Table of Contents
To Jeannie, who was there with me every step of the way while writing, editing, and assembling this book.
Neil DeCarlo
Dedicated to my grandmother, Helen Albert, who recently passed away, just four months after her 100th
birthday. She is one of my heroes, and her memory always will bring a smile to my face. Tom Jones
Thanks to my wife, Anita, for supporting my career decisions landing me in Six Sigma, and to my
daughter Holly and son Adam, who confirmed that 10-year-olds can apply these techniques better than
some engineers. A special mention goes to Doug Rausch for proving that breakthroughs can happen in a
week using these tools. Don Wilson
Written only with the loving support and patience of my wife Chihiro, daughter Reina, and son Rio.
Chris Hodges
Introduction
You may have picked up this book because your company is adopting Lean Six Sigma and you want to get a leg up. Great! Youre ambitious and on the ball. Or you might be considering a career path as a Lean Six Sigma leader or practitioner. All the better. Maybe youve already been trained as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Champion and want to keep a simple reference on hand.
Youve come to the right place. Yes, you, too, the small business owner with 12 employees. Use this book to get them all proficient in Lean Six Sigma thinking. Apply some of the principles and tools in your own way to benefit your customers and your business.
Lean Six Sigma is a systematic approach to making your organization betterright where it counts, in your day-to-day work and processes. If you dont buy into this, and instead prefer the chaos of shooting from the hip, read no further. But if you want to discover the difference between average and world-class organizations, this book will go a long way to help.
First, we give you the concepts and principles of Lean Six Sigma. We believe those who plan and execute change initiatives need to be intelligent about what theyre doing. Its not enough to just do things. Youre best off when you know why youre doing what youre doing, and what purposes are driving you.
Second, we give you road maps, because road maps provide grounding and structure. If you are executing a Lean Six Sigma project, or deploying a Lean Six Sigma initiative throughout your organization, this book shows you the process to follow. (Of course, you can adjust and make detours if necessary.)
Third, we give you tools. The directions wont mean anything if you dont have the skills and tools you need to get there. So within the structure of a road map for doing Lean Six Sigma, we give you the most common tools (and only the most common) youll need.
View the principles of Lean Six Sigma as your best friend. Look at the road maps as guides, not gospel. Know that the tools are only the most commonly used ones. With this in mind, we hope youll experience the value of this book as a clear, concise primer and reference. Nothing more and nothing less.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is presented in four sections:
Part 1, Understanding Lean Six Sigma, is a general overview of the methodology. While not a suspense novel, its pretty interesting to know the history of Lean and Six Sigma and how they found each other in matrimony. Aside from that, we take the complexities of Lean Six Sigma and spell them out for you. What specifically is waste and inefficiency? Where does it hide in organizations? How can you root it out? Why do you have to perform at a Six Sigma level of no more than 3.4 defects, or errors, per million opportunities? That sounds crazy. Cant you just be good 99 percent of the time instead of 99.9997? No matter who you are or what your role is in an organization, read this part to get your brain set in the right place.
Part 2, Defining and Measuring Performance, is the first of two parts covering the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) project execution road map. What is your process and whats wrong with it? What exactly needs to improve and by how much? How can you translate that need into a project charter? You get all the details here, and tools you can use. Primarily for the Lean Six Sigma practitioner, and secondarily for the Lean Six Sigma leader, this part gives you the skinny on defining projects and measuring performance (first two phases of DMAIC). If you have a good background in statistics and industrial engineering, or are one heck of a smarty, you can use this part as a guide to completing the Define and Measure phases. But dont be surprised if you need more resources or training, especially if your process is more technical or complex.
Part 3, Analyzing, Improving, and Controlling Processes, covers the latter three phases of the Lean Six Sigma project execution road map (DMAIC). What process factors (methods, people, machines, etc.) are responsible for your poor performance or excess process variation? How do you know whats wrong and what, exactly, you need to change? These seem like simple questions, but theyre not, especially in organizational environments. This part of the book, like the last, is also for the practitioner first and the leader second. It brings you into the deep end of the statistics pool. Maybe you cant touch the bottom, but at least you have the courage to get in there. With the help of Lean Six Sigma analytics, youll end up with the very best improvement to your process. Then youll be delighted to do what wise people do: ensure that your new and improved process stays the same, for a long time.
Part 4, Leading Lean Six Sigma Initiatives, is about organizational change, in step-by-step fashion, but not to the extent of a detailed cookbook. No, you cant turn off your mind and lead Lean Six Sigma. But you can take heed and learn about whats worked before. When do you implement Lean Six Sigma, and when do you pursue some other approach? On what business metrics do you focus? Who is responsible for meeting financial targets for the initiative? Try rolling Lean Six Sigma out to six different countries speaking three different languages, and operating at more than 600 locations worldwide. If that proposition doesnt sound interesting to you, skip this part. If it does, then you were born for leadership. So by all means, build your infrastructure for change, drive it, empower it, and enjoy the satisfaction that only widespread change can bring.
Things to Help You Out Along the Way
Throughout this book youll encounter sidebar messages with interesting, concentrated content. Read these to get the Lean Six Sigma edge. They will definitely make you smarter and keep you from making unwanted mistakes.
Lean Six Sigma Lingo
To be proficient, you need to speak the language. Weve highlighted all the Lean Six Sigma terms you need to know. Go ahead and impress your co-workers and bosses by learning the Lean Six Sigma lingo!
