The Principles of Lean Six Sigma

When a company needs a Lean Six Sigma Professional, they may be having a problem with low job satisfaction among employees, creating a low morale and poor work production as a result. They may need to streamline their company processes, reducing and eliminating much of what they were doing wrong.

The Six Sigma professionals would then use these methods to help them eliminate waste and streamline their processes while improving their output quality.

The training involved in learning the lean methods will provide a good overview of the tools that are used and how to apply them to Six Sigma projects. Some of these tools include process maps, affinity diagrams and value stream mapping. This process can be applied to any business or organization, no matter the size or the type of industry. Whether the business in question is in the manufacturing industry or it is a service provider, the processes can be used to streamline the procedures used within the company.

In lean Six Sigma, there are five principles that are used:

• The first of these is the law of the market. This signifies that the customer is always to be put first. The company must implement this immediately and make sure that all employees adhere to it. The company wants the employees to understand that without the customers, there would be no business.
• The second of these principles is the law of flexibility. If a process is easily maneuverable, it is easier to work with. A method of business that cannot be changed for any reason can cause problems.
• The third principle is the law of focus. This is meant to keep the focus on the problems within the company and not the entire company itself. Executives and employees should concentrate on just the portions of the company that are causing problems and fixing those problems, dismissing distractions by other areas of the business that are not having problems.
• The fourth principle is the law of velocity. This means that if a process has many, many details that have to be performed, it may be slowing down the process. The work put into the process should be proportional to the results the company sees.
• The fifth principle in Lean Six Sigma is the law of complexity. Simply put, keep it simple. When a process is complex and difficult, it may have elements that are not necessary. More complexity does not necessarily mean more valuable or more important. In fact, it could mean just the opposite.