Over the past few decades, Lean Six Sigma has been counted as the most crucial project management methodology for business organizations. Besides the manufacturing and product designing industry, Six Sigma has been implemented in various transaction businesses such as healthcare, banking, and software development services.
This popular lean Six Sigma approach helps to improve the workflow and reduce the wastage process in the industry. Moreover, it helps reduce the workforce’s burden so that they can work on other tasks. Therefore, companies can earn better profits without making huge efforts in the workplace.
This is why the demand for individuals having Lean Six Sigma certification holders has increased. But, first, let’s discuss Six Sigma and who uses the lead Six Sigma principles and methodologies.
What exactly is Lean Six Sigma?
Lean Six Sigma refers to the tools and methodologies that help find defects, streamline workflow, and minimize wastage during product manufacturing. The Lean Six Sigma strategies and principles help improve business efficiency because it’s a data-driven approach and allows you to find quick solutions and implement the right tools to accomplish business goals.
The principles and methodologies nowadays practice worldwide in almost all industrial sectors. The individuals with lean six sigma certifications play the role of leaders and project managers to guide the team and focus on the team goals.
The strength of Six Sigma resides in its capacity to develop a repeatable process and to make statistics & analytics easier to define and pinpoint the origin of issues. The statistical basis removes hunches and provides accurate perceptions of the efficacy of a proposed remedy.
Understanding client demands, simplifying operations, cutting costs, and enhancing quality are all goals of lean management, which aims for continual improvement.
Core Strategy of Lean Six Sigma
The core strategies and principles of the lean six sigma methodologies are as follows:
- Understand the requirement of the customers
- Keep an eye on the value stream (the key steps to be taken to meet a deadline)
- The continuous improvement helps to achieve the goals faster
- Reduce the variations and eliminate the wastage from the manufacturing process that doesn’t add value to the final product.
- Decisions are based on the analysis and central data, not only on guesses and assumptions.
- It included tools to find out the best solutions to streamline the workflow.
Historical Background of the Six Sigma
Early 20th-century monitoring is where Six Sigma got its start. Its name is derived from the word “sigma,” which refers to a standard deviation. At Motorola in the 1980s, the level and grades of six Sigma were selected as a quality objective. Soon after, Motorola codified techniques centered on manufacturing quality objectives and discovered that the benefits of the processes could be used across the board. As a result, the use of Six Sigma techniques quickly expanded to other businesses, earning a reputation for considerable cost savings.
The Toyota Manufacturing System (TPS) and Just in Time (JIT) production are the forerunners of lean management. The emphasis of TPS and JIT is on how inventory affects waste or production efficiency. Following World War II, the approach was created in Japan, mainly under the direction of American statistician & management expert William Deming.
What Are the Benefits of the Lean Six Sigma Process in the Business World?
Six Sigma was initially used in production, but it soon proved apparent that the approach could be helpful outside the production line. As a result, lean Six Sigma evolved into a universal technique for service and operational sectors in addition to industrialization with the incorporation of Lean concepts. In fact, in today’s business world, if any company is successful, they are using the Lean Six Sigma principles and strategies and kicking the competitors.
Lean Six Sigma has been offering the following benefits to companies.
- Six Sigma principles help make decisions based on the data collected from different sources. This helps companies to focus on the pain areas and improve their business standards.
- Improve the business processes and streamline the entire business production unit
- The Six Sigma concept helps increase the company’s and its employees’ capacity.
- It helps to reduce the cost by lowering the defects and wastage.
- The Six Sigma concept can help the production units reduce downtime and reduce waste material costs.
- The concepts of Six Sigma also provide several opportunities to improve the manufacturing process throughout the company.
- The Six Sigma individuals have a straightforward approach to problems and can meet goals faster.
- The Six Sigma belt and certificate holders are in great demand. So, there will be better opportunities to build a successful career, especially for those individuals who want to proceed with their career in managerial positions.
- The lean Six Sigma holders can earn higher compared to those who don’t have the six sigma certificate.
- It helps to create a sense of leadership, ownership, and accountability for the project’s failure and success.
- The Six Sigma principles and methodologies are helping to improve the quality of the products delivered to the clients.
- It helps to set a healthy working environment despite the employee roles.
Who Can Use Six Sigma?
Here are the following industries where Six Sigma principles and methodologies have been implemented.
- Agriculture and healthcare sector
- Energy and mining industry
- Construction and manufacturing industries
- Consulting and designing services
- Universities and hospitality management areas
- Pharmaceuticals and hotels
- Law firms and the logistics industry
- Transportation and airports
- Non-profit organizations and government
- Public services and various operational sectors.
Bottom Line
Lean Six Sigma principles and methodologies give you a strategic approach to be followed for business progress. It helps ease the manufacturing process, manage the business, and enhance the business values by minimizing wastage. Various Six Sigma tools are helpful for multiple industrial sectors to streamline the time to deliver the best products to the clients and achieve their trust for long-lasting businesses.
