What is Lean Six Sigma in Oklahoma?
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Process improvement methodologies are many and being able to choose the right one will require you to know at least the basics about it in order to determine if it works for your company or business, or if it is a good option to learn and add to your curriculum. Therefore, answering what is Lean Six Sigma is a must. Coming all the way here means you are already considering the methodology and starting with the basics and simple questions such as what it is will be the best move.
With that said, Lean 6 Sigma is a methodology that focuses on several goals at the same time in order to achieve the main one, improving processes in a company. But what are the goals established by the methodology? There are over 4 different ones to keep in mind:
- Reduce waste.
- Eliminate variations and defects.
- Focus on customer requirements.
- Identify problems and root causes.
- Solve problems.
- Guarantee continual improvement in all processes and areas in the company.
Usually, methodologies focus on one or two of the above at most or establish other objectives but they do not surpass the mark of 2. This is what makes Lean 6 Sigma so efficient: it does not aim for only a very simple objective but rather helps companies to accomplish a wide range of goals that bring continuous benefits in the short and long run. But, from where does Lean Six Sigma come and how is it so efficient to achieve results?
Our role at Lean Six Sigma Experts of Oklahoma is to provide you with all the information about the methodology before you decide to implement it in your company or maybe get introduced to this world. Therefore, questions like what it is, how it works, and what makes it so effective will be answered by our experts in a general but accurate way to guarantee you have a good concept. With that said and after going over what it is previously, we want to focus on the specific elements that form LSS and we can start by mentioning the most relevant one: Lean 6 Sigma is formed by two methodologies.
What is Lean?
This is the first methodology that forms part of LSS and the part that focuses on reducing waste by understanding and analyzing processes. In a business, processes need to be assessed and a full understanding of how they operate and how efficient they are is required to guarantee they improve but first, identify where and how they need to improve. Lean guarantees that a business is able to go over the production and identify all types of wastes, which are established by the method itself:
- Transportation.
- Overprocessing.
- Overproduction.
- Waiting.
- Defects.
- Un-utilized talent.
- Motion.
- Inventory.
Not all waste is present in a company but each one of them must be removed no matter the type you have in your company in specific. But how can you start working on its reduction or elimination? For this, Lean establishes 5 steps or principles:
- Identify the value.
- Map the value stream.
- Flow.
- Pull.
- Perfection.
Overall, a company follows the principles and focuses on all wastes until it is able to identify them and move on every step required to achieve the final result, which in this case is not process improvement but rather guaranteeing that products and services are of the best quality and delivered in the best timeframe.
What is Six Sigma?
Moving on with the next methodology, 6 Sigma is the one that aims at variations and defects to guarantee companies reduce costs, obtain valuable products and services, and are able to be more efficient and productive. The rate of variations in a company cannot be too high since it only means one thing: the business is spending more than it should and can even afford. But what is a variation in specific? Anything that makes you obtain a different product from the one your customer requested or does not meet his or her requirements is considered a variation.
Therefore, the objective is to eliminate steps or processes that lead the production to go for these variations instead of obtaining a continuous product that is able to meet customer satisfaction.
To do this, there are 5 principles and a method established by Six Sigma that Lean 6 Sigma adopts:
- Focus on the customer and work for him or her.
- Find problems, root causes, and solve them.
- Reduce variations and bottlenecks.
- Guarantee flexibility and change.
- Promote employee involvement.
As for the method, it is known as DMAIC and stands for Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control. Each step in the method guarantees that you understand your problems, find solutions for them, improve processes, and control the changes and integration in the business. However, Six Sigma indeed has more tools and additional methods that can be used according to the business situation and needs.
Why Lean Six Sigma is Better Than Lean and 6 Sigma
Considering that both methodologies are of great use, why would you go for LSS instead of implementing them simultaneously? Lean and Six Sigma are great, but LSS is able to take the best aspects and tools from there to add more principles and methods to boost the results that can be obtained. Also, implementing one methodology instead of 2 is much more affordable and less time-consuming for businesses, and LSS ends up helping to achieve better results in a shorter amount of time.
It will all depend on who is implementing it and the condition of the company needing the methodology. At Lean Six Sigma Experts of Oklahoma, we are able to offer you services based on LSS, including training, certifications, consulting, and more. Therefore, you can rely on us after knowing what Lean Six Sigma is to implement it in your business or get trained by our qualified and experienced mentors and coaches. Just make sure to contact us for more information or have a look at our website and all the services we offer regarding Six Sigma.
There are so many areas or regions where we offer these services with most of them being cities.
However, if you need any of these services, you need to contact us. The list below comprises the areas where we offer these services.