Shifting the Paradigm: Lean Six Sigma Tools in Project Execution Roadmap and Business Management System

In my opinion, organizations need an enhanced system for linking process improvement efforts to the business system so that the enterprise as a whole benefits, and the best tool is used at any given time. This objective can be obtained through the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system and its roadmaps, which provide guidance to tools application not only for improvement projects but for the business as well. This blog will highlight key aspects of this tools-roadmaps-application linkage.

In Figure 1 of a previous blog, "Aligning improvement projects with business financials for whole-business benefits" , the nine steps of the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system were shown. Another way to describe this 9-step business-management system is through the tool-described-usage Enterprise Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (E-DMAIC) roadmap.

In Lean Six Sigma, improvement projects are to follow a DMAIC roadmap. The E-DMAIC step-by-step process has differences relative to process improvement project DMAIC tools application; however, within the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system there is linkage between the E-DMAIC and Project-DMAIC (P-DMAIC) roadmaps, as shown in Figure 1.

Within the E-DMAIC system, the identification and execution of whole-system-enterprise analysis leads to design or process improvement projects that benefit an organization’s overall financials. The detailed roadmap for executing this enterprise process is described in reference 1, where high-level description of this orchestration methodology is:

E-DMAIC – Define Phase: Vision, Mission, and Voice of the Customer

E-DMAIC – Define and Measure Phases: Enterprise Value Chain with Performance Measures

E-DMAIC – Analyze Phase:

o Goal Setting, Business Fundamentals, and Strategy Development

o Financial and Data Analysis

o Theory of Constraints (TOC)

o Lean Tools and Assessments

o Innovation and the Identification of Project Opportunities

E-DMAIC – Improve the Business Phase

E-DMAIC – Control the Business Phase

In the IEE P-DMAIC roadmap 2,3 ,as shown as a portion of Figure 1, some additional drill downs are included in the Measure Phase. The reason for including these additional drill-down steps is that in 1999, when publishing the DMAIC roadmap in Implementing Six Sigma (1st edition), 4 I made the decision to be consistent with GE where tool usage was to occur in the various DMAIC roadmap phases; however, in my opinion, many of the GE-measure-phase tools did not have a measurement component to their description. For example, GE included in the measure phase the tools: process flowcharting, cause-and-effect diagram, cause-and-effect matrix, and failure-mode-and-effects analysis. To me these tools were not consistent with a "measure phase" theme; hence, I created "wisdom of the organization" grouping for these tools and placed them in the overall roadmap as a drill down of the measure phase. In the 2nd edition of Implementing Six Sigma, 5 I added "Lean Assessment" to the Measure Phase drill down.

There has been much discussion about whether Lean or Six Sigma should be deployed first in an organization. I believe that both tool sets should be deployed at the same time so that there is a systematic integration of Lean and Six Sigma tools within the overall project-execution thought process. Because of this, references 2 and 3 describe execution of the IEE P-DMAIC roadmap, where in the overall Six Sigma DMAIC roadmap Lean tools have the following project-execution phase applications:

P-DMAIC – Lean Assessment: Little’s law, Observation worksheet, Standardized work chart, Combination work table, Spaghetti diagram, 5 whys, Value stream mapping

P-DMAIC – Improve: Learn by doing, PDCA, Standard work and operating procedures, One-piece flow, Poka-yoke, Visual management, 5S method, Kaizen event, Kanban, Demand management, Heijunka, Continuous flow and cell design, Changeover reduction, Total productive maintenance.

In upcoming blogs, I will sequentially progress through the application of the IEE system and its tools.

Reference:

1. Breyfogle, F. W., 2008, Integrated Enterprise Excellence Volume II – Business Deployment: A Leader’s Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard

2. Breyfogle, F. W., 2008, Integrated Enterprise Excellence Volume III –A Management and Black Belt Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard

3. Breyfogle, F. W., 2010, Lean Six Sigma Project Execution Guide: The Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Process Improvement Project Roadmap Breyfogle, F. W., 1999 Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions® Using Statistical Methods (1st edition)

4. Breyfogle, F. W., 2003 Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions® Using Statistical Methods (2nd edition)