The first question that needs asking when considering implementing (or deploying) Lean Six Sigma into an organisation is, “Why should we do this, what benefits might occur to the organisation if a Lean Six Sigma approach is introduced?” A deployment is a big undertaking for an organisation and usually involves significant investment of energy, commitment and funding. Only if there is a clear and positive answer to the “Why should we do this?” question is there likely to be the necessary support for it to be introduced.
SigmaPro advocate Five Major Stages to a deployment, the first of which, “Review” includes working out exactly how Lean Six Sigma will help the organisation.
During the ‘Review” phase, the organisation is reviewed to determine its strengths and weaknesses and to identify opportunities for improvement. We need to understand how the organisation compares to its competitors, to understand current approaches to improvement, e.g. how structured it is, what methods are used, and perhaps most importantly, how much commitment there is within the organisation to improvement in general and to a Lean Six Sigma Deployment. Does the organisation have a clearly defined Vision, Mission and Values statements, and clearly defined objectives?
Once a picture has been obtained of the current status of the organisation, we then work out how this will be different if Lean Six Sigma is introduced. What improvements there will be, and how these will bring benefit to the organisation. Higher revenue, greater profits, better dividends for shareholders and improved employee satisfaction are common. If possible these benefits are quantified financially.
Once the potential improvements have been quantified, executive commitment needs to be obtained during the “Align” stage, and the programme objectives agreed. At this point, some key decisions about how Lean Six Sigma is to be deployed should be made. With the ‘Big Bang’ approach, Lean Six Sigma is rolled out across the whole organisation at once. This approach may have its risks, but it will allow early benefits to be more widespread. With a ‘Pilot’ approach the deployment is contained within one area of the business, which allows the results to be evaluated and lessons learned prior to roll out to all areas. A third approach is for individual projects to be undertaken without attracting too much fuss, and once results have been achieved, these are used to demonstrate the methods and efficacy of Lean Six Sigma. This is called the ‘Stealth’ approach and it is sometimes recommended for organisations suffering from ‘initiative overload’.
A high‐level implementation plan needs to be created covering what will happen during the deployment. Things such as who will be involved, the number of belts to be trained, the likely duration of initial projects, budgets, communication methods and so on need to be agreed. Ideally, the organisation should set up a steering group and appoint a Champion for the programme, and ensure that executive management have a good understanding of what’s involved, and are committed to the implementation plan.
During the ‘Launch’ phase, the Black Belts and Green Belts are selected, trained, and suitable projects commenced. It is a feature of Lean Six Sigma that Belts complete projects during training, that way the learning can be immediately applied, and a return on the training investment made earlier. The steering group should track project progress and ensure resources are made available for the Belts during the projects. As the first projects are completed, the benefits obtained can be compared with those predicted during the ‘Assess’ phase. Normally, Lean Six Sigma training is carried out over 4 months, and the initial projects take a similar amount of time, but this will depend on the nature of the projects carried out. New belts will usually require on the job support from a Master Black Belt or other experienced practitioner.
Once the ‘Launch’ phase is complete, it is important that the programme continues beyond the first wave of projects into the ‘Progress’ phase. Organisational goals must be clearly cascaded down to people at all levels, and improvement activity aligned to these goals. Sharing the learnings with others in the organisation who have not been involved in the ‘Launch’ phase should be carried out. Further projects should be identified and launched, and the programme can be refined to improve its fit to the culture of the organisation. Effective deployments always consider both the technical side (tools, methods, processes) and the cultural side (stakeholders, management of the change, recognition, and communication).
The ultimate objective is for the organisation to have a sustainable approach to identifying, selecting and tackling improvements across all levels in the organisation. The three key components of project selection, people selection and project operation must be working effectively for this to happen. Larger organisations by this stage will become self sufficient, and develop some Black Belts into become Master Black Belts that are able to train and coach others within the organisation. At this stage, the ‘Sustain’ phase, the organisation should revisit the original plan and objectives and compare these to the outcomes and make any necessary adjustments to the programme. Learning can be passed on to partners within the group or supply chain, assisting them in their own journey towards excellence. Optimal performance overall can only come when all parts of the supply chain are working in unison and at close to perfection! The ‘Sustain’ phase can be said to be complete when Lean Six Sigma becomes ‘the normal way we do business!’