15 things Lean Six Sigma will bring to my Business

Another favourite question that I was asked this week by an employee working in my client’s organization was the one above. He asked me for one thing, so I gave him 15 !

Optimizing opportunity is the name of the game with lean six sigma. Moving faster and with quality in mind, lowering cost and waste in the process, will have you reaping rewards in no time. Make the most of the fact that some of your competitors are rather ‘slow pokes’

You might be having all sorts of questions at this point, like: What does Lean Six Sigma bring to business? What is the value propositions really? Why do it?

Many have defines Lean Six Sigma as the streamlining of manufacturing processes to get the most out of equipment, inventory, and people.

To keep things really simple, Lean Six Sigma (or LSS), has a base premise and overall goal ‘to get more done with less’ This is effectively done, by

(i) minimizing inventory
(ii) at and through all stages of production
(iii) eliminating waste,
(iv) reducing wait times, queues
(v) shortening product cycle times from raw materials to finished goods.
(vi) Improving quality and reducing variation

LSS processes involves some real positive, productive changes in businesses that will have a measurable impact on the bottom line.

Benefits of LSS could include

o Reduced lead time, wait time and cycle time
o Liberated capital
o Increased profit margins
o Increased productivity
o Improved product quality
o Just-in-time, affordable, streamlined, cost-efficient processes, products and services
o Improved on-time shipments
o Customer satisfaction and loyalty
o Employee retention

As a business, regardless of the scope, range, condition, small, large, start-up, growing or expanding, improvement, quality and time, cost and waste all matter. LSS affords you the opportunity to ensure your business grows stronger, quicker, consistently, getting higher value and improving competitiveness. Effectively positioning yourself above the masses and mediocrity.

What is Lean Six Sigma and which tools can I use in my business?

LSS is an on-going process. This approach and paradigm focusing on time and quality, cost and waste reduction, streamlining operations can assist you in reducing inventories, work-in-process (often referred to as WIP), required floor space, cycle times and lead times.

LSS (even when combined with business improvement efforts such as Six Sigma methods and discipline), can lead to meaningful and measurable improvements, quality. Most of the tools focus on really simple concepts and are easy to use and implement. It focuses on the visible, what you can see, change and control. It does connect steps, processes and people. It spots waste, problems and allows us all to identify, spot and deal with errors quicker and more effectively, saving more money in the process!

There is nothing really complex or mysterious about it. Everyone can apply it to your business, no matter what industry you are in. It does not have to be intricate and only set aside for a chosen few. It can be a great tool to mobilize your organization.

The basic toolkit of LSS has basic tools (which we will get to), that will consistently and constantly enable you to change ineffective processes to smoothly operating and flowing production lines. It provides everyone the opportunity to ‘take control’ and pride in the work that they do. It is a hands-on enabler. When people understand how and what affects process and outcome and take a cause-effect, analytical approach to things around them, like work-processes for example, a whole new world of understanding, accountability and change erupts! It reenergizes your business and when the rewards start trickling in, everyone partakes and shares in the success and results.

On myth that needs dispelling right off the bat is that LSS is ONLY for high-volume or standardized processes. This is simply misleading and far from the truth. LSS is versatile and robust enough to be applied in any context on any process in numerous forms. Batch operations, mixed model production systems, shift-by-shift changes, switching of dyes etc. all qualify! Whether you are making appliances, light bulbs, providing a service or niche product, LSS can help you in all aspects of your business, even financial, transactional, ordering, inventory and HR processes (payroll, hiring etc.)

You pick your priority, streamlining operations, improving productivity, eliminating waste, LSS has a tool for that!




If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma

I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/



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Why isn’t Everybody Doing Lean Six Sigma – It’s a No Brainer, after all !

This is the question many of my clients have asked me once they've seen the benefits of LSS and

forget how difficult it was to simply get started.

Getting on board with Lean Six Sigma is no easy task, but the initiative will soon deliver rewards to your business. Fostering its growth and filtering through all levels of the organization will definitely pay off in the long run.

Many of our organizations are so busy getting ‘work’ done, dealing with problems, fires and urgencies,  meeting goals and objectives, and initiating business strategies, that they do not take or have the time to even consider ‘looking’ for waste.

WE all should pause and take a minute to consider how LSS principles, rules, tools and thinking can help us eliminating waste and variation. Getting to root-causes make problem-solving easier and more permanent! This process is on-going and will reveal things about your business you did not even know at all! You might be surprised by what you find, unearth and reveal when using LSS thinking and tools.

Looking at processes to see how to BEST eliminate the different forms of MUDA or waste, requires new, counterintuitive thinking at times, a true non-traditionalist point of view.

HERE IS AN AMAZING TRUTH (and in our opinion another key to really understanding the power and potential of LSS) for business, regardless of their size, industry, challenges and the like:
The ability to recognise and understand the systems that create results is not a natural ability.

We DO NOT HAVE THAT PROCESS-FOCUS AUTOMATICALLY. WE have to discover, hone, harness, develop and refine it as we go along!

See value through the eyes and requirements of your customers and take a real, long hard look at what and how you are doing things to get them what they need and want. Look for opportunities to improve it and cut down on cost, waste and expenses. and remember – keep it simple:
Everything that does not add value = waste

We wish you all the best on your LSS journey. If you like to learn more see additional sources provided here.



If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,
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Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma

I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/



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Which is better, Lean or Six Sigma?

This is a question I get asked constantly by my clients, along with the other question – "So what’s the difference between Lean and Six Sigma?". I figure, if so many people are asking these questions, then they obviously haven’t been answered fully in the past. Here is the quite condensed version of how Lean and Six Sigma came about in the first place (Obviously, they were developed in order to solve a specific problem) and how they developed into what we see today.

LEAN SIX SIGMA OVERVIEW

In 1910 Charles Sorensen and Henry Ford created the first moving assembly line as a way of reducing wasted motion and handling complexity in automotive assembly. Without question, the Lean system pioneered by the Toyota Motor Company has a common beginning with these early “work flow” improvements. However, this common heritage led to two very different manufacturing systems: mass production and Lean production.

The objective of mass production is to maximise economies of scale through high capital utilisation. At Ford, the emphasis on flow was limited almost exclusively to the final assembly line, while subassembly processes, suppliers and distribution operated on almost independent production schedules, resulting in large batch sizes and high inventory levels. Inventory at all points was accepted as a necessary buffer to survive schedule and output instability. Quality was inspected and projected into the system through mass inspection and inventory buffers. Capital was a solution to the relentless push for capacity. Finally, production was driven from forecasts, pushing material through the plant in anticipation of actual customer demand. The mass production system flourished in the high growth, boom phase of the automotive industry and was widely copied in other sectors.

The objective of Lean production is the elimination of waste through the efficient use of all resources. In 1945 the president of Toyota Motor Company issued an edict to the company to catch up with America in three years otherwise the automotive industry of Japan would not survive. At the time, labour productivity in Japanese factories was 1/10 that of US automotive manufacturers. Scarce capital and small, highly diverse “island” market did not support large-scale, mass production. Finding a solution to the challenge led to a fundamentally different “Lean Production” system, which ultimately triumphed over mass production during the 1973-4 oil crisis. At a time of global recession and slow growth, Toyota sustained profits and grew US market share while US companies lost on both counts.

A new paradigm

The lean production system pioneered at Toyota created a new paradigm for excellence in manufacturing. This paradigm is founded on the belief that cost reduction is sometimes the only viable mechanism for a corporation to increase profit; price is not always an effective lever. Today, some organisations are fortunate enough to determine their selling price by first taking the product cost and adding on a sufficient profit margin:

Profit + Cost = Price

A company can therefore increase profit by raising the price of its product. However, in a diverse marketplace, most companies do not have this advantage as consumers and market conditions largely determine price. In these markets, companies face the following equation:

Profit = Price - Cost

This is often referred to as the “cost-minus” principle because the company can only increase profit through cost reduction. Cost reduction in a manufacturing environment occurs through the elimination of waste. Waste can be defined as something for which the customer is not willing to pay; it is a non-value adding activity. The elimination of such activities shortens the lead time, so value is delivered to the customer faster and with less effort.

So that’s the ‘Lean’ part of the equation covered, now let’s get into the Six Sigma side of the coin……  

Six Sigma

The goals of six sigma:

• Improved Customer Satisfaction
• Defect Reduction
• Reduction in Variation
• Yield Improvement
• Higher Operating Income
• Improved Process Capability
• Target 6 sigma standards
• Constant measurement
• Defeat the Competition
• Breakthrough improvements

Six-Sigma Objectives Are Directly and Quantifiably Connected to the Objectives of the Business.

The many facets of Six Sigma:

• Sigma is a letter in the Greek alphabet.
• The term "sigma" is used to designate the distribution or spread about the mean (average) of any process or product characteristic.
• For a business or manufacturing process, the sigma value 6 is a metric that indicates how well that process is performing. The higher the sigma value, the better. Sigma measures the capability of the process to perform defect-free-work. A defect is anything that may result in customer dissatisfaction.
• With six sigma, the common measurement index is “defects per unit”, where a unit can be virtually anything -- a component, piece of material, line of code, administrative form, time frame, distance, etc.
• The sigma value indicates how often defects are likely to occur. The higher the sigma value, the less likely a process will produce defects. As sigma increases, costs go down, cycle time goes down, and customer satisfaction goes up.

So where did Six Sigma start and who else uses it?

• Motorola (1987 First coined the phrase ‘Six Sigma’)
• Texas Instruments - (1988)
• ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri) - (1993)
• AlliedSignal - (1994)
• General Electric - (1995)

Why is this NOT a past tense statement?

Because this is a continuous process

We are not pioneers, we can learn from what others have done and the mistakes they have made.

The biggest lesson we can learn is that individually ‘Lean’ and ‘Six Sigma’ are very powerful tools – However, when they are used effectively, together, that power is exponentially increased.




If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma

I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/




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The One Secret to Successful Lean Six Sigma

Many of my clients and colleagues are forever asking the question "How do we assure sustainability

for a Lean Six Sigma Project." This is by far the most difficult part to achieve and it is all about the people.

Based on my personal scars and experience, any improvement activity is 20% about the tools and 80% about the people and it is people that determine the sustainability.. so, what determines whether change 'Sticks' or not ?

The beliefs, behaviour and actions of individuals all form part of the make up of the 'Culture' of an organisation and it is this 'Culture' that determines the sustainability of your LSS project, Programme or Transformation.

In order for anything to remain in place, it has to be accepted as 'The norm' or the 'Modus Operandi', or put quite simply, "It’s the way we do things around here". The change must become part of the culture of the organisation. If it doesn’t, it will always be "The stuff we have to do as well as our day job" and will be dropped at the earliest opportunity.


So, what exactly do we mean by Culture?
Associated words and phrases….

• Way of life, customs, traditions
• Society, background, ethnicity
• Conduct, behaviour, habits, manner

Definitions……

• "…relating to the cultivation of the mind or manners especially through artistic or intellectual activity…"
• "… the norms and values that people live by…"
• "...unwritten rules that define what is expected of people and how they should behave…"
• "…the way we do things around here…"

And that leads us to our next question, what do we need to change the culture?

Firstly, we must begin to change the behaviour, values and beliefs of the leadership. To do this successfully requires skill in building rapport, influencing and sales, as the first step in any change of ANY kind is, DESIRE !

Then we need to find Change agents within an organisation who exhibit a "pioneering spirit". We need to define a 'picture' and 'feel' of the desired future and plan a strategy and roadmap to make it happen.

Involve as many people as possible who will define it, create a plan and take the actions necessary for it to be realised. And finally, Effort, skill and patience.

What do we need to do to go about creating the desire, which will in turn allow us to begin to change the behaviour, values and beliefs of the leadership? Firstly, answer the following questions:

• Who has a need that I/we can & must satisfy? – either a business or a specific person
• Who do you know who is respected by the people you need to influence?
• Who do you know that you suspect might be respected by the people you need to influence?
• If you don’t know anyone then what research will you need to do to find out?
• What chains or links between people can you create?
• What value could you create for the person/people in the chain? 

Ok, so we've covered what we need to do to make Change stick but to be honest, that’s the easy bit.

Now we get into HOW we go about changing the beliefs, behaviours and actions of the key people connected to the change programme. This can only be achieved by influencing, negotiating, demonstrating the benefits and getting the stakeholders to WANT to do things differently – Creating the DESIRE !

Some say these are the "Soft skills" or the "Fluffy stuff" or "People skills" and that some people have these as a natural ability but they can't really be taught to people who don’t 'Have it'.

That’s absolute garbage!

This is an exact science, as exact a science as physics. It’s common name is ...... SALES

Or, how we use these exact techniques to build solid relationships with high degrees of rapport and trust in order to get our stakeholders to actively want to exhibit the desired behaviours and actions that will in turn, shape the culture into one which embraces the changes introduced, as the new NORM.

This is too big a section to be covered extensively in this blog post but is covered in our black belt syllabus at http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/programmes/black-belt/

Or, to really become an expert in this field, we run a 5 day consultancy masterclass, which covers the "People" side of LSS in great depth, get in touch with me.




If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma

I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/programmes/




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One fatal flaw guaranteed to cause your Lean Six Sigma Programme to FAIL

Greed ! (Otherwise known as unrealistic expectations).

It is necessary to identify specific objectives in order to attain the vision that has been set for the company and that the vision itself is realistic and the timescales attached to this. I have seen this with at least two of my clients, whereby they are completely bought into the whole Lean Six Sigma philosophy, apart from one part – the part that says they absolutely MUST take the people with them. (This of course is the part that takes the time, as we must get these people through their own individual change curves at a pace that isn’t too uncomfortable for them).

A key objective can be defined as a manageable portion of the overall company vision.  For example, an objective may be to increase productivity by 10% by the end of the year, which is quite realistic (as long as this isn’t set in November !).

It is vital that each objective is realistic to ensure a sustainable Lean Six Sigma transformation (if the objective isn’t realistic, you’ve lost the people on day 1).  A company cannot expect the change agents to run multiple projects with multiple trainees simultaneously in order to grow the organisational knowledge in the shortest time.  The expectation cannot be satisfied because the change agents have only gained a reasonable understanding of the approach while developing the pilot area.  Overburden on the change agents can result in projects failing to meet their specified objectives.  The failed initiatives can then permeate a general attitude from company employees:  “Lean Six Sigma –we tried that and it didn’t work!”

The organisation must recognise that it is investing for the long term when pursuing these objectives.  Persevering with a structured and well-planned approach in satisfying the objectives can reap huge business benefits.  But beware, most organisations that embark on Lean Six Sigma transformation are greedy for results, which ultimately will result in failure.  The greediness comes from an organisation’s belief that it can become a Lean Six Sigma exemplar to a higher degree, faster and with less resource than anyone else.  There are no short cuts to the Lean Six Sigma transformation.  World class Lean Six Sigma organisations have taken many years to establish their position today.  It takes time to catch up – so, please be patient.

The following analogy shows the importance of patience and developing a proper infrastructure to support the change.  Two gardeners each plant a seed in some fertile soil. After six months, each seed has sprouted above the ground to a length of only four inches.  One of the gardeners is concerned because the plant is not growing fast enough, so he removes the sprout along with its root and plants a new seed.  The other gardener is more patient and understands that the sprout is still developing its foundations and has great potential, even though the growth hasn’t been that great. Another six months passes and the patient gardener now has a plant that sprouted to a height of two feet!  This flower was able to grow so rapidly because it was nurtured early on and allowed to develop at its own pace.  One the other hand, the new seed for the impatient gardener has only grown four inches again.




If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma
I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com


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Building the foundation for a successful Lean Six Sigma Implementation

A few months ago, a client asked me when they could start putting in place Lean Six Sigma in their organisation following the completion of a ‘Diagnostic’ activity.

I told the Head of this organisation that they weren’t ready for Lean Six Sigma and his jaw almost hit

the floor! I qualified my point by asking him some very basic questions, things like; How many do you need to complete today? How many people will you need to complete today’s requirement? How big is your performance spread? What does a good day look like? Along with a few more simple but essential questions that you would expect any good Operations person to have a good handle on.

He couldn’t answer a single question and quickly understood what I was getting at. We needed to get the foundations in place FIRST, before we could begin a typical LSS intervention. We needed to get his operation ‘In Control’, so that he could at least answer some of the questions asked of him. The phase I was moving him into was the ‘Stability’ phase, which would then give us a stable platform from which to build.

The primary purpose of the ‘Stability’ phase is to lay a solid foundation for the organisation. At the conclusion of this phase you should have a certainty that the ship has been steadied, fire fighting is a thing of the past and ‘Forward’ is the only way to go.

Depending upon the outcome of the Diagnostic Phase some actions may be required immediately to prevent disaster. This is where the Stability phase and the Strategy phase often overlap.

There is no Right or Wrong order to carry out the following actions, it will be solely dependent on what you uncover in the Diagnostic Phase.

For example, if a major cause of your companies problems was down to poor deliveries due to lack of visibility of shop floor productivity levels, meaning you never know when your product is coming off the line. You immediately put in place measures or KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to address this and give you that visibility.

This can be done very quickly while other things are being worked on – Put your customer protection in place IMMEDIATELY, this will give you some time to work on the long term countermeasure.

Implement Standardised Operating Procedures

“Without Standardisation there can be no improvement” (Taichi Ohno). Implement Standard work in the operation and ensure adherence to this relentlessly. Once this is in place and adhered to, if an error occurs there can be only one of two possibilities; either the process wasn’t followed, or the process is wrong. It really is that simple (Taking breakdowns and catastrophic failures out of the equation).

Institutionalise daily comms/operations meetings to convey to all staff that what they do is important and to allow them to understand what is required, by when and to what standard.

Getting these seemingly simple things in place and rigidly adhered to will give you benefits beyond your imagination, as well as starting to create the culture which will then pave the way for future changes and improvements to be implemented much more smoothly.

There is one caveat: Involve the people every step of the way. If the people are involved and on board everything else is easy!



If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma

I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/

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3 Essentials ingredients for any change project…..

I met an old client of mine last week and they asked “Why can’t we just get going and make the changes we've identified?”

My reply was a measured one, as this was a client who asked all of his staff to just do things NOW, without questioning the logic. This was knee jerk management at its worst. The changes they’d dentified didn't address the root cause of the problems they were having. Indeed, the problems they were having hadn't even been fully defined yet and there was certainly no data to back anything up, just gut feel. As I've talked about in previous mails, the Define stage is absolutely critical in setting up your improvement project for success.

We've already looked at the problem definition element previously. Three other key elements of the Define stage, which are critical are to ensuring the success of a project are:

The Goal Element

Defining what you’re looking to achieve
1, Make your Goal for your project SMART!

• Specific 
• Measurable 
• Agreed 
• Realistic
• Timed

Recognise, as with the description of the problem, things may change as data clarifies the picture.. Where Are We Going - How Will We Know When We Get There?

2, Ensure you answer fully, all of these Key questions:

• What’s the purpose of this project? 
• What prompted it? 
• Why is it important to work on this now? 
• How much improvement are we looking to make and by when? 
• Who needs to be involved? 
• How will customers be affected? 
• How will we know if things improve? 
• What data or information is needed? 
• What’s the broad plan

3, As with any journey, if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, how can you ever expect to get there? Define clearly what you want the outcome to be of your project. Even with the most state of the art Sat Nav, if you had no destination set, you’d never arrive!