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Lean six sigma in the healthcare sector: A systematic literature review

Rajeev rathi.

a School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144001, India

Ammar Vakharia

b School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144001, India

Mohd Shadab

Healthcare is a very important sector as our lives depend on it. During the novel corona virus pandemic, it was evident that our healthcare organizations still lack in terms of efficiency and productivity. Especially in the developing nations, the problems were much bigger. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a methodology which when implemented in an organization, helps to increase the process capability and the efficiency, by reducing the defects and wastes. The present study systematically reviews the research studies conducted on LSS in the healthcare sector. It was found that comparatively less studies are focused on improving the medical processes, most of the studies targeted the management processes. Moreover, lesser number of studies were being conducted for developing nations, but now it seems that the focus of research scholars has shifted towards the developing nations also. But it was observed that the studies in these nations were majorly empirical in nature, very few studies were conceptual or exploratory. There is a need for guiding healthcare professionals on creating a continuous improvement environment, which sustains the improvements achieved after LSS implementation.

1. Introduction

There is little room for error when it comes to healthcare. Simple mistakes can impact hundreds of people and can lead to fatalities. According to the journal of healthcare finance, medical errors cost the US over nineteen point five billion dollars in 2008. The Institute of Medicine in 1998 estimated that 98 thousand deaths could have been prevented that year due to medical errors. While in 2008 that figure had ballooned to 200 thousand deaths a year, that’s five hundred and forty-eight deaths a day or 1 death almost every two minutes in the US alone [1] . Lean Six Sigma can go in a long way in reducing these devastating preventable deaths. A healthcare practitioner who understands how to use the tools and methodology to systematically resolve problems and improve the quality of care is well-positioned to become a highly valued asset to their organization [2] . They not only prevent deaths but also improve the quality of patient care and reduce operating costs. There are plenty of opportunities for improvement in healthcare. Lean Six Sigma combines the strategies of Lean and Six sigma. Lean is famous for its ability to handle waste and Six sigma is known for process improvement [3] . It is well known that six sigma stands for standard deviation. Therefore, to improve the efficiency and quality of the process combining these philosophies will eliminate waste and reduce variability [4] . First lean methodology is used to eliminates the waste then through six sigma tools we can improve process variation so these two methods go hand in hand in today’s time [5] . Combination of lean and six sigma also gives good results in improving the process flow [6] . Principles of six sigma and lean have a lot of similarities, and that’s why lean and six sigma has been practiced together. Both of them, at the end of the day deliver the same kind of value to the customer and to the businesses [7] . We know that lean and six sigma both sort of originated out of manufacturing, a lot of it from manufacturing of automotive. But today it’s used in the public sector, in customer service, in healthcare and can be used everywhere. Lean thinking goes back a long way. Henry Ford kind of established it early on the first mass production system by combining standard parts conveyors and workflow. Later on, Kiichiro Toyota implemented new concepts, like they came up with things like value stream and Kanban, which become to known as Toyota production system in the 90 s [8] . It became more extensively recognized as a solution that works. Lean in manufacturing was introduced by James Womack who works at the lean institute. When taking a lean approach, the general focus is on the qualitative tools. This is one of the reasons that most lean six sigma activity begin with lean, as qualitative tools are little more intuitive. The concept of lean and six sigma is a little easier to understand then to implement [9] .

Day to day rising in cost of healthcare and decrease in reimbursement rates what can hospitals do to ensure operational efficiencies, quality patient safety, and employee engagement while still meeting the bottom line. Lean and Six Sigma have a combine relationship with each other in improving the quality of services by reducing costs and wastes and gives a good result in healthcare improvement [10] . Lean six sigma is not just a methodology or not just having tools that are needed to make an improvement but it is having mentality and psychology to make change happen. As healthcare is people intensive and process driven industry so this is the perfect environment for lean and six sigma. Worldwide, LSS is being implemented in various service as well as manufacturing organisations. Still, healthcare sector is not much familiar with the sustainable benefits of LSS strategy, especially in developing nation like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. This study has presented a systematic literature review of LSS in developing nations healthcare organisations and the opportunities was explored. With this study, the healthcare professionals will be able to focus on grey areas to effectively improve their organization performance.

2. Literature review

Exploring the literature for a topic or a field is a very essential process. As soon as a person starts with reviewing the literature, a picture forms slowly with each step ahead. It represents all the major contributions for developing the field. Knowledge of various techniques, scientific methodologies and new technologies is gained as a result of the literature review [11] . Further, it navigates towards the direction where more research work and study are required, in order to achieve advancements in the sector. There are three steps in the research methodology for the current study. In the first step, the SLR is conducted. It includes three sub steps of accessing the articles from various sources, then excluding the articles according to the exclusion criteria of SLR and then finally categorizing them according to various parameters. In the second step, the articles are analysed and some of the trends are observed, like which department of a healthcare organization is given an utmost importance in research perspective. Lastly, the future implications are noted, which can act as a useful guide for healthcare professionals to look for in the upcoming time.

2.1. Systematic literature review

Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on the other hand, is different from the traditional literature review method. It is an exhaustive process, where the literature is explored in a systematic manner, as represented in Fig. 1 . It was first introduced by Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart in their research paper published in the year 2003 [12] . SLR is carried out in 3 phases. The first phase deals with planning of the review, while in the second phase the review is conducted after defining few inclusion criteria. Finally, the articles are reviewed in the third phase [13] .To search for the articles, there is a criterion which is mainly focused on the topic related to lean six sigma methodology implication, LSS framework in healthcare and healthcare sector itself to include/exclude the articles. Moreover, the language of the articles is also considered for the inclusion/extrusion of the articles. In spite of this formal search and collection strategy, was needed to ensure the thoroughness of the literature review which is mainly focused on the topic (healthcare sector). As a result, articles that simply did not discuss the issue of lean six sigma in the healthcare sector were excluded. So, for the current study, hundred and forty articles were analysed but some of them were extruded due to the following barriers:

• • Language of the article (means articles must be only in English).
• • Article must have the concept of lean six sigma.
• • Article must be on healthcare sector.

Systematic Literature Review.

The research articles can be identified according to three main characteristics, namely place, research category and time, as shown in Fig. 2 . Place depicts the country where the research study is focused on. A country can be a developed nation, or a developing nation. While the research category means the type of article or the method used in the article. Research category can be categorized further into 4 types, namely conceptual, descriptive, empirical and exploratory. A conceptual research represents theories and ideas, which are developed using observations. A scholar may introduce a new concept or upgrade an existing methodology, but no experimentation work is generally required here [14] . Whereas a descriptive research study is an inclusive research work which represents all the major contributions, changes or things happening in relation to the field under scope of the project [15] . In order to collect data, surveys are conducted which makes it's obvious that the whole study is navigated solely by the data received and the research scholars have no control over it. Empirical research study is more of an experimental study, which uses observational methods to collect data and then experimentation is done to verify that observations [16] . While an exploratory study tries to address a new topic or a problem whose solution is not yet obtained or is at preliminary stage of development. Exploratory study helps in designing methods which may lead towards a solution or help better understand the field [17] . The time indicates the year in which the study was conducted or published.

Characteristics of research papers.

2.2. Systematic literature review of LSS in healthcare

Healthcare is categorized as a service sector, where service in the form of medical aid is provided. It is very important to rigorously upgrade the healthcare system, in terms of efficiency and productivity. As the healthcare is not just merely a business, but a system which has an impact on all lives. After the introduction of Six Sigma (SS) methodology in 1986 by Bill Smith, and Lean methodology in 1988 by John Krafcik, it took nearly a decade for these individual methodologies to be introduced in the healthcare sector [18] . Very few research studies were conducted for the Lean and SS in healthcare during the early days. In the year 2001, Lean and Six Sigma integration was in the trend. Yet, the use of LSS methodology in healthcare was not seen before the year 2005 [19] . The integration of Lean with Six Sigma results in a method which can reduce wastes and improve productivity, as well as reduce errors and improve patient satisfaction level [20] .A total of 80 articles are considered for the present study. Table 1 lists 47 articles which addresses the developed nations, and the articles which were not written specifically for any nation. While Table 2 contains 33 articles whose main focus was on developing nations, and the healthcare organizations in that countries.

LSS in Healthcare: Developed Nations and Global.

2. LSS in Healthcare: Developing Nations.

Empirical studies were conducted while focusing on a particular hospital or a particular department in a hospital, like Usha Manjunath et. al. 2007 [64] implemented LSS methodology in an Indian hospital, while Giovanni Improta et al 2019 [59] implemented LSS to reduce the length of stay of patients in an Italian hospital, as listed in the table 1 . Research studies focusing on reviewing the literature plays a crucial part in the development of a field, because it shows the complete picture which tells about the overall advancements and the areas where still more study is required. Similarly, for the healthcare sector studies have been conducted to review the literature available. For an example, Peimbert-García et al 2019 [ 55 ] conducted a review and directed the research scholars towards the areas in healthcare which required more focus. Whereas, the scholars have also focused on topics which makes the implementation of LSS in healthcare much easier. Like, V. Vaishnavi et al 2020 [ 90 ] identified 16 readiness factors for LSS implementation in healthcare. These factors should be fulfilled by a healthcare organization before starting with the implementation phase of LSS [96] .Certain crucial factors which affect the implementation of LSS are -:

• • Management willingness and effective leadership
• • Resource capabilities
• • Employee training and trust
• • Financial capabilities
• • Availability of expertise and knowledge

3. Results and discussions

LSS implementation in the healthcare began not earlier than 2005. A lot of research has already been done on LSS in healthcare all over the world, but when it comes to developing nations like India and Brazil, comparatively less research has been conducted [97] .The time constraint trend in catagorisation of the articles, is crucial to indicates how the trends is changing over the year and how many researches are conducted in a year to overcome the problem. Moreover, the time also indicates the change of area of focus of the researchers with changing time. Until the year 2013, research scholars focused majorly on improving the healthcare sector of developed nations, as evident from Fig. 3 .However, commencing from 2014 the focus shifted to developing nations, as they are the ones which require more efficient systems.41 percent of the studies targeted the organizations in developing nations, and further 30 percent of articles from the developing nations category addressed the Indian healthcare organizations, as shown in Fig. 4 .It is important to note this trend because a study related to a particular place demonstrates the importance and need of the study for a unique problem and its solution related to that place. Because as the places differ problems also varies. So that it could be defined as per the requirement related to that particular place.

Year wise distribution of the research articles.

Categorization of the articles according to place.

Fig. 5 helps to distribute the articles according to the type of process in the healthcare organization they target, namely medical processes, management processes and general processes. Further, the articles are also divided according to the place they have focused on. It is evident from the Fig. 5 that comparatively less articles have addressed the medical processes. Most of the research studies conducted in the developing nations were empirical, as depicted in Fig. 6 . Whereas, there is a gap when it comes to exploratory studies and conceptual studies. This trend is significant because, if in a particular country there are less exploratory studies carried out, than the problems unique to that particular country won’t be decomposed. So, there must be an exploratory study to demonstrate the simple and feasible solution. The researchers need to devise new concepts and address the problems which are still not solved yet, while targeting not just one organization but the whole nation. For an example, Sreeranga Bhatt et al 2014 [73] implemented the LSS methodology using DMAIC in a hospital, similarly some other researchers have successfully implemented LSS in one or in some cases up to five hospitals. But this successful research work method cannot be applied to all the hospitals, as all have their own unique problems.

Characteristics of articles according to process.

Research category in developing nations.

3.1. Implications and future opportunities

After analysing the articles included for the current study, some areas or topics were found which lacked in terms of research. Moreover, these can be taken as future opportunities for the research scholar and the healthcare professionals to work on. Healthcare practitioners may be able to identify fields that need more study and, as a result, better strengthen their organizations. The following are the topics which will set direction for future research:

• 1. Medical process: More study is needed to apply the LSS approach in order to minimize defects and wastes associated with surgical procedures such as therapies and operating rooms. The majority of studies were found to be either for managerial processes or were conducted aiming the whole organizational structure.
• 2. Continuous improvement culture: After the implementation of the LSS approach, healthcare managers must be motivated in developing a continuous improvement philosophy in order to sustain the gains made and identify potential prospects. As per the research done by the authors, no studies were found to address this topic.
• 3. Sustainability: It is important to understand environmental factors as well, as the healthcare industry generates bio hazardous wastes that harm the ecosystem. LSS can be integrated with green technologies to have a sustainable improvement framework.
• 4. Supply chain: As evident during the pandemic, the supply chain of the healthcare sector was not quite effective and ready for these kinds of uncertain situations. But the bad times always gives a lesson, and hence it is the best time to reflect on the problems and build an LSS framework which can help even during pandemic.
• 5. More research work is required in developing nations. Moreover, most of the studies were conducted in India, very less aimed at other developing nations like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.
• 6. Most of the studies in the developing nations were empirical in nature, more conceptual and exploratory are required. Because these types of studies have the potential to address the unique problems for each individual country. As each country has their own policies and rules, which could produce a challenge for a LSS model which was successful in other nation.

There is a need for improving the performance of healthcare organizations. These organizations faced a lot of difficulty during the corona virus pandemic. Therefore, to avoid such situations in future it has become very critical for the healthcare managers to implement the process improvement methodologies like Lean Six Sigma. Moreover, the managers and their staff are motivated to implement LSS to reduce the defects and wastes related to medical processes like during the surgeries and in operation theatres. After the initiation of LSS methodology, the healthcare managers need to create a continuous improvement culture in their organization, so as to maintain the improvements done and find new opportunities. Lastly, the healthcare professionals and managers need to consider the environmental aspects too, as healthcare sector has bio hazardous wastes which has damaging effects on environment. Lean Six Sigma can be combined with green methodology in order to deal with this [98] . The integrated green lean six sigma could become an effective booster to enhance the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of a particular organisation. Therefore, the management of the healthcare organizations are motivated to implement this method to develop their organization in a sustainable manner [99] . Yet, it is evident that still the journey for LSS implementation in the healthcare sector is a long way ahead, especially for the developing nations.

4. Conclusion

Healthcare is a very crucial and complex sector, it involves several departments, and a failure in one department may have a negative impact on patient's care. It was also evident during the pandemic due to the Covid-19, that we need an operational excellence in healthcare operations. Lean Six Sigma is a methodology which can reduce wastes and variation in an organization with the help of lean and six sigma tool set. Lean Six Sigma is a well-established methodology, mostly used in the manufacturing sector [100] . However, in the past decade it is being extensively used for the non-manufacturing industry also, like the service sector. There has been a shift in number of studies being conducted according to place. The researchers have acknowledged the gap, when it comes to developing nations, and the number of studies conducted has increased for these nations [101] . Present study shows that till, in healthcare sector, LSS is mainly limited in management of operations, and more research is needed in eliminating waste and defects in surgical and operation theatre activities. Furthermore, guidance should be provided to the healthcare professionals on how to create a continuous improvement culture, and then sustain the environment and the improved processes. Researchers are working tirelessly in order to make the healthcare organizations perfect and efficient, so that everyone's life can be improved. Indeed, it is the healthcare sector on which we are dependant for life support.

5. Limitations

An exhaustive systematic literature review was conducted for the present study. The major limitation of this study is that during the exhaustive literature review a number of articles were filtered out which are in language other than English, not related to the healthcare sector, not using the LSS methodology, and not yet published. As a result, a very clear scenario of LSS in the healthcare sector might not be presented. Secondly, the study has not included a LSS framework which can guide the healthcare professionals to implement the LSS methodology in their organizations, but this can be a part in a consecutive paper.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Rajeev Rathi: Supervision, Conceptualization, Resources, Writing - review & editing. Ammar Vakharia: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Validation, Writing - original draft. Mohd. Shadab: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Validation, Writing - original draft.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma

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Applying lean six sigma methodology to a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility: a case study.

1. Introduction

2. materials and methods, 2.1. loss identification, 2.2. loss stratification, 3. project selection.

• Within the packaging area line being reviewed, tablet feed issues are the highest cause of downtime within the short stop category.
• The impact is 335 h of downtime over a 4-month period at an average 20 h per week with an upward trend observed in downtime for tablet feed of which one fifth (72 h) is being contributed by packaging line C80/2.

3.1. Team Creation

3.2. problem solving, 3.3. problem-solving approach, 3.4. coating department, 3.5. refined problem statement, 3.6. analysis of robustness of the tablets.

• It will take 2 years to implement a change as a 2-year stability reference will need to be established for dissolution for regulatory authorities.
• Increased hardness affects dissolution time. As can be seen below in Figure 18 , an increase of 1 KP to the product SKU 10C821 (currently at 10 KP) will mean the tablet product will fail on dissolution testing. An increase to 12 KP ensured over 50% sampled failed batch testing for dissolution of the tablet.

3.7. Benefits Realization and Results

3.8. future value stream map.

• Product backlog into the packaging area reduced by 84%
• The cycle per batch improved by 8.3%.
• The line changeover time reduced by 25%
• The line availability improved by 11%.

3.9. Roll out and Share

4. conclusions.

• The project demonstrated the benefits of implementing change through effective and structured problem solving by eliminating downtime, improving product flow, reducing backlog, eliminating product wastage, increasing productivity and ultimately enhancing customer experience by reducing the backlog for the product to leave the factory.
• This project successfully utilized the Lean Six Sigma methodologies to determine root causes and implement corrective actions. This resulted in eliminating the problems under investigation without negatively impacting manufacturing cost, production time or product quality.

Author Contributions

Institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Byrne, B.; McDermott, O.; Noonan, J. Applying Lean Six Sigma Methodology to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility: A Case Study. Processes 2021 , 9 , 550. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030550

Byrne B, McDermott O, Noonan J. Applying Lean Six Sigma Methodology to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility: A Case Study. Processes . 2021; 9(3):550. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030550

Byrne, Brian, Olivia McDermott, and John Noonan. 2021. "Applying Lean Six Sigma Methodology to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility: A Case Study" Processes 9, no. 3: 550. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030550

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Lean Six Sigma for the automotive industry through the tools and aspects within metrics: a literature review

• Critical Review
• Published: 22 November 2021
• Volume 119 , pages 1357–1383, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Iris Bento da Silva 1 ,
• Marcio Gonçalves Cabeça 2 ,
• Gustavo Franco Barbosa 3 &
• Sidney Bruce Shiki 3  

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Nowadays, the automotive industries seek to consider increasingly higher standards of competitiveness. This sector is looking for a proper management methodology to solve a given problem in its kind of organization. In this sense, continuous improvement is essential for any business environment, due to provide conditions for getting excellence levels. Based on this strategy, the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) appears as an option to be applied. Although Lean was originated in the automotive industry, systematic review about Lean Six Sigma in this industry has a lack of research, considering tools and aspects within metrics. For that, the objective of this work is to carry out a literature review on the implementation of Lean Six Sigma in the automotive industry. The databases adopted for this research were Web of Science and Google Scholar, resulting in 69 selected articles. The results indicated that the implementation of this methodology contributes to the continuous improvement process and problem-solving in the automotive branch.

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da Silva, I.B., Cabeça, M.G., Barbosa, G.F. et al. Lean Six Sigma for the automotive industry through the tools and aspects within metrics: a literature review. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 119 , 1357–1383 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08336-0

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Logistics Services and Lean Six Sigma Implementation: A Case Study

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Vol. 7, n.3, pp.324-342, 2016

28 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2021

Leopoldo Gutierrez

University of Granada

Sander de Leeuw

Vu university amsterdam.

Date Written: 2016

Purpose: This paper analyses the application of Lean Six Sigma framework for supporting continuous improvement in logistics services. Both the lean philosophy and the Six Sigma methodology have become two of the most important initiatives for continuous improvement in organizations. The combination of both alternatives - Lean Six Sigma (LSS) - brings significant benefits for companies applying this method and its influence in logistics services can be relevant. Design/methodology/approach: A case study on the logistics services of a large consumer electronics company is performed. In this sector, high quality in logistics services is crucial. Using within-case and cross-case analyses, the paper discusses the implementation of LSS in two internal logistics processes. Findings: The paper identifies important implementation aspects when applying LSS to logistics services, such as continuous improvement structure, strategic analysis, crossfunctional teams, and process management. Furthermore, the paper discusses the potential in logistics services of the DMAIC approach and tools like VSM, SIPOC and Process Mapping. Practical implications: The paper analyses two logistics processes where LSS has been applied – a payment process and a request-to-ship process. The analysis of both processes offers relevant information about organizational implementation in a logistics services environment, about process improvement and about the use of LSS tools. Originality/value: Firstly, this paper addresses the gap in literature about LSS and logistics’ activities. Furthermore, the case company, with more than 9.000 employees and distributing its products to more than 100 countries, constitutes a valuable source of information to obtain insights in the implications of implementing LSS in logistics services.

Keywords: Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement, logistics service, case study, supply chain

JEL Classification: M11

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Leopoldo Gutierrez (Contact Author)

University of granada ( email ).

Granada, Granada 18071 Spain

Sander De Leeuw

Vu university amsterdam ( email ).

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Research Papers related to Lean Six Sigma and Operational Excellence

ILSSI is committed to education and research. This section is devoted to communicating research papers related to Lean Six Sigma and Operational Excellence.

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Professor Jiju Antony,  Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

Professor Antony is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (UK), Fellow of the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), Fellow of the Institute of Operations Management (FIOM), Fellow of the American Society of Quality (FASQ), Fellow of the International Lean Six Sigma Institute (ILSSI).  He has recently been elected to the International Academy of Quality.

Leadership characteristics for Lean Six Sigma

Alessandro Laureani & Jiju Antony

In this paper, we explore the relation between Leadership and Lean Six Sigmadeployment in organisations: as leadership has been identified as a critical success factor for Lean Six Sigma deployment in organisations, this paper sets out to determine the characteristics of leadership that are more conducive to a successful implementation.

Critical failure factors of Lean Six Sigma

There are 34 common failure factors of LSS cited in this paper. There are some common factors for failure, such as a lack of top management commitment and involvement, lack of communication, lack of training and education, limited resources and others. Many gaps and limitations are discussed in this paper and need to be explored in future research.

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What is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma combines the best of lean manufacturing with Six Sigma process improvement principles to help companies minimise waste and maximise quality. Want to find out more? Read our guide.

Reviewed by Karl Ralph, Technical Support Engineer (August 2024)

If you want to reduce waste in your business and make processes more efficient, Lean Six Sigma can help. This business improvement methodology combines the best of lean manufacturing with Six Sigma process improvement principles to help companies minimise waste and maximise quality. Want to find out what Lean Six Sigma is and how it works? Read on.

Lean Six Sigma Definition

What is Lean Six Sigma? We can turn to the American Society for Quality for a definition: “Lean Six Sigma is a… philosophy of improvement that values defect prevention over defect detection. It drives customer satisfaction and bottom-line results by reducing variation, waste, and cycle time, while promoting the use of work standardization and flow, thereby creating a competitive advantage. It applies anywhere variation and waste exist, and every employee should be involved.”

Simply put, Lean Six Sigma combines the focus on waste reduction that is the essence of lean manufacturing with Six Sigma’s relentless focus on reducing variation and controlling processes effectively. By improving processes, the methodology makes a business more efficient and profitable.

Six Sigma vs Lean

What’s the difference between lean and Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a data-driven method for eliminating defects in manufacturing that was developed at Motorola more than 40 years ago. The aim is to create manufacturing processes that are near perfect – or to be specific, limited to 3.4 defects per million opportunities for a defect. Six Sigma employs a framework – define, measure, analyse, improve, control (DMAIC) – that improves manufacturing processes by eliminating variation.

When it comes to Six Sigma vs lean, lean manufacturing principles focus on waste reduction and continuous improvement rather than eliminating defects. Lean and Six Sigma are nonetheless highly complementary.

Six Sigma vs Lean Six Sigma

Measurement using Six Sigma is different from Lean Six Sigma in that it focuses purely on quality (the elimination of defects in the manufacturing process). By contrast, Lean Six Sigma focuses on not only quality but also waste reduction and continuous improvement.

Learning Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is fun and challenging to learn and can help drive major improvements in your business. There is a wide range of Lean Six Sigma training courses out there. Some of the key elements of these courses include:

Lean Six Sigma Principles

Training will introduce you to Lean Six Sigma principles. These include the traditional principles of Six Sigma’s DMAIC framework: define, measure, analyse, improve, and control . These principles can be understood as:

• Define . Decide what problem you want to solve.
• Measure . Determine how the process is currently performing.
• Analyse . Understand what’s causing the problem.
• Improve . Implement a plan to resolve it.
• Control . Once an improvement has been made, sustain it.

A lean and Six Sigma approach will also incorporate elements of lean manufacturing principles. While Six Sigma has a firm eye on defects, lean is about reducing waste and making processes more efficient. The engineer implementing lean hopes ultimately to be able to do much more with fewer resources, while serving customers better than ever.

Like Six Sigma, lean has five principles at its heart. These begin with ‘value’ – creating as much value for the customer as possible while also boosting profits for the manufacturer – and ‘mapping the value stream’ – analysing the entire lifecycle of the product from design through to disposal at end of life and identifying any means possible of reducing waste.

The other three key lean manufacturing principles are: ‘flow’; establishing a ‘pull system’; and ‘perfection’. Flow is about making the manufacturing process as smooth and efficient as possible, which helps to reduce time to market. Practitioners of lean recognise that disruptions to production flow are expensive, so lean aims to eliminate any disruption. Establishing a pull system, meanwhile, means manufacturing when there is demand for the product rather than manufacturing in response to a forecast, which may prove to be inaccurate. Rather than stocking a lot of unused inventory or creating products that are then just stockpiled, pull manufacturing is efficient because only resources that are needed are used.

Finally, much like Six Sigma, lean sets the bar very high when it comes to overall performance: the aim is continuous improvement for a ‘perfect’ process. This culture of continuous improvement in manufacturing is known as a ‘Kaizen’ approach. The aim with lean is always to eliminate waste and continue to eliminate waste – from transportation and inventory to time, quality, and human resources.

Lean Six Sigma Phases

Using the DMAIC Lean Six Sigma methodology provides the five key phases of a Lean Six Sigma project. Some companies also employ a preliminary ‘recognise’ phase to ensure that DMAIC is the right approach to the problem.

Lean Six Sigma Belts

Lean Six Sigma certification comes in the form of Lean Six Sigma belts. These are colour-coded in the manner of martial arts belts: white, yellow, green, black, and master black. White, yellow, and green belts represent beginner and intermediate levels, which focus on learning the basic Lean Six Sigma tools and then using them on a project. The black and master black levels are more time-consuming to attain and add leadership, mentoring, and coaching abilities for Lean Six Sigma programmes.

Also as in martial arts, attaining one Lean Six Sigma belt provides the foundation for the next. Where Lean Six Sigma differs is that it is also possible to start at black and move on to master black belt. This may be appropriate for people who have experience of lean manufacturing or quality and are comfortable with using statistics for quantitative analysis. Either way, there is a huge range of organisations out there providing Lean Six Sigma certification and training.

Implementing Lean Six Sigma

Implementing Lean Six Sigma can be challenging. It’s important there is buy-in from management for a Lean Six Sigma programme. It’s also important to train the employees involved in Lean Six Sigma methodology, whether that’s at white belt, green belt, yellow belt, or black belt level. Ideally, there should be awareness of the project throughout the business, and everyone should get involved.

Lean Six Sigma Examples

Lean Six Sigma principles can be applied to business in any industry, not just manufacturing. Examples of programme successes might include reducing time to market for the production of wind turbine blades, cutting downtime caused by problems with an IT system, or reducing defects in welding in an oil and gas application.

Adidas has reportedly cut manufacturing times by 30% by implementing Lean Six Sigma techniques. Lean Six Sigma is also being used in education, government, the military, healthcare, retail, hospitality, and many other sectors to improve processes, productivity, and profitability.

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma include:

• Cutting costs . Less waste in the business means lower costs. For example, only producing what is needed when it is needed is more financially prudent than churning out products to meet a hypothetical forecast.
• Reducing waste . Optimising processes helps to both identify sources of waste and decrease waste within the business. That’s especially beneficial at a time when resources are under pressure and sustainability is a key goal.
• Improved productivity . Lean Six Sigma not only helps reduce waste but also helps establish more effective manufacturing processes, which in turns means better productivity.
• Elimination of errors . Because Lean Six Sigma includes Six Sigma’s focus on quality and reducing variation in manufacturing, it’s possible to entirely eradicate errors in production.
• Better quality . Improved quality of product is a fundamental aim of Lean Six Sigma, so manufacturers adopting a programme can expect to iron out any problems in production that are affecting the quality of the final product.
• Improved employee engagement . Employee engagement can also be boosted. Employees often find the quest for continuous improvement motivating.
• Enhanced profitability . Companies that successfully adopt Lean Six Sigma should make more money.

Lean and Six Sigma have come a long way from their original origins in manufacturing. Combining the benefits of both is helping companies to improve performance, cut waste, and eliminate defects.

If you haven’t considered the benefits of Lean Six Sigma for your manufacturing, now’s a great time to start.

The 5S Pillars of Lean

5S is a lean method that encourages employees to improve their working conditions by reducing waste, unplanned downtime and in-process inventory. The 5S pillars are the following: 

• Sort : Focuses on separating required and unnecessary items from the workplace and removing anything that’s not needed. An example of sort is ‘red tagging’, which involves placing a red tag on any surplus items.
• Set in order : This step can only be done after unrequired objects have been removed and involves developing practical and efficient solutions to mark and arrange goods in a way that makes them easy to store and find.
• Shine : After the clutter has been removed and remaining items have been organised, the next step is to give the work area a thorough clean.
• Standardise : Once the first three steps have been implemented, now it’s all about maintaining these standards, ensuring that a consistent approach to tasks is followed.
• Sustain : The final step is to sustain. This equates to making a habit of carrying out the correct procedures on a regular basis.

Did you know RS stocks a huge range of systems for storing inventory efficiently? Explore our range here . 

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