Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six Sigma is the integration of the two most powerful business management practices which are immensely popular worldwide. Two different management principles, 'Lean' and 'Six Sigma' combined together find wide-scale application in almost all major business processes.
Lean Processing
The ultimate aim of Lean Processing is to completely eliminate waste from the process. In a Lean Enterprise, the aim of eliminating waste is extended through all the firms that are involved in the supply of a product or service to a customer. It is often argued that eliminating this waste is the greatest potential source of improvement in corporate performance and customer service.
What is meant by Waste?
Seven forms of waste are often pinpointed and these are:-
- Overproduction - Producing too much, too soon resulting in poor flow of information or goods and excess inventory.
- Defects - Frequent errors in paperwork, product quality problems or poor delivery performance.
- Inappropriate Processing - Using the wrong set of tools, procedures or systems often when a simpler approach may be more effective.
- Waiting - Long periods of inactivity for people, information or goods resulting in poor flow and long lead times.
- Unnecessary Inventory - Excessive storage and delay of information or products, resulting in excessive cost and poor customer service.
- Excessive Transportation - Excessive movement of people, information or goods resulting in wasted time, efforts, damage, deterioration and cost.
- Unnecessary Motion - Poor workplace organisation, resulting in poor ergonomics e.g. excessive bending or stretching and frequent lost items.
Value Stream Maps or Value Chains
A value chain is often used to help identify waste. A value chain requires us to recognise that only a small fraction of the total time and effort in any organisation actually adds value for the end customer. A value chain map is a visual tool to help define Value for a specific product or service from the end customer’s perspective. By building a Value Chain Map, all the non-value activities - or waste - can be targeted for removal step by step.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a disciplined program or methodology for improving quality in all aspects of a company’s products and processes. The primary concept is to define quality metrics CTQ’s (Critical to Quality) that are important to a customer and then understand the relationships between the inputs to the product or process and the outputs (metrics).
DMAIC
The Six Sigma DMAIC process methodology is a system that brings measurable and significant improvement to existing processes that are falling below specifications. The DMAIC methodology can be used when a product or process is in existence at your company but is not meeting customer specification or is otherwise not performing adequately.
DMAIC is an acronym for five interconnected phases:
- Define the project goals and deliverables for both internal and external customers
- Measure the process to determine current performance
- Analyze and determine the root cause(s) of the defects
- Improve the process by eliminating defects
- Control future process performance
Simulation can be one of the most valuable Lean Six Sigma Software Tools
Simulation is just one of the many Six Sigma software tools used during an initiative; however it is one of the most important. Within the analyze and improve stages of the DMAIC methodology, simulation is a powerful software tool because of the following value and benefits it provides: 
- Simulation takes into account process variances, uncertainties and interdependencies
- Simulation can test many alternative solutions quickly and easily
- Models can be developed with little risk and no disruption to existing processes
- Simulation takes the subjectivity and emotion out of decision making
- Animation features make simulation a good tool to help sell others on the best solutions
- Reusable models encourage continuous improvement
- Impact on upstream or downstream customers/operations/processes can be considered