Bruce Williams

To understand how to apply Lean in any organization, you should know the basics: the principles, the definitions of value and waste, how to lead effectively, and how to define and improve the value stream. You should also be aware of how a Lean leader thinks and acts.What is Lean?Lean is a customer-centric methodology used to continuously improve any process through the elimination of waste in everything you do; it is based on the ideas of “Continuous Incremental Improvement” and “Respect for People.

To apply Six Sigma to your business and produce the best results, you need to understand what Six Sigma is, the principles of Six Sigma, and the DMAIC problem-solving method. The correct tools and use of the Six Sigma scale and methods will keep your data dependable and reusable.What is Six Sigma?Generally, Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools that help businesses improve their processes.

A cause-and-effect matrix — sometimes called a C&E matrix for short — helps you discover which factors affect the outcomes of your Six Sigma initiative. It provides a way of mapping out how value is transmitted from the input factors of your system (the Xs) to the process or product outputs (the Ys). With these relationships visible and quantified, you can readily discover the most-influential factors contributing to value.

The term Six Sigma comes from the statistical basis of the approach and methodology used to address quality concerns: the roll-up of characteristic behaviors and the natural increase in variation in each characteristic over the long term. The sigma scale is a universal measure of how well a critical characteristic performs compared to its requirements.

Lean is a customer-centric methodology used to continuously improve any process through the elimination of waste in everything you do; it is based on the ideas of “Continuous Incremental Improvement” and “Respect for People.” Focus on the fundamentals The basic principles of Lean are Focus on effectively delivering value to your Customer Respect and engage the people Improve the Value Stream by eliminating all types of waste Maintain Flow Pull Through the System Strive for Perfection Your customer tells you what they value You customer defines value or value-added with the following three conditions: It must transform the product or service.

Waste comes in three main forms: Mura or waste due to variation Muri or waste due to overburdening or stressing the people, equipment or system. Muda also known as the “seven forms of waste”. The following are the wastes most commonly associated with Lean. Transportation: Is there unnecessary (non-value added) movement of parts, materials, or information between processes?

In general, when planning for Six Sigma, variation is undesirable because it creates uncertainty in your ability to produce a desired outcome. Professional results, in anything, demand consistency. In the world of business and organizational life, the goal is to produce a work product or deliver a service in a predictable manner.

The primary SPC tool for Six Sigma is the control chart — a graphical tracking of a process input or an output over time. In the control chart, these tracked measurements are visually compared to decision limits calculated from probabilities of the actual process performance. The visual comparison between the decision limits and the performance data allows you to detect any extraordinary variation in the process.

If you apply control charting as a part of your Six Sigma process control plan, you can use the control chart itself to trigger action or to leave things as they are based on what the control chart tells you. Sample data, also called subgroup data, is collected from the process characteristic in which you’re interested.