By Mark D. Harris
As small businesses, churches and other small religious organizations strive to be more effective and more efficient in providing goods, services, pastoral care, and social support, process improvement principles such as Lean Six Sigma can help. Such tools are not only for manufacturers.
Introduction
Company X, which manufactures widgets, has retained Consulting Firm Y to find and eliminate a process bottleneck. In the words of the company, their product “takes less than 4 hours of actual prep/manipulation (stamping, carving, refining, etc.)/assembly/finishing, and yet the time from entry of all the raw materials to the ship date is 3 months.” Resources and customer demand are adequate. We will look at Lean, Six Sigma, and the combination thereof, Lean Six Sigma. A focus on lean, the elimination of waste, is appropriate for this case.
Consultant’s Assessment and Recommendations
Lean Six Sigma (LSS), including lean (which reduces waste in an organization) and six sigma (which aims to reduce process defects) are proven methodologies for continuous process improvement (Sreedharan V. et al., 2018, 3481). Waste includes defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, inefficient transportation, excess inventory, unnecessary motion, and extra processing (Purdue University, 2020). LSS would be an effective approach to ascertaining what Company X’s bottleneck is and how to fix it.
The process outlined by LSS is 1) define, 2) measure, 3) analyze, 4) improve, and 5) control (DMAIC) (George et al., 2005, 1). Defining the problem includes reviewing the project charter, validating the voices of the customer and the business, considering financial and mapping and communicating the business process under examination (George et al., 2005, 5). Experienced employees may be a deep well of information, and no employee should leave or retire without an exit interview.[1]
Measuring the problem requires developing a value stream map, identifying and then quantifying inputs, outputs, and process variables (George et al., 2005, 9). In a church, processes like hiring new staff, handling the money, and taking care of physical repairs should be examined. The vast amounts of data generated by modern businesses can assist in finding bottlenecks, especially when using adjuncts such as machine learning, but add complexity to the LSS process (Gupta et al., 2019, 949). Towards the end of the Measure step, many organizations identify and address “quick hits,” problems that can be quickly and easily solved (George et al., 2005, 9).
Analyzing the problem involves calculating the process cycle efficiency against applicable benchmarks, analyzing the process flow and the data collected during the Measurement step, generating hypotheses to explain potential causes, and collecting additional information to test these new hypotheses (George et al., 2005, 13). Eliminating the bottleneck requires developing, evaluating, selecting, and optimizing the best solutions to the problems identified earlier in the DMAIC cycle (George et al., 2005, 15). Pilot studies are appropriate at this stage, followed by an evaluation of the pilot results and implementation of solutions proven to work (George et al., 2005, 15). During the last step, Control, Company X and Consulting Firm Y would develop supporting methods and documentation to support the solutions as implemented, complete and monitor implementation, audit results, and finalize the project (George et al., 2005, 18).
The issue for Company X is a long interval from receiving the raw materials for the widget through manufacturing the widget to shipping the widget. This implies a significant amount of wasted time. Company X did not complain of high rates of product failure or customer dissatisfaction on the basis of poor quality. Since lean primarily eliminates waste and six sigma aims to reduce supply chain and manufacturing variation and so improve product quality, a lean focus is appropriate (Purdue University, 2020).
Conclusion
Using the LSS DMAIC for continuous process improvement, with an emphasis on lean (waste reduction), Company X, with the assistance of Consulting Firm Y, will produce great improvements in operations and financial results. This discussion has identified steps in the LSS DMAIC process, and distinctions between Lean, Six Sigma, and LSS (George et al., 2005). It has addressed the eight types of waste to be eliminated by Lean.
References
- George, Michael L, David Rowlands, Mark Price, and John Maxey. 2005. The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook : A Quick Reference Guide to Nearly 100 Tools for Improving Process Quality, Speed, and Complexity. Mcgraw-Hill.
[1] The exit interview asks why the person is leaving, if they need anything as they depart, what their primary thoughts and feelings are about the organization, and what they would do to make it better. Some will have checklists and other documents which will help their replacement.
