handbook for Quality Management.Tucson, AZ: QA Publishing.
3. Keller, Paul A. as appears in Pyzdek, T. (2000). The Handbook for Quality Management. Tucson,AZ: QA Publishing.
4. ReVelle, Jack. (2000). What Your Quality Guru Never Told You. Tucson, AZ: QA Publishing.
5. Slater, R. (1999). Jack Welch and the GE Way. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bios

Mr. Sean Anzuoni is President of Quantum Leap Engineering- a consulting/training group that specializes in Lean-Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Lean and Kaizen. His background covers over 24 years in operational and engineering management. He's done consulting and his professional work for GE, Norton Company, Saint Gobain Corporation, Itek/Litton, Digital Equipment Corporation , Applied Power Corporation, Brooks Automation, Cookson Corporation, PRI Automation and many small/medium-manufacturing companies in the New England area. He is Six Sigma Black Belt trained and has been training and implementing continuous improvement techniques for the last 12 years . He was the Kaizen Promotional Officer (KPO) at a Saint-Gobain ($22 billion organization) Performance Plastics manufacturing plant. He has done over 100 Kaizens saving over $ 10.5 Million in the last 4 years. He has a master degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; a graduate of the greater Boston executive program in business management from MIT's Sloan School and is a registered professional engineer (PE). He is a member of AME, ASQ ,SME & SPE and did a workshop at the 54th NEQC in CT.

Ajoy Basu

Experience
7/03-Present Tyco Engineered Products & Services, Process Excellence Deployment Leader