"There is no such thing as a perfect process" - should Lean and Six Sigma be combined?

Coincidently i was ready the two comments about lean vs. six sigma. I have to deal with a similar situation currently as after 2 years of successfully stream lining our processes with a lean kaizen approach we're about to dig deaper into the application of problem solving methodologies. I for myself take lean as a people focused philosophy which works on the problem solving attitude and capability of your staff. Nevertheless, the analytic tools provided by the six sigma approach are an excellent and vital addition to the problem solving culture. Especially in our environment where we deal with highly complicated engineering problems on the edge of the manufacturing capability we use the six sigma tools to gain a far deeper understanding of our manufacturing parameters.
But all those tools are useless if the framework of a lean and problemsolving orientated culture isn't driving the process.

Christian Foyer

Mercedes Production System Racing /
Continuous Improvement Team Leader
Mercedes Benz Formula 1 Engines Plant
UK
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Is There a Perfect Recruiting Process?
Submitted by nicoduka on 7 April, 2008 - 18:03.

Let's take a look at the "perfect" recruiting process:

It is Monday, July 2, 2007. A marketing product director at ABC Company gives notice that she's accepted an offer with a competitor and will conclude her employment with ABC in two weeks, July 13. The manager, in a panic, calls his recruiter to discuss this unexpected but critical opening.

Within one hour, the recruiter has forwarded the manager a slate of pre-qualified and previously interviewed candidates. The manager selects the top three from the slate and mobilizes his hiring team to commit to interview dates scheduled for the following week while the recruiter invites them to interview.

That following week, July 10 to be exact, the candidates interview. The hiring team conducts a debrief immediately after the last interview to make a decision. The manager rings the recruiter at day's end to notify the recruiter of the selection decision; the recruiter prepares an offer, calls the selected candidate as the candidate is en route home, makes the offer, and the candidate accepts on the spot.

The start date is set for July 16 (pending clearance to hire, of course), the Monday after the prior incumbent's last day. The marketing department at ABC doesn't miss a beat!

The scenario above might be described by some as pure fantasy of which recruiters are in relentless, but perhaps futile, pursuit. Why bother? Others might argue that while this exact scenario may be slightly out of the realm of feasibility, getting within striking distance of such recruitment perfection is possible.

I see it from the latter perspective. While each recruiting experience involves a unique set of circumstances and cast of characters that may make the perfect recruiting process elusive, there are some common aspects that tend to be very predictable and thus enable us to inch ever so closely to perfection (at least on certain requisitions). The key is understanding these factors and taking steps to design processes that anticipate glitches and head them off from the get-go.

This column is not meant to be the complete guide to conquering every potential derailer of the recruiting process. It will, though, highlight certain common circumstances that, if anticipated, can be mitigated, enabling a brush with recruiting nirvana as described above......

____________________

I do believe that the combination of Lean and Six Sigma is a rather strong tool. There are some commonalities, most of all the customer being the trigger for both a DMAIC project, as well as the source value in the 5 steps of the lean theory. After having been a Six Sigma guy since the late 80s I have tendend to integrate the lean tools in the DMAIC, especially since the market was calling for it. This did indeed improve the DMAIC cycle, especially in Improve and Control. The real thing however is to generate the improvement projects from a holistic view to the process following the 5 Step lean approach and the value stream map. Not all the issues you find, looking at the process with a new approach can be solved with Kaizen and simple technical tools, some times the strong tools of a 6 Sigma DMAIC need to be applied to get sustainable improvement. Look at the process in a holistic view, map the value stream and use the appropriate tools to achieve the desired value stream means taking the best of both worlds.

Frank Müller
Director Process Excellence
J&M Management Consulting

I do not agree with Mr. Liker, though I respect his views. Many harms are been done based on the names given to improvement initiatives.

The traditional 6-sigma may be focused on processes conforming to y=f(x), but there is a need to adapt sigma to other processes you can't put in this category. I actually see a transformation for process conforming with Gauss distribution to six-sigma conformed ones to zero-defect processes which is the ultimate goal of all we are trying do.

Now there are cases when you will not get results if you stick to the traditional six-sigma mentality. I, for one, do not advocate any methodology above the other. All you do will depend on the business case in question, and it does not matter what name you call what you are doing. I opt for integrated and systematic improvement.

Our Japanese friends may be laughing and making nonsense of our discussions. They think of 3 things, independent of how you do it: have a somewhat total picture, do kaizen or kaikaku.

It is in this respect that it does not matter whether you are even thinking TQM, TSI, TPM, lean, DFT, agile manufacturing, 6-sigma and ToC. Sorry, if I have left anything out.

JO Taiwo,
Director
WILFORD

I do not agree with the viewpoint of Jeffrey Liker. It seems he advocates ONLY the Lean Production System across many organisations. As a researcher and practitioner my view is that" within the quality/operations management disciplines, we need to use a business strategy or philosophy depending upon the problem at hand. TPS is not a cure for all business problems in organisations and so is Six Sigma. I think they are very much complimentary when we have to tackle ceratin business problems in organisations. For example, if the problem at hand is "excessive variability in shrinkge of plastic parts". I am not sure one can identify the critical process parameters which influence variability in shrinkage using the LPS. If a Lean Practitioner can tackle this issue, I would like to know how though !!