Is Lean Six Sigma useful?

Lean manufacturing–including the 5S methodology–and Six Sigma are two organizational methodologies that help businesses increase productivity and provide better customer value. Both are different, but their effects and benefits are similar enough that people sometimes confuse them with each other.

This brought about a hybrid concept called Lean Six Sigma, which combines the principles of both techniques for an extra efficient way of ensuring a company’s success.

Lean Manufacturing vs. Six Sigma

Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma are often lumped together. And while there exists a Lean Six Sigma method, the two individual approaches differ. Lean manufacturing focuses on reducing waste, while Six Sigma promotes work standardization and flow. To understand the similarities and differences between the two, and to get a clearer picture of how they combine later on, here’s a definition of each one:

What Is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a production methodology that allows businesses to streamline their resources and workflows by reducing waste. What does Lean manufacturing consist of? It’s based on five fundamental principles:

Defining value: Determining how much customers are willing to pay for products and services
Mapping the value stream: Reducing waste in the product life cycle
Creating flow: Refining processes to make workflows more seamless
Establishing pull: Adopting a demand-based production line
Pursuing perfection: Continuously striving for improvement

How is Lean manufacturing used today? The technique is primarily applied in the manufacturing industry, but it has also expanded to other fields like healthcare and financial services. It has also adapted to the times and can be easily integrated into workplaces that rely on technology.

What Is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a set of methods and tools that were developed to improve the operational efficiency of organizations. It focuses on reducing errors and variations in workflows and boosting control of processes by improving the quality of methods and empowering employees to make smart decisions.

What Is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma marries Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. It’s a fact-based and data-driven philosophy that values defect prevention to offer end-users the best quality, cost, and delivery of products and services.

It does this by improving the value of outputs and workflows and reducing waste where possible. It can be applied anywhere where variation and waste exist, which has helped make it a highly utilized organizational technique across different industries and processes.

Typically, businesses that employ Lean Six Sigma start by integrating Lean manufacturing principles, then augment its improvements through Six Sigma technical and statistical tools.

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma brings a lot of benefits to those who employ it in their business. These include:

Better Products and Services

Lean Six Sigma improves quality, service, and delivery, which increases value for customers. This improves satisfaction and helps in driving more business to the company.

Higher Profit

Through Lean Six Sigma, companies can increase productivity, allowing faster production. By enabling your business to do more for less, you can drive outputs with fewer resources, therefore increasing profit.

Decreased Costs

Lean Six Sigma eliminates waste, which makes it cheaper to meet customer demand. Plus, it encourages proactive problem-solving, allowing you to get to the root of problems and nip them in the bud before it leads to something even more inefficient.

Enhanced Productivity

One of the main applications of Lean Six Sigma is workflow optimization. By removing blocks and bottlenecks, people can work more efficiently and workers are more motivated to perform better, increasing overall productivity.

Improved Adaptability

Companies that apply Lean Six Sigma are more equipped to deal with changes in the industry and within the workplace. They have an edge over the competition and can be pioneers in the industry.

Apply Lean Six Sigma with Help from Creative Safety Supply

You need certain tools to implement Lean Six Sigma in your production–Creative Safety Supply has what you need to ensure that you are maximizing the methodology safely, properly, and accurately. Learn more about Lean manufacturing (including the 5S system), Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma from Creative Safety Supply today!