Lean six sigma under attack

Ouch! I’ve written about lean six sigma before and suggested that these two methods can be merged. However, over on the gembapantarei blog others disagree quite strongly:

So Lean Six Sigma is technically not Lean at all, but a form of Six Sigma that has less fat in it than regular Six Sigma.Just like “diet soda” is not a form of diet but a form of soda.

Don’t even get me started with Lean Sigma

Hmm … I think Poppendieck sums it up nicely:

“When I first heard the term Lean Six Sigma, I wondered what Lean added to Six Sigma. I found that the answer is speed. The first principle of Lean Six Sigma is: Delight your customers with speed and quality. The second principle says: Improve process flow and speed. Lean Six Sigma emphasizes that speed is directly tied to excellence.”

Personally, I believe that Lean and Six Sigma are complementary in nature and, if performed properly, represent a long-term business initiative that can produce unprecedented results. While Lean focuses on eliminating non-value added steps and activities in a process, Six Sigma focuses on reducing variation from the remaining value-added steps. Lean makes sure we are working on the right activities, and Six Sigma makes sure we are doing the right things right the very first time we do them. Lean defines and establishes the value flow as pulled by the customer, and Six Sigma makes the value flow smoothly without interruption.

However, you need to look behind the slick marketing of the term, the life of which went something like this:

• A concept is born. It’s then quickly labelled.
• Inevitably it’s misinterpreted and and misrepresented. The label is used for other purposes – it’s changed and the concept blurs.
• So it has been with Lean Six Sigma. Call it anything you like.

The fundamental issue remains; a lack of understanding.

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