Lean Six Sigma combines two management strategies employed by companies to increase customer satisfaction while reducing costs. In recent years, adherents of Lean Thinking and those of Six Sigma adherents began integrating those two approaches into “Lean Six Sigma.”

In contrast to Six Sigma, Lean programs, particularly kaizen (an action whose output is intended to be an improvement to an existing process) event-rooted methods center on working within teams. Six Sigma, on the other hand, tends to isolate its key leadership “black belts,” who find solutions on their own by working on projects independently from the framework of a team.

When joined, the two methodologies of Lean and Six Sigma bring results quicker by instituting basic levels of functioning and utilizing statistical methods. The majority of companies employing both strategies began by initiating fundamental lean-manufacturing methods such as the 5Ss (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain), standardized operations, and waste eradication. With the positive results realized from the elimination of unessential inventory, the necessity for detecting the source of other defects became apparent and the point where Six Sigma became an additional consideration.

Lean techniques prove to be an excellent tool for eliminating process “noise,” while Six Sigma and its highly ordered methods and statistical measures – the MAIC sequence of designing/measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling – provide foresight into potential problems and solutions to chronic difficulties. Utilizing Six Sigma solely, however, fails to maximize potentials of an organization. Lean thinking “enables” Six Sigma.

Lean Six Sigma methodologies used in the following case studies enhanced the efficiency and outputs of people, equipment, facilities, and capacities:

A large California hospital laboratory used Lean Six Sigma to redesign its internal functions in order to more efficiently handle sample deliveries. Some of the resulting actions included:

- installing a power processor to eliminate manual tasks

- the creation of reports to plan the central accessioning staff

- key performance indicators employed for monitoring and tracking efforts

Applying Lean Six Sigma resulted in a twenty-four-percent increase in productivity, a service level increase of twenty-six percent, and a twenty-percent increase in capacity levels. Other areas of the hospital in which Lean Six Sigma was used improved processes totaling another thirty-three percent.

By applying Lean Six Sigma principles, a Southeast Asian semiconductor foundry to created a much-needed build schedule to quickly facilitate clean-room preparations, equipment setup, and other start-up endeavors for its fabrication facility. Some Lean Six Sigma methods utilized were:

- developing timelines, dependencies, and milestone markers for each area

- creating detailed plans for each tool in conjunction with engineering staff

- identifying and tracking conflicts in resource requirements

Through the use of Lean Six Sigma, the foundry executed the project in a timely manner. Its first wafer in production occurred sixty days ahead of schedule. The projected $2-million-per-day sales resulted in major revenue increases directly attributed to Lean Six Sigma practices.

Some hurdles that Lean Six Sigma practitioners face include underestimating the necessity for a support structure. If critical staff is not supported by upper-level management when attempting Six Sigma, the program holds a great potential for failure.

Another stumbling block with Lean Six Sigma occurs when an organization attempts to do the same old thing yet expect new and different results. If constraints to the new tools and roadmaps are not addressed promptly and adequately, morale issues become just one more problem. Lean Six Sigma must be embraced by the entire organization, from the top to the bottom.

Companies can realize dramatic improvement utilizing Lean Six Sigma, which is, in actuality, two methodologies combined into an integrated system or enhancement roadmap. Used together as one program, Lean Six Sigma undertakes addressing all types of process problems with the most appropriate tools – and if applied properly, the results can be profound.