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Lean Six Sigma is a powerful methodology that can be used to improve business processes. It is a structured approach to problem-solving that can be applied to any process - manufacturing, sales, marketing, IT, BPO, accounting, purchasing, you name it. All processes have variation. Variation is the cause of all evil - it leads to defects and customer dissatisfaction. Lean Six Sigma methodology can be used to reduce variation from any source and thus improve costs, quality, and hence customer satisfaction. The standard methodology that is used to improve existing processes is called DMAIC. The acronym DMAIC stands for Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control. If you think about it - this methodology is common sense. Before we start working on a problem, we need to have a good definition of what is the problem, why we are working on it, where is the pain area, what is in the scope of the project etc. All of these are accomplished in the Define phase. Secondly, in the Measure phase, we are interested in ensuring that the data used for further analysis is free of measurement errors. Lean Six Sigma is about making decisions based on facts & data. If the data is inaccurate, we would end up making the wrong decisions. Hence, the measured phase ensures good data. Before making any improvements, it is also important to establish a baseline so that we can clearly communicate the benefits obtained from our project to other key stakeholders. The next phase, Analyze, is all about making the hypothesis and using data to either prove or disprove our hypothesis. We make the hypothesis about what is causing the problem and then establish the real root causes. The fourth phase, Improve, focus on getting the best possible solution to solve the root cause of the problem. The solution is optimized and any potential failure modes are resolved before the solution is deployed in the real world. The last phase, Control, is all about ensuring that the solution is sustainable in the long run. Any financial benefits obtained from the project are also quantified. Finally, the improved process is transitioned over to the process owner. As we can see from this paragraph, any problem can be addressed using this structured approach. Here are some things that should come to your mind when people talk about Lean Six Sigma: Business Process Improvement Methodology 3.4 defects per million opportunities Customer focused Uses facts & data Quantify financial benefits Structured improvement approach

Lean Six Sigma is a data driven approach: It is an easily appreciable fact that decisions should be taken based on data (to the extent possible) and should not be based on the gut feel or judgment. Lean Six Sigma provides us with information on which and what type of data should be collected, how it should be collected and how it should be analyzed. Example - In a bank, the number of employees was increased based on the gut feeling of the senior management, while the biggest competitor of this bank analyzed the trends of work flow for future projects through simulation and created flex-profiles to reach very high service levels while maintaining the same manpower count. Lean Six Sigma is a process focused methodology: Everything that you do in the workplace has a process behind it. For bringing improvements it is always good to study the underlying process along with the results, especially if we are looking for a long lasting improvement and not a temporary quick-fix solution. As Deming said - 85% of the problems are due to system and process deficiencies and not due to human errors. Behind most human errors is a weak process. Example - The chances of the wrong module being integrated into a software development can not be eliminated by just a reward or punishment mechanism. Lean Six Sigma provides a structured step by step roadmap: If a business problem is being resolved by a cross functional team over a period of time, it pays to utilize a structured methodology (like Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) with review stages. Example - If a company wants to reduce the TAT for a maintenance process, the situation is best addressed by following a structured methodology where all problem-solving team members stay focused and can see visible progress. Lean Six Sigma uses noncommon-sense approaches: If common sense approaches were sufficient, there would not have been any chronic (repetitive) business problems at all. Example - To improve customer satisfaction index by 25% in 4 months time, you would need not one but a series of non-common sense approaches which Lean Six Sigma provides. Lean Six Sigma integrates the best of tried and tested management methodologies over the years: Lean Six Sigma has weaved various time tested management techniques in one roadmap. Also, Lean Six Sigma is not rigid. It is an evolving methodology. New tools are being added to the Lean Six Sigma toolkit by innovative practitioners. Recently, in a Benchmark Lean Six Sigma Conference, speakers from Wipro, Infosys, Patni, Kanbay, Accenture, TCS, showed how Lean Six Sigma methodology is being applied innovatively in their organizations. Lean Six Sigma improvement projects are mostly validated by financial benefits or by an impact on a KPI (Key Performance Indicator): Whatever improvements we bring at the workplace must show in business results. People who make this possible are an important resource in any organization. Example - A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt who was successful in 5 out of 5 projects got excellent recognition in a company. (More and more companies are now linking employee and team growth with efficiency or cost measures). Lean Six Sigma works on improvements on a project by project basis by people trained as improvement experts (called Green Belts and Black Belts): Improvements can be brought on a project by project basis and by no other way. Unless improvement areas are converted into projects, with assigned responsibilities and authorities to correctly trained people, the problems remain what they are. Example - In one manufacturing company certified as ISO 9001, long customer wait times for repairs during warranty were identified as an improvement area during each internal audit, but no one was trained on techniques to bring improvements (and the issue was not converted into a project with accountability). When this company started practicing Lean Six Sigma, the same improvement areas could be carried out with meaningful ROI from each improvement project. In organizations of any size or complexity, Lean Six Sigma methodology poses the following questions repeatedly: Are we working at the best possible performance levels for our key processes? If the answer is yes, is it feasible to explore new processes that can set new benchmarks and give our company a bigger competitive advantage? If the answer is no, what is it that is stopping us from forming and supporting a team that can enhance the performance level in a manner that makes business sense. The age-old algebraic equation says it all: Y = f (X). If Y is the effect and the Xs are the causes, then putting all the focus on the Y or guessing which X is most significant are both bad ideas. One thing Lean Six Sigma helps with is understanding these relationships statistically so work can be directed at the cause or combination of causes (Xs) most likely to change the effect (Y). This activity helps break the endless string of firefighting brought on by never really getting to the root cause of any effect. This equation is at the heart of the Lean Six Sigma methodology and with the DMAIC and DMADV roadmaps drives a company through a logical, sequential process to efficiently find the significant Xs and act on them. This gives the highest probability of success and helps turn the tide of reactive behavior.