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Lean Six Sigma is now a general term and methodology, and more people are looking to implement it. However, not many know where to start as a company that has been around for years; at Lean Six Sigma Curriculum for El Paso High School Students of Texas, we recommend you start with the Lean Six Sigma History so its background can make a thing or two quite clear.
Let’s first establish that Lean Six Sigma is a blend of Japanese management methods and principles that can later be traced back to the United States. This can be quite a complicated topic to go over as it isn’t Japanese, but it was influenced by some of the methodologies from the country back in the 70s.
Kaizen, which emphasizes cooperation and commitment as a means of continuous improvement, is the Japanese influence on the Lean Six Sigma method, and although it is not entirely based on it rather on two individual methodologies, Lean and Six Sigma, it is a great influence in terms of principles and what LSS wants to surpass.
Kaizen is different from other methods in that it focuses on the idea of small, positive changes. It also eliminates unnecessary steps and processes, which saves time. Many Japanese companies used this Japanese method to compete with their products, ideas, and services.
Then, LSS can be traced back to the USA, where it was developed as a new method to compete with Japanese industries. LSS was founded in 1980 to compete with Japan’s superior products and to adopt Japanese principles for better results.
These principles were designed to reduce waste by taking non-value-adding measures and were adopted in large U.S. corporations in the 1990s, mostly.
Six Sigma: How LSS Really Started
It is important to understand that LSS is an answer to the Japanese method, and U.S. companies have begun to follow many of its principles (if they all), but the Lean Six Sigma methodology actually combines two separate methodologies that were developed prior to it and mentioned in previous paragraphs as well.
We need to understand the differences between Six Sigma and Lean, as they are two distinct elements that were combined.
Due to its structure and principles, the first, Lean, is often called “thinking.”
With this in mind, we need to move to Toyota and how it refers to its system as the “Toyota Production System (TPS). John Krafcik, a researcher at MIT in 1987, was one of the students of the former founder of Toyota. He was looking for a name to describe the TPS system.
On a whiteboard, he wrote down the characteristics and differences between Toyota’s system and traditional mass production. He concluded that the Toyota system needs less of everything to create value after his analysis and research.
Lean Thinking was born quickly from this whiteboard and conclusion, and it focuses on reducing waste and non-value-added activities. The Japanese influence is evident when reading about Japan’s Kaizen principles. This is why Lean is also considered Japanese as the fundamentals, and clear principles are derived from Kaizen—but it is not quite the nationality.
Lean has its own foundations and principles. This includes understanding the customer and understanding the value stream and waste of each process. In addition, value flow is based on constant pursuit.
Six Sigma, on the other hand, is an American-based methodology with roots that date back to the 1980s. Motorola is the originator of it.
Motorola was a struggling competitor to foreign companies at the time, and its CEO Bob Galvin set a goal of a tenfold improvement in five years.
This plan focused on global compactivity, participative management, quality improvement, and global competitiveness. Six Sigma became the standard for all Motorola business processes within no time. All Motorola employees were trained in Six Sigma as well to ensure all places were following the same standards.
Six Sigma’s success was due to Welch, a G.E., and strong leadership. Although “Neutron Jack” was a well-known leader with a style that was different from Toyota’s, he was still a respected one. G.E. was a great source of information for the world.
Six Sigma is more than a quality program. It can be used in all kinds of businesses.
When taken together, Six Sigma and Lean both recognize that the process is what must change. Six Sigma is a great addition to the Lean approach, and thus why LSS started to be a thing when combining and setting more principles from both of them.
How Is Lean Six Sigma Used?
LSS has been used in many ways throughout history. It is designed to increase productivity and efficiency and reduce waste.
It’s a good idea for people to understand the principles and solutions of Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen. This will help them see the benefits and drawbacks of LSS.
Lean allows workers and companies to better understand customers and prioritize their needs. However, they can still focus on the company’s value stream, processes, and value flow to achieve perfection.
Six Sigma is committed to excellence and a system that ensures more efficiency and clean processes. Continuous improvement and innovation are key goals of 6 Sigma.
The Kaizen method consists of five elements: teamwork and personal discipline, better morale, quality circles, and suggestions for improvement.
When thinking about Six Sigma and Lean, you can understand what they have in common and how Kaizen influences the entire process once reading more about LSS.
Lean Six Sigma can be used for its many benefits to both businesses and students, as well as professionals and students who are undergoing training for the above reasons. As for the process or the results you get, some are on this list:
- Learn how to reduce waste.
- Increase efficiency.
- Reduce errors.
- Reduce legal risk for the company.
- Time management can be improved.
- Lower costs mean higher revenues and better salaries.
- Motivate employees.
- Innovation and leadership are fundamental concepts.
Lean Six Sigma Training
Contact our Lean Six Sigma Curriculum Pros of El Paso team. We are experts in the history of Lean Six Sigma and how it works. We can also teach high school students, college students, business professionals, and entire companies how to implement LSS into their lives.
We want to make sure you have all the benefits and that you are a valuable resource in any place or company you choose to work.
Companies can grow and innovate more easily if their employees and experts are certified under one of our belts.