What is the difference between Lean and Six Sigma, and the importance of combining the two?

Principle 1: Be clear about your goals.

The introduction and implementation of Lean Six Sigma by an organization is not to catch up with fashion, but to clarify the goal of reducing costs, improving quality, shortening delivery time, or improving customer satisfaction and increasing shareholder value according to the characteristics of the enterprise itself, the requirements of the customers it serves and the competitive situation, or what other purposes.

When introducing Lean Six Sigma, managers must first have a clear goal. Only when the direction is chosen can we "insist that Qingshan will not relax".

Principle 2: Leadership involvement.

If an organization wants to achieve significant results by introducing Lean Six Sigma, it is extremely important that the organization's managers and management are involved in the whole process. Moreover, it is from the scope of introduction, the implementation of the project, the participants, to the incentive measures, the assessment content, the project tracking, the whole process of participation. Managers can even elevate themselves from novice to expert in Lean Six Sigma through learning, practice, and teaching.

Principle 3: Practice by all employees.

Lean Six Sigma isn't just a matter for leaders or experts. In order for an organization to give full play to the role of Lean Six Sigma, it must be practiced by middle-level cadres, grassroots cadres and more front-line employees in the organization: understand the core concept of Lean Six Sigma and learn to master the tools and methods of Lean Six Sigma.

Constantly apply Lean Six Sigma in your daily work to identify, analyze and solve problems.

Principle 4: Perseverance.

For Lean Six Sigma to work as a lasting one, we need to get it right: Lean Six Sigma isn't a movement that spans a few months or a year or two, it's a never-ending journey.

To sum up, if an organization or enterprise wants to give full play to the role of Lean Six Sigma, it must follow the above four basic principles, that is, clear goals, leadership participation, full practice, and perseverance.

1）.The ideological basis is different.

Six Sigma is a management idea that originated in the United States and emphasizes quantitative analysis with a focus on reducing variation.

Lean manufacturing theory originated in Japan, which is different from American management thinking, closely combining management technology with management practice, and emphasizing on-site management optimization.

2）.The approach to solving problems is different.

Lean manufacturing is primarily focused on reducing waste in various processes. The DMAIC process advocated by Six Sigma is a systematic approach to enterprise problem solving, which is applicable to solving problems in both the production department and the R&D department. For example, when solving R&D problems or designing new products, designing new procedures or processes.

3）.The nature of problem-solving is often different.

Lean production often solves problems that can be observed with the eyes, so it is easier to understand and more "macro". Six Sigma management solves more "micro" problems, and variation often requires data to be seen, and deep problems are often invisible to the eye, and experience is difficult to play a role in solving variation (fluctuations).

4）.The process of solving problems is different.

Lean manufacturing is an "observation"-driven approach to problem solving; Six Sigma is a "data"-driven approach to problem solving.

Lean manufacturing is an effective way to reduce all kinds of waste in a business. Emphasis on quick problem solving. Its most emphasis is to go through the process, observe the waste of the process, make decisions immediately, and solve the problem immediately.

Six Sigma emphasizes starting from the customer's requirements, listing all the problems that need to be solved, and ranking them, and selecting the most influential problems for customers to implement as Six Sigma improvement projects. It emphasizes the key issues that address the most critical aspects. At the same time, the emphasis on using data to speak, data decision-making, the analysis of the whole problem, and the process of determining key customer needs all emphasize the collection of data, analysis of data, and conclusions, not personal judgment.

How to tell the difference between lean and Six Sigma:

Six Sigma is an organized, systematic statistical method for strategic process improvement and the development of new products and services, which relies on the scientific method of statistics to significantly reduce the defect rate. Six Sigma aims to reduce process fluctuations, improve process capabilities, and reduce defect rates, thereby significantly reducing defect rates as defined by the customer. Focus on quantitative analysis.

Lean production is a new type of production mode that uses a variety of modern management methods and means, based on social needs and giving full play to the role of people, effectively allocating and rationally using enterprise resources, and maximizing economic benefits for enterprises.

Six Sigma features: reduce process variation, reduce defective product rework, process optimization, process control, product research and development, etc., focusing on quality;

Lean production characteristics: waste reduction, standardization work, timely production, value flow analysis, customer "pull" production, focusing on speed;

Six Sigma: Improve quality problems by reducing process variation, and strive for perfection based on the knowledge of probability and statistics;

1.The requirements for the basic management level of the enterprise are different.

Lean is gradual. Before the demand-driven just-in-time production is truly realized, the 5S visualization, equipment self-preservation system and multi-skill employees of enterprises are required to be high. Otherwise, due to changes in equipment, personnel and quality, it is impossible to achieve pulling or short-term local pulling, which is also what many entrepreneurs are worried about.

The Six Sigma method clarifies that businesses exist to make a profit. For businesses at different levels, by defining their own problems, carrying out a continuous DMAIC cycle does not mean that companies below three sigma are not suitable for Six Sigma. In fact, it is suitable for businesses at different levels in all walks of life.

2.Different categories of thought.

Based on pull-type just-in-time production, it reduces the waste of work and warehouse in the production activities of the enterprise. The lean philosophy pursues the use of the best resource allocation to meet the needs of customers as quickly as possible.

Six Sigma method is a scientific optimization of the problem solving process of thought, before defining the core of the problem, to avoid blind action, such as the modern management of the Deming cycle, Six Sigma advocates DMAIC to become the enterprise to solve the core problem of the idea, the enterprise application of six sigma can solve the problem of the direct production department, can also solve the problem of R&D, sales and procurement indirect production department, lean production is a weapon to reduce the production waste of enterprises.

3.The tools used are different.

Lean production relies more on experience to solve problems, applying technologies such as customer value stream analysis, action analysis and time measurement, factory facility layout technology, Jidoka (automation) and error-proofing methods, multi-skilled worker training, 5S TPM, etc.

The Six Sigma method can apply all the tools that can be applied, including the tools mentioned above, but instead of simply stacking various tools, it logically combines the various tools organically, mastering this method, and even if you are not an expert in a certain field, you can quickly approach the solution.

<> Lean Six Sigma is not a simple addition of lean production and Six Sigma, but a complementary and organic combination of the two. Their common denominators, such as the pursuit of perfection, continuous improvement, process-based management, and customer value, provide the basis for the combination of the two; The objects of concern between the two models, namely the elimination of waste and the control of variation, are also complementary rather than opposite. In summary, Lean is a big-picture way of working, and Six Sigma provides a very powerful analytical tool that tells us what to do and what to do.

Lean or Six Sigma? How should companies choose.

1. Importance.

The 2 improvement methods we examine in this article can both lead to significant improvements, but they require different levels of effort, time, and resources, and each method can produce different types of results and improve different types of metrics, understanding the company's business case will help you decide how much effort you need to put into improving it.

2. Complexity.

Another important factor that can help you choose between these 2 methods is how complex the process that needs to be improved or the problem that needs to be solved is. More complex problems require more sophisticated analysis and solutions. If complexity seems to be the highest, Six Sigma is often a suitable solution because it employs more advanced statistical tools and problem-solving structures that allow teams to understand the complexity they face.

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach that gets to the heart of the problem, and the solution can have a significant impact.

Lean production can also deal with complexity, but it offers a more practical solution, so it can deliver improvements faster, but with a slightly lower depth.

Suggestion: 01Teach all employees how to improve, build a problem-solving culture, and increase employee engagement.

02.Identify an important area and apply Lean to that focus area, then roll out Lean to the rest of the organization.

03.When a difficult problem is encountered, implement Six Sigma for specific problems, and then deploy Six Sigma concepts and thinking across the organization, but only after implementing Lean.

1. The main disadvantages of the lean method are as follows.

1.Lack of rigorous quantitative analysis.

Lean method to solve problems is characterized by relying more on the experience and intuition of experts, unable to use quantitative methods and professional tools to manage the process, difficult to solve complex, comprehensive and ambiguous problems, difficult to make scientific, accurate and efficient decisions, and difficult to truly achieve "lean".

2.Lack of integration of systems improvement methods.

Although lean production can eliminate waste from the overall consideration of the enterprise, it lacks the integration of systematic improvement methods, and pursues short-term rapid effects and short-term benefits too much, which is prone to the phenomenon of "non-lean".

3.It is susceptible to fluctuations.

Most of the failures that occur in the implementation of lean methods are caused by fluctuations, which can be summed up as people, machines, materials, methods, measurements, and the environment ((5m1e)). The reason why 5S and TPM were introduced before the implementation of lean manufacturing was to minimize the fluctuation of the 5m1e factor. If the process cannot be stable, it is difficult to truly achieve "lean mass production".

Two. There are some problems in the execution of Six Sigma management.

1. For example, Six Sigma emphasizes the contribution of elites.

The successful implementation of Six Sigma is inseparable from the contributions of a group of senior black belts, black belts and other elite personnel, whose strong support and promotion on the one hand ensure the success of the Six Sigma project; On the other hand, due to the lack of attention and attention to the full participation of ordinary employees, the enthusiasm of ordinary employees in enterprises is not high. These problems can reduce the effectiveness of Six Sigma implementations, or even lead to implementation failures.

2.Some black belts in some companies don't pay enough attention to the scenarios in the project.

In many cases, black belts are statistically analyzed in front of the computer, which can easily make other employees of the company doubt the function of Six Sigma black belts.

By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of six-sigma management and lean production, it can be seen that they have strong complementarity.