Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

[Steven Bonacorsi]

I have personally have seen that senior management in many
organizations view Lean Six Sigma as another quality improvement
initiative or flavor of the month. We are often told by many engineers
and managers in small and big companies that there is nothing really
new in Lean Six Sigma compared to other quality initiatives we have
witnessed in the past.

In response, I often ask a simple question to people in organizations
who practice total quality management (TQM), 'what do you understand
by the term TQM?' We often get many varying answers to this question.
However, if we ask a bunch of Lean Six Sigma practitioners, 'what do
you know of the term Six Sigma?' we often get an answer which means
more or less the same thing that we would have expected. In my
opinion, the following aspects of the Six Sigma business strategy are
not accentuated in previous quality improvement initiatives:

Organizations adopting Six Sigma business strategy will have the
following benefits:

- Effective management decisions due to heavy reliance on data and
facts instead of gut-feelings and hunches. Hence costs associated with
firefighting and misdirected problem-solving efforts with no
structured or disciplined methodology could be significantly reduced.

- Increased understanding of customer needs and expectations,
especially the critical-to-quality (CTQ) service performance
characteristics which will have the greatest impact on customer
satisfaction and loyalty.

- Increased cash flow by making processes more efficient and reliable.

- Improved knowledge across the organization on various tools and
techniques for problem-solving, leading to greater job satisfaction
for employees.

- Reduced number of non-value-added operations through systematic
elimination, leading to faster delivery of service, faster lead time
to production, faster cycle time to process critical performance
characteristics to customers and stakeholders, etc.

- Reduced variability in process performance, product capability and
reliability, service delivery and performance, leading to more
predictable and consistent level of product quality and service
performance.

- Transformation of organizational culture from being reactive to
proactive thinking or mindset.

- Created new customer opportunities, improved market position
relative to competitors, etc.

- Improved internal communication between departments, groups, etc.

- Lean Six Sigma creates an infrastructure of Champions, Master Black
Belts (MBBs), Black Belts (BBs) and Green Belts (GBs) that lead,
deploy and implement the approach.

- Lean Six Sigma emphasizes the importance of data and decision-making
based on facts and data rather than assumptions and hunches!

- Lean Six Sigma utilizes the concept of statistical thinking and
encourages the application of well-proven statistical tools and
techniques for defect reduction through process variability reduction
methods (e.g. statistical process control, Value Stream Mapping, and
design of experiments).


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. Bought to you by the Process
Excellence Network the world leader in Business Process Management
(BPM)

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
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