Case Study Lean Six Sigma

Question: What is Lean Six Sigma? Answer: Background, History and Emergence of Lean Six Sigma An analysis of the background concept of Lean Six Sigma indicates that it is an important concept that requires efforts of all the team members in achieving improvement over the performance by way of ensuring the elimination of waste in the process. An analysis of the history of Six Sigma indicates that the concept of Lean Six Sigma is regarded as Japanese invention and it is popularly known as Kaizen. The concept has been used for the first time 90 years ago in the United States as suggested by Peter Drucker. The Bell telephone system applied the concept of continuous improvement starting from First World War until the early 80s and this continuous improvement mechanism is applied to every one of its activities and processes. This suggests that the concept of lean sig sigma involves the achievement of continuous improvements in the organisational processes and this is achieved through the collaborative efforts from all the people as involved in performing such processes. Improvement s in productivity are the core feature that is emphasised by this concept of Lean Six Sigma (Gygi, DeCarlo and Williams, 2010). In terms of its usefulness to business, an analysis of the existing literature indicates that Lean Six Sigma is highly useful to businesses in the sense that it allows businesses in achieving customer loyalty, as they can provide quality and error free products and services to their customers. In addition to this, Six Sigma is also useful as it allows for efficient time management, reduced cycle time, employee motivation and better management of organisational processes in achieving organisational goals (The Origins of Lean Six Sigma, 2014). Analysis of One Organisation using Six Sigma There are many such case organisations that have utilised this concept of Six Sigma in performing their business processes. The example company that has been selected is Ford Motors which has been a world renowned auto making company. The company has utilised Six Sigma for the first time in 1999 whereby the company was aiming towards identifying newer ways in which the improvement over the quality factor can be achieved in a positive way. However, the application of Six Sigma concept has been performed at Ford Motors in phases, whereby the first phase involved the focus of the company towards immediate customer satisfaction issues. The company has therefore identified top 25 concerns related to customers with a view to achieving incremental performance levels. The senior management completely supported the applicability of such Six Sigma at Ford and this is then considered at the entire organisational level in achieve quality improvements (Paton, 2000). Thus, the core quality indicat ors such as improved customer service and high quality cars for its customers are positively achieved from such Six Sigma at Ford Motors. An analysis of Ford Motors making use of Six Sigma can be identified from the diagram as indicated below which indicates that focus has been towards the quality factor: The important application of Six Sigma at Ford Motor with specific indication of different important aspects related to it is presented below: (Source: Thompson, 2007). The above table indicated the performance of Six Sigma in the context of Ford Motor as compared to General Electric and the analysis indicates that Ford Motor has gained positive level of improvements in its performance as showed by the table above in respect to the financial impact on it. The company has been successful in attaining positive level of performance over a short period of time, and this suggests the attainment of higher productivity performance through the consideration of Six Sigma How Six Sigma is Continuous Improvement Method Six Sigma is regarded as continuous improvement tool because it requires positive level of support from all the members as involved in the process. Secondly, this concept requires all the members to actively participate in the process on regular basis so that the chances of defects get reduced and higher quality products or services can be efficiently achieved. Thirdly, Six Sigma is a tool for process improvement, and it could be positively applied in manufacturing organisations in achieving improvement over their processes. Fourthly, Six Sigma focuses on defects in the operation, as it emphasises on finding the root cause associated with organisations processes. As a result, once the defects are identified, the next step involves the identification of measures that resolves the issue and achieves continuous improvements in the process. Thus, Six Sigma can therefore be regarded as a continuous improvement method because it requires continuous level of efforts from all the personnel a s involved in it. References Gygi, C., DeCarlo, N. and Williams, B. (2010), Six Sigma For Dummies, John Wiley Sons. Paton, S.M. (2000). Consumer-driven Six Sigma saves Ford $300 million. Retrieved 14 February, 2015, from https://www.qualitydigest.com/sept01/html/ford.html Thompson, S. (2007). Improving the Performance of Six Sigma: A Case Study of the Six Sigma Process at Ford Motor Company. Retrieved 14 February, 2015, from https://uobrep.openrepository.com/uobrep/bitstream/10547/134955/1/thompson.pdf The Origins of Lean Six Sigma, (2014). Retrieved, 14 February, 2015, from https://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/articles/the-origins-of-lean-six-sigma/