Essay Example - Project Management/ Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is a process designed to enhance performance, root out inefficiency, eliminate problems, and decrease businesses' waste, intending to provide better customer service. The methodology combines the principles, methods, and tools of Lean & Six Sigma to aid companies in measuring performance gaps, keeping control, and analyzing immanent solutions and basic setup (Nicoletti, 2013). In human resources, Lean Six Sigma is applied in training, Staffing, retention and other aspects enveloped within support or personnel conduct.

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Based on Deming and Shewhart's work, Toyota developed the Lean way as an industrial system element. Deming instituted a functionality management system for Toyota that imparted its guiding beliefs (Marksberry, 2011). Elimination of waste was the main objective of the development of Lean in Toyota (Marksberry, 2011). For all businesses, the lean method offers tools for analysis of all business processes.

For a company to be successful, efficient operation is paramount. And in any aggressive international market, organizations that support inefficacious processes incur enormous opportunity costs (Nicoletti, 2013). Investment in process refinement methodology like Lean Six Sigma is the best way to deal with such inefficiencies and ineffective processes. With proper application, services & products of higher quality are produced.

The Effects of Lean Six Sigma on the Business

The Lean Six Sigma methodology's main objective is to provide efficient, quality, and deft elements to businesses and get the return on investment and revenue to rise according to business strategy (Ray & John, 2011). When Lean Six Sigma is employed in business, the following effects are witnessed:

Teamwork and Collaboration: Top management and other stakeholders from all different business tiers are involved in the streamlined process (Ray & John, 2011). Through this, the company's goals become more distinguished and bold while also raising its stakes.

Customer satisfaction: The methodology focuses primarily on the customers' needs and gives priority to assuring that the customer is provided with the best quality service or product (Ray & John, 2011). The outcome is not just customer satisfaction but also customer satisfaction optimization.

Raising the stakes: The correct implementation of Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques will offer your business a competitive edge over other companies.

How the Lean Six Sigma Is Applied By an Organization

The lean Six Sigma methodology blends the principles, tools, and methods of Lean and Six Sigma into a single robust way to improve an organization's performance (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). People are a vital resource to the deployment of the lean six sigma methodology. Six Sigma shows the best results when companies have an exact number of employees in every business tier who are well trained to staff and lead projects. Training for the implementation of Lean Six Sigma is met by the opposition when the top workers are excused from their everyday duties to be prepared (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). Support from the upper management aids in overcoming this challenge.

Training

The standards of preparation that workers are offered directly influence the success of Six Sigma implementation. For practical training, apprehension, skills, and expertise needed for all participants are first taken into account (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). Following the assessment of the employees' skills requirements, remedial education may be offered to ensure that employees meet the fundamental prerequisite of literacy.

The executive levels are trained first. The intention is to assist top managers to completely comprehend the creativity of Lean Six Sigma and how it affects business success, and correspondingly connect the methodology to accomplishing business goals (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). The middle management is trained to advocate for Six Sigma. They are trained to prompt and illustrate the organization's dedication to Lean Six Sigma by issuing resources and presenting the project teams' control.

The awarding of black belts is hinged on their understanding of the company's operations and leadership capabilities. Conversely, their training is centered not only on Lean Six Sigma strategies but also on the successful completion of projects in preparation for project teams (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). Green belts trainee is picked from within the strata of the organization. They are familiar with the company's procedures and possess critical thinking traits. From the green belt preparation, employees acquire a basic comprehension of Six Sigma, which permits them to join in and chip into the team project.

Data for decision making

Data analysis is the basis of the Lean Six Sigma methodology. The collection and translation of data are essential parts of Lean Six Sigma, which help determine the project that the organization will choose for enhancement and what resources will be committed to it. Objective decisions can only be made more accessible via the correct analysis and interpretation of process data.

The benefits of Six Sigma can only be enjoyed through accurate implementation and proper execution of Six Sigma. When the senior leadership and champions complement and supplement Six Sigma through internal promotions and distribute the called for assets, project teams should also follow in leaderships' footsteps (Swarnakar & Vinodh, 2016). The continuing gains of process improvement will overcome the impermanent pressures of daily operations. When top employees are involved in the exercise and are granted appropriate preparation, the project will prosper and be very efficient. When management doesn't track the improvement based on correctly analyzed data, the process changes may be poor or implemented in the unsuitable areas.

Three Challenges Related to the Lean Six Sigma

For years on end, organizations have celebrated the lean Six Sigma procedure enhancement methodology for its success. Improvement in the facilities, products, and services offered by organizations is witnessed in organizations that implement Six Sigma (Nicoletti, 2013). Customer satisfaction, profitability, and productivity have benefited from the reduction in defects. The following are challenges faced when employing Lean Six Sigma and how to solve them:

Incomplete Understanding of Six Sigma Methodologies

Sometimes companies become impatient in putting into effect the six sigma methodologies. As a result, they rush into adopting the methodology before fully understanding it. Such challenges come up when organizations are trying to keep pace with competitors who have already implemented the method or follow the company's shareholders happy and impress them through using the six sigma methodology in the organization's documentation (Nicoletti, 2013). Companies that adopt six Sigma without the proper assets it requires, or for prestige are destined for failure.

The solution to this challenge is to complete the training and employ Six Sigma specialists who make sure that the methodology is deployed correctly and appropriately. The experts will also guarantee that the project is focused on vital operations where the most impact will be realized.

Lack of leadership commitment

Leaders' willingness to invest the company's resources and time to the project is essential to the training's success. The project's success is specially tested when the management decides which employees will be assigned to the practice (Nicoletti, 2013). Dedicating top talent employees to the project increases the odds of its success. Over the long-term, allocating top performers to six sigma projects is more profitable than the short-term benefit of keeping them at their current work.

Poor Execution

Proper execution of Six Sigma improvement projects relies on guidance from project experts and trained black belts. However, even in their presence, the possibility of the project going awry is high. When the improvement process is not lined up with the organization's goals or if the training is centered solely on reactively resolving challenges in lieu of confronting strategic objectives, the result is poor execution of the Six Sigma improvement project (Nicoletti, 2013). The realization that the six sigma techniques are aligned to the organization's targets and goals has helped the improvement projects stay on track and has led to the appropriate execution of the methodology.

Organizations become disappointed when the anticipated financial savings and productivity gains are not achieved. The disappointment is not due to the lean Six Sigma methodology's failure, but rather due to the lack of leadership and inefficiently managed improvement projects. The success rate of the Six Sigma improvement projects is dramatically increased when leadership within the organization is dedicated to deploying the lean six sigma methods (Nicoletti, 2013). Success is also seen to sky-rocket when top talent employees are assigned to trainee teams, when the improvement project is put through the conventional appraisal and evaluation process, and when the senior management invests the needed assets.

The Three Takeaways from This Assignment

Lean Six Sigma is a Culture

Tools, techniques, and principles of Lean Six Sigma are employed as a way to work rather than as set upon guidelines. Instilling these concepts will alter how organizations conduct their business, consequently giving it enough time and resources to pinpoint the problems and solve each one (Waurick, 2014). To make these principles a culture, they have to be practiced at all levels of the company, debunking the advantages of Lean Six Sigma methodologies.

The culture will be advanced and will always direct the business to the performance of the best quality. A lot of preparation goes into integrating the Lean Six Sigma methodologies with current systems used in industry (Waurick, 2014). For instance, the employees' training and all other aspects of the Lean Six Sigma methodology should be completed all through the company's branches. Quality results are the center of any technique employed at any organization.

Elimination of Non-Value Streams

The principles of Lean Six Sigma, as stated earlier, represent a way of working and should always be followed to do away with waste and product & services defects. The lesson learned is that simple recording or work breakdown structures (WBS) activity would help reexamine all the events from beginning to the end of the sequence, therefore offering an outline of the organization's structure (Waurick, 2014). In post review, you must remove all non-valuable and unnecessary work in the business structure. Doing so will aid in prioritizing your work toward the organizations' goals and objectives. With a view of promoting Lean Six Sigma practices within the company, it is important to initiate this step without delay. It should be selected to become the winning position for both the employees and the organization.

Specificity Is Key

Specificity here refers mainly to the organization's goals and targets concerning the improvement process. For you to accomplish your objectives, the goal statement must synchronize with the particular attributes of the goals to be achieved. The valuation of the goals and target is a ground-laying feature of administrating, coordinating, and sustaining an organization's business (Waurick, 2014). It is clear that there is an essential part of Lean Six Sigma improvement projects, and it can be consequential when overlooked.