What is Lean?

[Steven Bonacorsi]

Lean is a methodology that is used to accelerate the velocity and
reduce the cost of any process (be it service or manufacturing) by
removing waste. Lean is founded on a mathematical result known as
Little's Law:

Lead Time of Any Process equals the Quantity of Things In Process
divided by the Average Completion Rate over the Unit of Time

Lead-time is the amount of time taken between the entries of work into
a process (which may consist of many activities) to the time the work
exits the process. In procurement the Things in Process are the number
of requisitions, in product development the number of Projects-In-
Process, and in manufacturing the amount of Work In Process. Lean
contains a well-defined set of tools that are used to control and then
reduce the number of Things in Process, thus eliminating the non-value
add cost driven by those Things in Process.

The Pull or Kanban system puts a cap on the number of things in
process, thus putting a cap on the lead-time. Lean also contains tools
to reduce the quantity of things in process including setup reduction,
total productive maintenance, 5S, etc. For example, setup reduction
allows the reduction of the time spent on producing a quantity of any
given offering or product, reducing lead-time without reducing the
completion rate. The Lean methodology has a bias for action,
leveraging Kaizen to rapidly improve processes and drive results.

Why should Lean be important to Six Sigma professionals?

Whereas Six Sigma is most closely associated with defects and quality,
Lean is linked to speed, efficiency, and waste. Lean provides tools to
reduce lead-time of any process and eliminate non-value add cost. Six
Sigma does not contain any tools to control lead time (e.g., Pull
systems), or tools specific to the reduction of lead time (e.g., setup
reduction). Since companies must become more responsive to changing
customer needs, faster lead times are essential in all endeavors. Lean
is an important complement to Six Sigma and fits well within the Six
Sigma DMAIC process. Additionally, the Lean Kaizen approach is a great
method that can be used to accelerate the rate of improvements.

You need to improve quality so you can achieve maximum speed, and you
need to do the things that allow maximum speed in order to reach the
highest sigma levels of quality.

In other words, you need both Lean (speed) and Six Sigma (quality)
principles and tools to drive improvements in Return on Invested
Capital or ROIC and achieve the best competitive position.

Can you provide an example of how Lean coupled with Six Sigma would
help address a transactional process issue?


•The processes of all companies and organizations must:
•Become faster and more responsive to customers
•Achieve Six Sigma capability
•Operate at world class cost


Only the combination of Six Sigma and Lean can fulfill all three
goals. In any process, Lean Six Sigma creates a value stream map of
the process identifying value add and non-value add costs, and
captures the Voice of the customer to define the customer Critical To
Quality issues. Projects within the process are then prioritized based
on the delay time they inject. This prioritization process inevitably
pinpoints activities with high defect rates (Six Sigma tools) or long
setups, downtime (Lean tools).

A manufacturing process issue?

In manufacturing, a further benefit results from a reduction in
working capital and capital expenditure. We have found over the last
15 years that these methods apply in virtually every kind of process
from healthcare to financial services to energy to manufacturing.

What role can Lean play in a company that has already started
implementing Six Sigma?

Lean will add another dimension of improvement in process speed and
reduction of non-value add cost. Further, by accelerating process
speed, Lean provides faster feedback and more cycles of learning
enhancing the power of Six Sigma tools. For example, an L18 Design of
Experiment might require about 100 separate runs to optimize
parameters and minimize variation. Reducing the lead time by 80% will
allow the fractional factorial design to be completed five times
faster. In addition, the Lean Kaizen approach allows Black Belts to
implement rapid improvements whenever possible.


Steven Bonacorsi is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
instructor and coach. Steven Bonacorsi has trained hundreds of Master
Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, and Project Sponsors and
Executive Leaders in Lean Six Sigma DMAIC and Design for Lean Six
Sigma process improvement methodologies.

Author for the Process Excellence Network (PEX Network / IQPC)

Process Excellence Network
Steven Bonacorsi, President of International Standard for Lean Six
Sigma(ISLSS)
Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
47 Seasons Lane
Londonderry, NH 03053
Phone: +(1) (603) 401-7047
E-mail: sbona...@islss.com
Process Excellence Network: http://bit.ly/n4hBwu

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