{"id":2822,"date":"2010-07-06T04:28:45","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T11:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2822"},"modified":"2014-10-18T11:36:29","modified_gmt":"2014-10-18T16:36:29","slug":"lean-or-six-sigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/","title":{"rendered":"Lean or Six Sigma?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>People often ask &#8220;which is better, <a title=\"executive satisfaction of lean and six sigma\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/six-sigma-lean-and-executive-satisfaction\/399\/\">Lean or Six Sigma<\/a>&#8220;? In many cases, <a title=\"lean is necessary but not sufficient for a company to win\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma-is-necessary-but-insufficient\/486\/\">lean or six sigma can help<\/a>, but it&#8217;s not enough.<\/p>\n<p>My response to such either\/or questions is &#8220;both&#8221;. The question is flawed because it fails to recognize their shared and common history and influence on each other. Also, people who ask this question are often in the &#8220;tools&#8221; mindset and fail to consider the principles behind the tools used in each of these powerful business improvement methodologies.<\/p>\n<p><DIV style=\"padding: 2px; margin: 1em 1.5em 1em 0.5em; background: #FFFFA0 none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: solid; border-width: thin; border-color: #AE9F44; display: block; float: right; width: 20em;\"><DIV style=\"padding: 5px; color: #000000; font-weight: bold; font-size: 9pt;\">Is Lean or Six Sigma Right For You?<\/DIV><DIV style=\"background: #FFFFFF; padding: 0.5em; color: #0062A8;\">Rather than asking which of these methodologies is right for your company, try thinking about what the fundamental needs of your company are.<\/p>\n<p>Consider whether your challenges are in the area of leadership; is it in cost reduction? is it in the area of producing faster and with better quality? is it providing better service and a better customer experience?<\/p>\n<p>Given the answers to these questions, then consider the unique differences and commonalities between Lean and Six Sigma and decide which is right for your company &#8211; it could be both fully or partly, one or the other fully or partly, or neither. You decide what is right for your organization.<\/DIV><\/DIV><\/p>\n<p>Let me know briefly share some history and fundamental concepts of both Lean and Six Sigma.<\/p>\n<h2>Brief History on Lean Thinking<\/h2>\n<p>Lean was born of the Toyota Production System (TPS), and is often associated with front line improvement and concepts originally for manufacturing. But, Lean has been widely applied to areas outside of manufacturing for many years.<\/p>\n<p>Notable companies that actively apply Lean are Amazon.com, Apple, Google, Patagonia, many Hospitals and Healthcare organizations, various e-commerce companies, and many more.<\/p>\n<p>The central ideas of <a title=\"lean manufacturing inforgraphic\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-lean-six-sigma\/12959\/\">Lean Management<\/a> include Just-in-Time and Jidoka, or autonomation: the concept of taking the efficiency of machines and equipping them with the human intelligence to prevent, predict or detect errors. Tools such as 5S, Kanban, standard work and visual control, are favored by practitioners of Lean who are driven by the desire to remove waste and the principle of the continual search for the &#8220;better way&#8221; to add value for customers. Kaizen events (a way to implement big improvements quickly by focusing on a specific part of a process) are quite often chosen as the vehicle to implement these concepts and tools.<\/p>\n<h2>Brief History of Six Sigma<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking generally, Six Sigma is statistically based, with defined execution process and robust analytical tools for identifying and reducing variation in a process. Engineers and scientifically-grounded people who identify with the mathematical precision and logic of its approach often favor it. <a title=\"six sigma trademark by motorola\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/six-sigma-trademark-motorola-and-google\/9135\/\">Six Sigma is trademarked by Motorola<\/a>, where it was developed.<\/p>\n<p><DIV style=\"padding: 2px; margin: 1em 1.5em 1em 0.5em; background: #FFFFA0 none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: solid; border-width: thin; border-color: #AE9F44; display: block; float: right; width: 20em;\"><DIV style=\"padding: 5px; color: #000000; font-weight: bold; font-size: 9pt;\">On a Personal Note<\/DIV><DIV style=\"background: #FFFFFF; padding: 0.5em; color: #0062A8;\">Having interviewed and hired many former General Electric (GE) employees, I cannot remember one that was happy working there. Often, they would say that GE &#8220;is a great place to come from, but not work at&#8221;. When I asked &#8220;why&#8221;, they then cited the fact that they were &#8220;forced&#8221; to comply with adopting Six Sigma.<\/DIV><\/DIV><\/p>\n<p>This approach was pioneered at Motorola and then crafted into the management infrastructure at General Electric where this management methodology became an engine for widespread improvement.<\/p>\n<p>The three key elements of Six Sigma are its statistical tools, the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process and the certification (using a system of colored belts derived from the martial arts) of individuals.<\/p>\n<p>In the next post in this series of Lean and Six Sigma, I&#8217;ll share the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a title=\"history of lean six sigma\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-six-sigma-a-common-history\/2840\/\">Common History of Lean and Six Sigma<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"DMAIC Framework\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-the-dmaic-framework\/2874\/\">Introduce the Six Sigma Framework: Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"PDCA, A3\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-plan-do-check-act-pdca-and-a3\/2881\/\">Introduce the Lean Framework: Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"a3 method toyota\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-toyota-a3-report\/363\/\">Show how PDCA of Lean can be practically applied with the Six Sigma DMAIC framework<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"The Toyota A3 Report\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-toyota-a3-report\/363\/\">Explain Plan-Do-Check-Act and A3 Report<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"dmaic, define, six sigma\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-elements-of-define\/3231\/\">Elements of Define<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"measure, dmaic, six sigma\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-elements-of-measure\/3234\/\">Elements of Measure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Lean Six Sigma: Elements of ANALYZE\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-elements-of-analyze\/3238\/\">Elements of Analyze<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Lean Six Sigma: Elements of IMPROVE\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-dmaic-improve\/3241\/\">Elements of Improve<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Lean Six Sigma: Elements of CONTROL\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-dmaic-control\/3244\/\">Elements of Control<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Lean and Six Sigma: A Summary<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People often ask &#8220;which is better, Lean or Six Sigma&#8220;? In many cases, lean or six sigma can help, but it&#8217;s not enough. My response to such either\/or questions is &#8220;both&#8221;. The question is flawed because it fails to recognize their shared and common history and influence on each other. Also, people who ask this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":9659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lean or Six Sigma?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"people often ask &quot;lean or six sigma?&quot; and the answer is both. each can help an organization, and using elements of both can be very helpful\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lean or Six Sigma?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"people often ask &quot;lean or six sigma?&quot; and the answer is both. each can help an organization, and using elements of both can be very helpful\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-06T11:28:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-18T16:36:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/lean-or-six-sigma-for-business.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"661\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"435\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/\",\"name\":\"Lean or Six Sigma?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/lean-or-six-sigma-for-business.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-06T11:28:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-18T16:36:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"people often ask \\\"lean or six sigma?\\\" and the answer is both. each can help an organization, and using elements of both can be very helpful\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/lean-or-six-sigma-for-business.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/lean-or-six-sigma-for-business.jpg\",\"width\":661,\"height\":435,\"caption\":\"lean or six sigma for business\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-or-six-sigma\/2822\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lean Manufacturing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Lean or Six Sigma?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning\",\"description\":\"Lean Six Sigma. 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