A lean Six Sigma improvement project needs to following a DMAIC roadmap so that the best lean or Six Sigma tools are used at appropriate times. A consistent define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) roadmap is also needed so that the same approach (with all its execution details) for executing improvement projects is used across the organization.
Also, it is important to quantify Lean Six Sigma improvement project benefits in order to gain/maintain long-term management organizational improvement effort support. This quantification needs to more than just an anecdotal statement stating that an improvement was made.
Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project DMAIC Roadmap
The Lean Six Sigma improvement project roadmap is Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC).
The Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system provides an additional drill down of the DMAIC “Measure” phase to add clarity:
Lean tools are integrated in this IEE DMAIC roadmap in the measure phase under “lean assessment” and in the improve phase.
Step-by-step details (with checklists) to execute this lean Six Sigma DMAIC roadmap are provided in the 1100+ page book Integrated Enterprise Excellence Volume III, Improvement Project Execution: A Management and Black Belt Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard.
Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Benefits
Leadership appreciates the value of a process improvement effort when a time-series chart provides statistical evidence that a process response enhancement was achieved, along with what can be expected in the future from the new process.
Why would any organization continue a process improvement program that does not provide a tangible benefit? If executives do not clearly see how Lean and other improvement efforts are benefiting their numbers, the people involved in those activities are often among the first to be laid off when times get tough. The demonstration of an improvement program is not done with glorious PowerPoint presentations, but with data showing a performance change that is assignable to the improvement efforts and changes. Traditional scorecard systems were not created to make this demonstration of change very clear to the leadership.
IEE provides a unique 30,000-foot-level predictive scorecard methodology that shows how to report and compare before to after change performance in terms that everyone understands. In addition, this predictive metric system can be used throughout the business to orchestrate activities so that the most beneficial behaviors occur on a regular basis; i.e., no playing games with the numbers.
Using this scorecard system as a reporting method, a linkage is created for each improvement project to a defined organizational goal and strategy. In this way, there can be no question that the demonstrated scorecard gain directly impacts the leadership’s numbers.
An Attribute Example from Webinar Below: Demonstration of Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Benefit
An attribute example 30,000-foot-level charts demonstrating process improvement (non-conformance rate reduction from about 20% to 12%). Details of this chart and reporting are described in the webinar below.
A Continuous Response Example from Webinar Below: Demonstration of Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Benefit
Details of this chart and reporting are described in the webinar below.
The baseline for a continuous response process output is:
The individuals chart on the left indicates that the process is stable from a high-level point of view. The probability plot on the right indicates that about 12.6% are expected to be above the specification limit of 10.
A process improvement project was executed. The 30,000-foot-level chart for the process is now:
The statement on this chart indicates that an improvement in the process output response was made and the non-conformance rate is now about 0.013% (down from the 12.6% non-conformance baseline) because of a process improvement effort.
Webinar Learning Points: Demonstration of Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Benefit
Techniques described in this webinar are:
- Creation of predictive performance measurements for processes that have a continuous and attribute response
- Use of a predictive process performance metric system to describe the benefits of a process improvement project
- Inclusion of variability within process performance metric reporting
- Creation of a linkage of the improvement projects to the organizational strategies and goals
https://youtu.be/lp2pAcOwfKE
Software for Maintaining the Gain from Lean Six Sigma Improvement Projects
IEE Enterprise Performance Reporting System (EPRS) software provides:
- A means to integrate 30,000-foot-level operational performance measures with the processes that created them
- Provide automatic updated predictive metrics that can have transparency throughout an organization
For more information about EPRS and its benefits, CLICK HERE
Contact Us to set up a time to discuss how your organization might gain much from an Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Business Process Management System and its Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Methodologies.