What it is…and what it isn’t Lean Six Sigma What it is…and what it isn’t Moore Allison www.catalystconsulting.co.uk

Lean Six Sigma is Lean and Six Sigma! To delight our customers… We have to focus on speed and quality It’s the truth! Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is just Common Sense! It’s not JUST common sense Structured approach to address problems (DMAIC) Team based Integrated tools for efficient and effective working Proactive Change Management Measurable improvements And many process management concepts such as recognising waste and knowing how to react to variation (which are both inherently present in all processes) are not intuitive It’s a Lie!

Lean Six Sigma is all about Statistics It is true that data is valued in Lean Six Sigma It enables customer performance to be measured so that managers know what to prioritise It tells us if process improvements have been successful It promotes data driven decision making in general It stops needless, endless firefighting It blames the process rather than the person It is also true that Lean Six Sigma can use advanced statistical techniques to help analyse problems But only when it needs to (and usually it doesn’t need to) Tools like waste analysis, process mapping, fishbone diagrams, visual management are used all the time Along with simple data tools like Pareto Charts, Run Charts and Histograms It’s a Lie!

Lean Six Sigma is more about Change Management than Statistics Generally, Lean Six Sigma practitioners rate Change Management skills as being more important than advanced statistical skills It’s True!

Lean Six Sigma is only for Improvement Lean Six Sigma does provide a rigorous approach which has been proven to deliver breakthrough performance improvement in organisations of every kind…but that’s not all Managers and teams apply the same tools and principles to achieve and sustain everyday operational excellence 5S, Visual Management, Activity Boards, Data Display, Control Charts, Bottleneck Management, Standard Working… And there’s a whole methodology for innovating and designing new products, services and processes – Design for Lean Six Sigma (DMADV) It’s a Lie!

Lean Six Sigma projects are Big and Complicated Three rules for Lean Six Sigma Project Selection Cause-unknown problem Important to the business Bite-Sized It’s a Lie!

Lean Six Sigma is for Assessments Lean Six Sigma tools are very applicable to assessing a process When projects can’t be focused the first part of the DMAIC approach should used to assess the process and determine what should be prioritised It’s not for Organisational Assessments… But it does align and support the Excellence Model It’s True!

Lean Six Sigma is more for Manufacturing It’s used successfully in every kind of organisation You can only get so far by copying It’s about building a learning, Continuous Improvement culture It’s a Lie!