Lean Six Sigma For Dummies

Maximise the quality and efficiency of your organisation with Lean Six Sigma Are you looking to make your organisation more effective and productive? If you answered "yes," you need to change the way it thinks. Combining the leading improvement methods of Six Sigma and Lean, this winning technique drives performance to the next level—and this friendly and accessible guide shows you how. The third edition of Lean Six Sigma For Dummies outlines the key concepts of this strategy and explains how you can use it to get the very best out of your team and your business. The jargon-crowded language and theory of Lean Six Sigma can be intimidating for both beginners and experienced users. Written in plain English and packed with lots of helpful examples, this easy-to-follow guide arms you with tools and techniques for implementing Lean Six Sigma and offers guidance on everything from policy deployment to managing change in your organisation—and everything in between. Gives you plain-English explanations of complicated jargon Serves as a useful tool for businesspeople looking to make their organisation more effective Helps you achieve goals with ease and confidence Provides useful hands-on checklists Whether you want to manage a project more tightly or fine-tune existing systems and processes, the third edition of Lean Six Sigma For Dummies makes it easier to achieve your business goals.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used In This Book 3 Beyond This Book 3 Where to Go From Here 4 Part I: Getting Started with Lean Six Sigma 5 Chapter 1: Defining Lean Six Sigma 7 Introducing Lean Thinking 7 Bringing on the basics of Lean 8 Perusing the principles of Lean thinking 14 Sussing Six Sigma 14 Considering the core of Six Sigma 14 Calculating process sigma values 17 Clarifying the major points of Six Sigma 20 Chapter 2: Understanding the Principles of Lean Six Sigma 23 Considering the Key Principles of Lean Six Sigma 23 Improving Existing Processes: Introducing DMAIC 25 Defining your project 26 Measuring how the work is done 32 Analysing your process 32 Improving your process 33 Coming up with a control plan 33 Reviewing Your DMAIC Phases 34 Taking a Pragmatic Approach 37 Part II: Working with Lean Six Sigma 41 Chapter 3: Identifying Your Customers 43 Understanding the Process Basics 43 Pinpointing the elements of a process 44 Identifying internal and external customers 45 Getting a High-Level Picture 47 Drawing a high-level process map 48 Segmenting customers 52 Chapter 4: Understanding Your Customers’ Needs 53 Considering If You Can Kano 53 Obtaining the Voice of the Customer 55 Taking an outside-in view 55 Segmenting your customers 56 Prioritising your customers 57 Researching the Requirements 58 Interviewing your customers 60 Focusing on focus groups 61 Considering customer surveys 62 Using observations 63 Avoiding Bias 64 Considering Critical To Quality Customer Requirements 65 Establishing the Real CTQs 69 Prioritising the requirements 70 Measuring performance using customer-focused measures 71 Chapter 5: Determining the Chain of Events 73 Finding Out How the Work Gets Done 73 Practising process stapling 74 Drawing spaghetti diagrams 76 Painting a Picture of the Process 78 Keeping things simple 79 Developing a deployment flowchart 80 Constructing a value stream map 84 Identifying moments of truth 93 Part III: Assessing Performance 95 Chapter 6: Gathering Information 97 Managing by Fact 97 Realising the importance of good data 98 Reviewing what you currently measure 98 Deciding what to measure 99 Developing a Data Collection Plan 100 Beginning with output measures 100 Creating clear definitions 102 Agreeing rules to ensure valid and consistent data 102 Collecting the data 105 Identifying ways to improve your approach 107 Introducing Sampling 108 Process sampling 109 Population sampling 110 Chapter 7: Presenting Your Data 117 Delving into Different Types of Variation 117 Understanding natural variation 118 Spotlighting special cause variation 119 Distinguishing between variation types 119 Avoiding tampering 119 Displaying data differently 120 Recognising the Importance of Control Charts 121 Creating a control chart 122 Unearthing unusual features 123 Choosing the right control chart 126 Examining the state of your processes 127 Considering the capability of your processes 129 Additional ways to present and analyse your data 133 Testing Your Theories 136 Chapter 8: Analysing What’s Affecting Performance 139 Unearthing the Usual Suspects 139 Generating your list of suspects 140 Investigating the suspects and getting the facts 142 Getting a Balance of Measures 143 Connecting things up 144 Proving your point 145 Seeing the point 147 Assessing your effectiveness 150 Part IV: Improving the Processes 155 Chapter 9: Identifying Value-Adding Steps and Waste 157 Interpreting Value-Added 157 Providing a common definition 158 Carrying out a value-added analysis 159 Assessing opportunity 161 Looking at the Seven Wastes 161 Owning up to overproduction 162 Playing the waiting game 163 Troubling over transportation 163 Picking on processing 164 Investigating inventory 164 Moving on motion 165 Coping with correction 166 Looking Beyond the Seven Wastes 166 Wasting people’s potential 167 Going green 167 Considering customer perspectives 168 Focusing on the Vital Few 169 Chapter 10: Discovering the Opportunity for Prevention 171 Keeping Things Neat and Tidy 172 Introducing the Five Ss 172 Carrying out a red-tag exercise 173 Using visual management 174 Looking at Prevention Tools and Techniques 178 Introducing Jidoka 178 Reducing risk with Failure Mode Effects Analysis 179 Error proofing your processes 181 Profiting from Preventive Maintenance 183 Avoiding Peaks and Troughs 184 Introducing Heijunka 184 Spreading the load 185 Carrying out work in a standard way 186 Chapter 11: Detecting and Tackling Bottlenecks 189 Applying the Theory of Constraints 189 Identifying the weakest link 189 Improving the process flow 190 Building a buffer 192 Managing the Production Cycle 193 Using pull rather than push production 193 Moving to single piece flow 194 Recognising the problem with batches 195 Looking at Your Layout 195 Identifying wasted movement 195 Using cell manufacturing techniques 196 Identifying product families 197 Chapter 12: Introducing Design for Six Sigma 199 Introducing DfSS 199 Introducing DMADV 200 Defining What Needs Designing 201 Getting the measure of the design 202 Analysing the design 202 Developing the design 204 Verifying that the design works 204 Choosing between DMAIC and DMADV 205 Considering Quality Function Deployment 206 Clarifying what these houses and rooms are all about 207 Undertaking a QFD drill-down 217 Making Decisions 218 Part V: Deploying Lean Six Sigma 221 Chapter 13: Leading the Deployment 223 Looking at the Key Factors for Successful Deployment 223 Understanding Executive Sponsorship 224 Considering Size 226 Introducing the Deployment Programme Manager 227 Starting Your Lean Six Sigma Programme 229 Understanding What Project Champions Do 231 Chapter 14: Selecting the Right Projects 233 Driving Strategy Deployment with Lean Six Sigma 233 Generating a List of Candidate Improvement Projects 234 Working Out Whether Lean Six Sigma Is the Right Approach 237 Prioritising projects 239 Using a criteria selection matrix 240 Deciding on which approach fits which project: Doing the work right 242 Setting Up a DMAIC Project 243 Chapter 15: Running Rapid Improvement Events 245 Seeing Rapid Improvement with Kaizen or Kai Sigma Events 245 Understanding the Facilitator’s Role 248 Planning and preparation 248 Running the event 250 Following up and action planning 252 Creating a Checklist for Running Successful Events 252 Chapter 16: Putting It All Together 255 Working Your Way through DMAIC 256 Defining Where You’re Going 256 Looking at the outputs from the Define phase 257 Being prepared: Typical questions the team needs to address in Define 258 Considering typical questions the champion needs to ask in Define 260 Getting the Measure of Things 260 Checking the outputs from the Measure phase 261 Noting some typical questions the team needs to address in Measure 262 Recognising typical questions the champion needs to ask in Measure 263 Analysing the Data to Find the Root Cause 264 Checking the outputs from the Analyse phase 264 Examining typical questions the team needs to address in Analyse 265 Examining typical questions the champion needs to ask in Analyse 266 Quantifying the Opportunity 267 Applying Solutions in the Improve Phase 267 Checking the outputs from the Improve phase 269 Eyeing typical questions the team needs to address in Improve 270 Noting typical questions the champion needs to ask in Improve 272 Confirming the Customer and Business Benefits 273 Implementing Standardising and Controlling the Solution 275 Checking the outputs from the Control phase 275 Listing typical questions the team needs to address in Control 276 Noting typical questions the champion needs to ask in Control 278 Conducting the Final Benefit Review 279 Chapter 17: Ensuring Everyday Operational Excellence 281 Making Everyday Operational Excellence a Reality 281 Clarifying the Role of the Manager 283 Working on the process 283 Engaging the team 285 Getting Better Every Day in Every Way 287 Using the right methodology 289 Creating a culture of continuous improvement 290 Chapter 18: Comprehending the People Issues 291 Working Right Right from the Start 291 Gaining acceptance 292 Managing change 292 Overcoming resistance 294 Creating a Vision 295 Understanding Organisational Culture 297 Busting Assumptions 298 Seeing How People Cope with Change 299 Comparing energy and attitude 300 Using a forcefield diagram 301 Analysing your stakeholders 301 Focusing on key elements of change 303 Part VI: The Part of Tens 305 Chapter 19: Ten Best Practices 307 Lead and Manage the Programme 307 Appreciate that Less is More 308 Build in Prevention 309 Challenge Your Processes 310 Go to the Gemba 311 Manage Your Processes with Lean Six Sigma 311 Pick the Right Tools for the Job 312 Tell the Whole Story 313 Understand the Role of the Champion 314 Looking at the Lean Six Sigma programme executive sponsor 314 Perusing the role of the project champion 314 Use Strategy to Drive Lean Six Sigma 315 Chapter 20: Ten Pitfalls to Avoid 317 Jumping to Solutions 317 Coming Down with Analysis Paralysis 318 Falling into Common Project Traps 319 Stifling the Programme before You’ve Started 320 Ignoring the Soft Stuff 321 Getting Complacent 321 Thinking that You’re Already Doing It 322 Believing the Myths 322 Doing the Wrong Things Right 323 Overtraining 324 Chapter 21: Ten (Plus One) Places to Go for Help 325 Your Colleagues 325 Your Champion 326 Other Organisations 326 The Internet 326 Social Media 327 Networks and Associations 328 Conferences 328 Books 328 Periodicals 330 Software 330 Statistical analysis 330 Simulation 331 Deployment management 331 Mobile apps 332 Training and Consultancy Companies 332 Index 333

About the Author :
John Morgan and Martin Brenig-Jones are Directors of Catalyst Consulting, Europe's leading provider of Lean Six Sigma solutions. John works primarily in product design and development. Martin is an expert in quality and change management. Both are accomplished coaches and trainers.