Paradigm Shift:
Creating a Continuous Improvement Culture
David Smothers
Management 510
Dr. Ingram
January 5, 2011
Paradigm Shift:
Creating a Continuous Improvement Culture
Successful Lean Six Sigma (LSS) deployments rely on the ability of a deployment to effectively apply Six Sigma DMAIC methodologies with the ability to concurrently apply Lean tools in order to drive Continuous Improvement into the culture of the business. Designing a Lean Six Sigma deployment to be an integrated model ties together the Six Sigma well structured approach with the Lean approach of matching quantity and quality to satisfy customers. Various companies have begun
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Volvo, Motorola, Ericsson, and Siemens have come to understand how dispersing authority of decision making out to the field organization drives job satisfaction. (Schon, 2010, 99-118) Job satisfaction drives productivity and process improvement. Process improvement cuts out waste. Cutting out waste improves the bottom line. There is still a clear disconnect with the goals and styles of the operations executive team in many organizations today. LSS deployments are bound to struggle without support from all levels of management. A deployment champion has a duty to make sure that projects align with high level goals in order to gain support from management. (Kelly, 2007, 16-17)
Driving Empowerment
Dedicate and empower the right people on the right projects. (Salah, et al., 2010, 254) Business leaders need to take the holistic approach to improving the business in order to achieve long term gain. (Breyfogle, 2010, 94) The holistic approach as opposed to the driven down approach to LSS implementation assumes that an organization has the right people in the organization that can drive the organization to greatness. The driven down approach is very management heavy and decision are not made at the line level. Rather, decisions are dictated to the line level and
employees on what Six Sigma actually is, how to use, and how it helps them perform
Lean Six Sigma concepts were introduced in the book titled Leaning into Six Sigma: The Path to Integration of Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma (Lean Six Sigma). Lean Six Sigma methodologies combine lean manufacturing and Six Sigma strategies to rely on improved performance from a collective team effort that systematically reduces variation and removes seven kinds of waste, known as Muda. Muda includes any unnecessary motion, transport, wait time, inappropriate processing, excess inventory, overproduction, and defects (Lean Six Sigma). Furthermore, Lean Six Sigma methods aim to provide customers with the best possible quality, cost, and delivery (ASQ.org, n.d.). In all, Lean Six Sigma is a business performance improvement strategy that uses a systematic approach to improving the way people advance processes. Its methodologies allow for systematically enriched processes to satisfy the customer and make money. Simply put, Lean Six Sigma as a business enhancer, ingrained with tools and techniques people can use to learn how to improve their processes (iSixSigma,
Successful deployment of Lean Six Sigma is often considered a function of the inputs with those being shown below in figure 1.1. As the companies are evaluated keep in mind those critical X’s are often evaluated as the function Y = f(X) or Outputs = f(Inputs). In other words by controlling the inputs an organization can predict the output of the Lean Six Sigma implementation. This point is key when evaluating the difference between successful and not-so-successful implementations.
Six Sigma can help companies achieve performance levels that externally are invaluable to customers and internally can reduce costs. These projects can now be found in very diverse industries and can span far-reaching …these two initiatives can be complementary, especially for "Greenfield" process improvements… UPS Supply Chain Solutions 2 business processes and geographies
Lean Six Sigma combines Lean’s time-focused waste-elimination philosophy to dynamic analytical problem solving toolkit of Six Sigma.
Six Sigma focuses on defect prevention; improving quality, cost savings, and reducing waste by helping
• This coursework is worth 70% of the overall module marks. • The assignment questions are based on the main case. Supplements A and B provide useful insights into previous Six Sigma initiatives in the organization. • Preferably your write-up may not exceed 5000 ± 10% words. • This coursework should adopt academic conventions in terms of writing style, be supported by research, with proper attribution of sources and be fully referenced. • Do not submit an
Design can be related to the creation of products goods and services for the benefit of customer satisfaction. When a product is not created effectively the organization could be plagued with costly problems down the line. However, Six Sigma uses tools that will allow companies protection from future problems and widespread liabilities (Kumar et al., 2009). If an organization implements six sigma in well planned out and methodical way, the benefits for the organization could be endless and have a positive effect well into the future of the organization. Therefore, main focus of Six Sigma is to ensure speedy breakthrough performances, substantial financial outcomes, and to have long lasting effects. Another component of Six Sigma is Total Quality Management which focuses things such as strategy, process, and the end
The six sigma Black Belt has found and accepted all known underlying drivers for the current open door. The six sigma methodology obliges Black Belts to distinguish arrangements. Couple of thoughts or opportunities are good to the point that all are a moment achievement. As a major aspect of the six sigma approach there must be checks to guarantee that the coveted results are being accomplished. A few investigations and trials may be needed with a specific end goal to locate the best arrangement. At the point when making trials and tests it is imperative that all task partners comprehend that these are trials and truly are a piece of the six sigma
Six Sigma was first introduced in the 1980’s by none other than Motorola. It was not however necessarily a novel concept at the time so much as it drew from a conglomerate of proven manufacturing principles. It is strikingly similar to the scientific method in design. Six Sigma approaches areas that may not necessarily be viewed as problematic with an open mind. It seeks to analyze problems or questions with a stepwise, statistical, and quantitative focus in order to discover, fix, or disprove problems that may or may not exist within a process. By doing this Six Sigma can improve efficiency and therefore improve positive outcomes for whatever the endpoint may be (Mast, Bisgaard, & others, 2007).
The concept of Six Sigma is completely consistent with the aims and objective of many healthcare organizations. At times it is very challenging to attain an excellent Six Sigma accomplishment level in real life. A good example is, a health organization that has 100,000 surgeries annually, apparently it would be allowed only one undesirable occurrence for every three years, which is not very sensible. Nevertheless, the concept behind it is still beneficial and significant, and in
Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that creates processes within an organization to cut waste and improve the company’s performance. However, studies have shown that over the past decade applying Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma can create problems for companies financially and potential problems for employees. Companies should take great care before implementing a Lean Six Sigma solution because in some instances, going lean can do more harm than good both financially for the organization as well as destroying employee loyalty and moral.
Lean Six Sigma approach is recognized widely and has been implemented predominately in manufacturing rather than other industries. To illustrate the point, this paper draws attention to the adoption of Lean Six Sigma in various industries with a case study. The combination of Lean tools and Six Sigma methodology is used to improve the process and quality by eliminating the variations and creating workflow in a process. The hypothesis of this study was that the Six Sigma technique can be used along with lean tools in order to improve process and quality in any area of industries. The review of case study discovered the use of
Many companies attempt to advance through Six Sigma, Lean, or other initiatives. However, some studies have been reported that two-thirds of other initiatives fail to meet the expectations of the organization leaders (Ghodrati and Zulkifli 2013). Learning about the certain methods of the different systems is not the issue when putting these into play, but putting them into their daily organizational actions is. Some of these situations where they fail to put these into play is process improvement, continuous improvement, and the procedures of the initiatives not being long-standing.
In 1990’s Jack Welch launched Six Sigma in GE in a big way. He implemented Six Sigma in all areas and ensured that the entire organization participates in the initiative. He changed the performance incentives and made them based on individual’s ability and enthusiasm to take part in Six Sigma initiatives. He transformed GE to a state where Six Sigma had become the culture of the organization and not just a methodology for brining organization-wide improvements.