"Uses less of everything compared with mass production .... half the manufacturing space, half the investments in tools, half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time. Also it requires keeping far less than half the needed inventory on site, results in many fewer defects, and produces a greater and ever growing variety of products."
Womack et Al 1990.

The Origin of Lean Six Sigma

Lean six sigma originated in Japanese companies where employees take time out to make improvements to the business process. This constant focus on continuous improvement leads to continuous improvement leads to very reliable processes where waste is minimized.

What is meant by lean in lean six sigma?
The term lean was used by Womach 1990 book "Lean thinking" to describe the lack of waste in businesses that focus on continuous improvement. Waste is defined as

"everything that increases cost without adding value for the customer"

Waste in the process is easy to see. Just take a walk through the work area and look for levels

T - Transport: movement of material and people. Except in logistic companies, transport seldom adds value to the service or product.

I - Inventory: Invent roy ties up money in working capital. Are there high levels of materials in the work area?

M - Motion: Look at the level of motion involved in performing tasks. Excess motion means poor ergonomic design of work and wasted time.

W - Waiting: Material or people waiting for service. Material is wasting money when waiting to be processed. When people have to wait they become unhappy customers.

O - Over production: The level of work produced should be in line with customers order. Are people producing more than the customer ordered and thereby wasting resources?

O - Over processing: Resources are wasted when rework is required. Are people investing time and resources in correcting mistakes?

D - Defects: Scrap is an obvious sign of waste. What are the scrap levels within the organization?

Imagine what could be saved by eliminating waste in the process. Eliminating waste is a team exercise. It takes a team of people working with the process and a good facilitator to identify practical ways of eliminating waste. The team bring their experience and expertise, the facilitator brings the tools to collate that knowledge into practical solutions. Our facilitators have more than 20 years experience working with some of the best companies in the world. They have the experience to guide your team towards practical solutions.

What is six sigma in lean six sigma?

Six Sigma originated in Motorola where they set a target of less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. They used tools to help teams analyze and diagnose quality problems within their process. Some of these tools are simple and some are quite complex. A series of terms are used to describe peoples competency in using these tools.
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt people have a basic understanding of six sigma tools and generally are team members working on improvement projects.
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt people have been trained on using six sigma tools and have limited experience in the use of these tools. They often manage lean six sigma projects on a part-time basis.
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt people have been trained in six sigma tools and have a lot of experience on their use. Unlike yellow belt or green belt people, they typically work full time on continuous improvement projects.

Lean Six Sigma combines two great programmes to address waste and quality issues. Lean six sigma is a combination of the team focus on waste elimination and the quality improvement focus of six sigma. In fact lean six sigma enables your team to focus on where you can get the biggest benefit whether improving delivery times or eliminating waste.