Lean Six Sigma is a combination of two powerful process improvement methods; Lean Management and Six Sigma. Together, it culminates into a method that delivers greater results than what would have been achieved by either of them, alone.

Lean Six Sigma improves performance in an organization by systematically eliminating waste such as Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over Production, Over Processing, Defects, and Skills. These wastes are often abbreviated to be known as TIMWOODS.

What is Lean Management? 

Lean management is an approach to run an organization with the aim of continuous improvement. The Lean system of management was developed by TaiichiOhno, Shigeo Shingo and others over a period of 40 years.

The Lean philosophy talks about:

·        Continuous improvement at every level.

·        Use of scientific methods to find scopes of improvement.

·        Respect for people.

·        Getting rid of wastes in all forms.

·        Emphasizing on teamwork, shared responsibility and ownership

What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a process improvement technique that seeks to improve the quality of the output by identifying and removing the causes of defects in a business process. The theory was introduced by Bill Smith, an engineer working at Motorola in 1986 and was implemented by Jack Welch at General Electricals in 1995.

Lean Six Sigma Organizational Structure

The Lean Six Sigma Organizational Structure can be understood as a pyramid, divided into four levels.

Yellow Belt: The base of the pyramid is the Yellow Belt. It talks about awareness and understanding of Lean Six Sigma.

Green Belt:Second from the bottom is the Green Belt, which focuses on the usage of tools and application of the Lean principles.

Black Belt:At this level, a person becomes a full-time project leader who can analyze data and help in identifying the source of problems.

Master Black Belt: Right at the top is the Master Black Belt. He is a trained black belt, having an experience of at least two years. He is qualifiedto teach Lean Six Sigma.  

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

·        Increases revenue

·        Decreases cost

·        Improves efficiency and effectiveness

·        Develops effectiveness in employees