Most Powerful Tools Used in Lean Six Sigma to Improve Processes

20-May-2021

In this article we will discuss about some tools of lean six sigma methodology which provides to the management staff of the various businesses and organizations of the corporate world. Along the way, we will also mention some points about the Lean Six Sigma Certification.

Lean six sigma tools -

1. The 5 Whys -

The 5 whys tool of the lean six sigma methodology is fairly simple to understand and fairly easy to use. It is one of the most important lean six sigma tools. The process of using this tool is thus – the first step is to write down the problem that the business or organization is facing. You should write down the problem very clearly and provide all the major and minor details of the problem.

The next step is to ask the question that why did the problem occur in the first place. Once the management staff of the business or organization starts asking why the problem occurred in the first place, they will have shortened and simplified their way to the answer considerably.

The next step is to try to answer the question very quickly. Very quickly means that the individual should write down the first answer which comes to their mind. Only a Lean Six Sigma green belt will be able to do this properly. If that answer is not a direct answer to why the problem occurred they should ask the question why again. They should repeat this process at least 5 times or till they get the answer, whichever comes first.

2. The 5S System -

The 5S system is a very useful and a very important tool in the lean six sigma methodology. It is taught in the Lean Six Sigma Certification. The 5S’s are as follows -

Seiri (Sort) – The first S is Seiri or sort. This step involves removing all items which are unnecessary for production from the business process. This means that one should get rid of all the items which are unnecessary for production from the business process in such a way that only the necessary or required items remain in the business process.

Seiton (Set In Order) – The second S is Seiton or set in order. This step involves organizing all the remaining items and labelling them according to their functions. Organizing all the remaining items means setting all the remaining items in order and placing them in their proper positions. The next step is to give labels to the items according to their functions or what role they play in the business process.

Seiso (Shine) – This step involves cleaning the work area of the business or organization every day. The work area should be cleaned very thoroughly and all unnecessary items should be removed from the work area. It should also not have any kind of impurities or distractions left in it. The next step is to inspect the work area every day. So after cleaning the work area every day, a dedicated staff should carry out an inspection routine over the work area to ensure that it has been cleaned properly.

Seiketsu (Standardize) – This step involves setting some very strict, stringent, well-designed, and well thought out standards in place for your business or organization. These standards should be based on the lean six sigma principles and guidelines and should also take the mission and vision of the company into account.

Shitsuke (Sustain) - These standards should be enforced in such a way that following them becomes practically a habit for all the workers in the business or organization.

3. Value Stream Mapping -

In any business or organization, there is always an inflow and outflow of resources such as raw materials, manpower, money, transport vehicles, electricity etc. To learn more about this inflow and outflow, one can get the Lean Six Sigma Certification. There is a great need to regulate the inflow and outflow of all these things. If the management staff of the business or organization does not pay attention to regulating the inflow and outflow of all these things seriously, there can be many leakages here and there within the company in the long run.

Businesses and organizations will never be able to stop this leakage until and unless they take special care and pay their full attention to regulating the inflow and outflow of all these things. In order to do this, the lean six sigma provides them with a tool known as value stream mapping. With the help of value stream mapping, the management staff of the business or organization can divide all the activities of the company into 3 broad categories 

• Value-enabling activities

• Value-adding activities

• Non-value adding activities

After they do this, the management staff of the business or organization can systematically and methodically remove or eliminate all the non-value adding activities from the company.

4. Regression Analysis -

The lean six sigma methodology provides a very useful and important tool called regression analysis. Regression analysis is a tool which has been derived from the field of statistics. It is a statistical tool and with the help of this tool the management staff of the business or organization can determine the relationship between the various resources which they are making use of in their company.

The way regression analysis works is this – first the company has to pick and choose any two resources which they require for their functioning and which they are making heavy use of. Once they have picked and chosen those two resources they can assign two variables to them. The first resource is assigned the variable x and the second resource is assigned the variable y.

After assigning the two variables to the two resources, the management staff of the business or organization has to find a skilled and competent data scientist. With the help of his data science tools and by applying sophisticated and advanced computer science algorithms to the data, the data scientist can map the changes in the values of the two variables, x and y, and plot a graph for both of them.

By plotting a graph for the change in the values of the two variables, the data scientist can derive a relationship between the two variables and correspondingly, between the two resources.

5. Pareto Chart -

Human beings are essentially visual living entities. Visual information is the type of information which they can process in the easiest way and which appears the most comprehensible to them. The lean six sigma methodology recognizes this fact and therefore it includes within its arsenal a most useful and versatile tool. The name of this tool is the Pareto chart.

The pareto chart is a lean six sigma tool with the help of which the management staff of the business or organization can generate visual representations of any kind of data related to the functioning of the company. This helps the management staff to study and analyze the data and glean meaningful insights from the data related to optimizing the functioning and the business processes of the company.

6. FMEA -

The full form of FMEA is Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. It is a very important and useful lean six sigma tool. As the name suggests, FMEA is used to detect the possible causes of failure which can cause business processes to fail completely in the future.

This tool is used to detect and identify weak points in the business processes. Once they are detected and identified, the management staff of the business or organization can eliminate them systematically and methodically.

7. Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) -

Kaizen is a very important and a very useful tool provided by the lean six sigma methodology. Kaizen is a tool which helps the management staff of the business or organization add incremental improvements to the business processes of their company. This way they don’t have to make any big and sweeping changes to the business processes and can introduce small changes one step at a time.

8. Poka-yoke (Mistake Proofing) -

Mistake proofing is a very important and a very useful lean six sigma tool. With the help of this tool, the management staff of the business or organization can detect and identify possible causes of human errors or “mistakes” in the business processes of manufacturing and production.

Once the management staff of the business or organization has detected and identified the possible and probable causes of human errors, they can work to eliminate them systematically and methodically and thereby make the business processes of the company safer and more reliable.

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