Fish or Fishes – Six Sigma vs Lean

I really wanted to call the article Potato or Potato (long “a” vs short “a”), but how would that really come across as different in text?

Anyway, seems my post about Six Sigma a week ago generated quite a bit of debate amongst my network. Some seem to be in the Lean camp, and others are all in for Six Sigma. And still I know some Quality Excellence professionals that refer to it as Lean Six Sigma. I originally came from the Manufacturing environment in the NAFTA days when cost-cutting and standardizing to eliminate waste was all the rave. And with that, I crossed both Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma… as well as some boring product designs as using common platforms and styling were the result of over standardization – but I digress.

I’ve applied Taguchi’s Design of Experiments (DOE), leaned on Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) framework, have been certified in Six Sigma (and in turn DMAIC methodology), and was entrenched in Lean Manufacturing concepts and value stream mapping processes to identify and rid it of waste.

They are all applicable as stand-alone principles, but they are even better when integrated and applied as needed. Now to think about it, maybe that’s why we’ve heard the mashup term “Lean Six Sigma” so much.

The purpose of Lean and Six Sigma both rest in iterative processes to IMPROVE VALUE =

• Reduce waste (inefficiencies, expenses, etc)

• Reduce variability (defects)

• Increase predictability (quality)

• Increase output (revenue, conversions, units, etc)

Personally there was a bit of a divergence in the second half of my career. My career shifted from being focused on manufacturing quality improvement and cost cutting projects, to a more entrepreneurial and business development top line growth mentality. With that, I have leaned (no pun intended) more toward applying the Six Sigma DMAIC concept as the baseline for my thinking. I’ve been less focused on waste reduction, and more focused on defining goals, creating systems, and getting them to a place of ready for stabilization (hence the company name Level4Growth). In my mind, full stabilization and optimization is particularly when Lean concepts will take precedence.

BUT when I am focused on new product or new process designs and implementations, I become a fan of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) concept made famous by Eric Ries in his book, The Lean Startup. So the Lean concept initially launched with a focus on reducing waste in established processes has been appropriated for iterative learning and monumental improvements in high tech product innovation.

I hope you weren’t looking for a conclusive answer on Lean vs Six Sigma, Fish vs Fishes, or Potato vs Potato. I’d recommend you stay open and apply the best methodology when necessary to achieve the greater good.

And now the floor is open the floor for your comments...