This is a PowerPoint I have created after watching and completing a Lynda Certification for Lean Six Sigma Foundations.

1. Lean Six Sigma Foundations
Created By: Kelby L. Schwender
Business Student, Penn State

2. Bottom-line Insight
“You can’t solve a problem using the same kind of thinking that created the problem in the
first place.” - Albert Einstein

3. Introducing Lean Six
Sigma

4. ● Six Sigma is all about changing your thinking about both the problem and its solution.
● The whole idea of Six Sigma is to provide reliable, consistent, dependable products to your customers.
○ The process focuses on three things: defects, variability, and the customer.
● Six Sigmas began as a way to reduce manufacturing defects but can also now help reduce quality issues with materials
coming into your factory.
● All processes have some natural variability.
● Six Sigmas is designed to guide quality efforts in every part of your business.
● Lean is defined as the elimination of all non value added activities, or waste, although most people associate Lean with
the production floor, the principles apply equally well to all parts of the organization, and it’s supply chain.
● The goal of Lean is to find those areas of waste, and to permanently eliminate them.
○ Lean efforts are greatly enabled by a strong focus on continual improvements and performance measurements.
○ Lean is facilitated by such things as, employees who are empowered to make decisions, and solve their own
problems, highly cross trained workers operating flexible equipment, efficient layout of floor space, standard
processes, just in time delivery, and rapid machine set up and changeover.
● Lean Six Sigma is the application of Lean principles and Six Sigma methodology at the same time.

5. Understand Six Sigma

6. ● There is a four-step methodology of Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
○ Since the start of Six Sigma, another step has been created and that is Define….. DMAIC
● The Define step is where the Six /sigmas team determines what the project is and exactly what it should accomplish.
● Measurement: You must understand the two aspects of measurement- what to measure and how to measure.
● Analyze: Focuses on why. You want to understand what is causing the variability in your process, or the unacceptable
number of defects, or a trend of increased errors. Your effectiveness in the analyze stage greatly impacts your ability to
improve the problem.
● Improve: This is the heart of any Six Sigma project. With improve, you are improving in the process. The job here is
to implement a change that will resolve the problem and improve the performance measure.
● Control: Control is the most important step within the DMAIC methodology. Control is what enables you to have a
continuous improvement organization, and every successful company today is continuously improving. In the control
phase, you make the improvement permanent. You put tools and procedures in place to ensure your solution is
maintained and the change is everlasting.
● Design: Sometimes you do not need to improve your process, but sometimes the existing process is so bad that you
need to throw it away and design a new one. There is a difference between improving a process and designing a new
process. Design for Six Sigma helps to ensure that your product will meet customer needs and that the processes can
meet Six Sigma capabilities.

7. Understanding Lean

8. ● Henry Ford believed that you should eliminate anything that does not provide value.
● Determine value for the specific product: this is where you determine your performance metrics, identify the value
stream for that product, apply process mapping tools.
● Make value flow without interruptions.
● Applying the principles of Lean and their problem solving tools, you eliminate those non-value added steps.
● The first step to understanding the process is to draw a picture of that process.
○ Only after producing a clear map of the process, can you begin to apply the many Lean tools available to
improve the process.
○ Many of the Lean performance measurements are also metrics of Six Sigma projects (waste, cycle time, adn
inventory).
● Metrics include improve customer service in every category, better use of machines and people, reduced inventions,
and higher product quality.
● Lean looks closely at such things as machine layout, setups, highly trained workers, and on time delivery methods.
● If the item is not needed, remove it. Remember the 5 S’s…
○ Set in order- arrange materials and tools so that they are easy to find when needed.
○ Shine - keep the work area clean.
○ Standardize - establish formal procedures to ensure all steps are performed correctly and consistently.
○ Sustain - continue the standardized process through effective training and communication practices.

9. ● Work is not started into the factory until there is actual or forecasted demand for the final product.
○ This is commonly called the pull system in that it is customer demand that drives the output of the factory and
all its internal operations.
● Variability is the enemy of Just In Time.
○ This is an area where Lean and Six Sigma work together to drive our both variability and non-value added
activities.
● You must have a strong understanding of each tool and how it can be effectively applied to improving your process.
● A factory cannot function unless the machine are working and available when they are needed.
○ The goals are to minimize equipment downtime and maximize equipment availability.
● “Quality is doing it right when no one is looking.” - Henry Ford
○ That is the essence of the concept of quality at the source.
● Quality at the force within your key suppliers also enables a just-in-time delivery of materials, components, and sub-
assemblies to your factory.
● “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” - Pat Riley
● Every Lean tool is intended to enable improvement in the process to the reduction of waste and wasteful activities.
● You simply cannot stand still because your competitors are continuously getting better and passign you by; you also
must continuously improve.

10. Implementing Lean Six
Sigma

11. ● “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” - John F. Kennedy
● Success is very dependent upon an organization that will provide strong leadership and also be open to learning from
their experiences.
● Three things you need from your company are Leadership, Skilled Team Members, and a Strong Supporting
Infrastructure.
● Your success is very dependent upon controlling the project environment.
● Lean Six sigma goes through four phases during its life cycle: initiating, planning, executing and closing.
○ Executing stage, you monitor and control the project.
● Lean and Six Sigma apply just as readily to purchasing, finance, engineering, and transportation as they do to
production processes.
● Variability adds cost, time, and waste to the service process.
● Use your Six Sigma tool set to eliminate non-value added steps.
○ Reduce variability in the value added steps and drive out complexity.
● Today’s applications for Lean Six Sigma have gone far beyond the factory walls, spanning functional boundaries
across the company and extending throughout the entire supply chain.