An Enhanced Business Management System Using Lean and Six Sigma Tools

A framework for level-five organization creation

Lean, lean Six Sigma, total quality management (TQM), and other techniques have helped companies improve processes through the execution of projects. However, much of these efforts have resulted in siloed process improvements that don't benefit the enterprise as a whole.

To illustrate this point, consider an organization that spends a lot of resources and time improving manufacturing operations at a particular plant only to find that an executive decision was made to close that plant. Executives made this choice because the plant’s financials were unsatisfactory; however, if the situation were examined more closely, the plant had excess capacity relative to current product demand. The overall enterprise constraint was sales and marketing, which should have been the focus of concentrated process improvement efforts, rather than manufacturing.

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Comments

What's wrong with ISO 9001?

Great stuff, but aren't you re-inventing the wheel? LSS tools don't stand alone except as academic exrecises. They can expedite ongoing performance iimprovement only in the context of a closed loop management system there to hold the gains. ISO 9001 describes the minimum requirements for such a system. Why do we need another?

Forrest, I think we really

Forrest,
I think we really need to understand why companies experience 'siloed process improvements that don't benefit the enterprise organization'. Based on my experience, it has more to do with the culture of the organization rather than the methodology they are following.

Sandra Gauvin
http://CurrentQuality.com.

Six Sigma Marketing

I would urge anyone dealing with this issue to take a look at Six Sigma Marketing. SSM is a structured fact - based approach for growing market share in targeted product/markets by providing superior value. It uses a modified DMAIC process that does not identify projects until the Analysis stage after enterprise benefits have been identified. This process automatically aligns improvements (people, product and process) with organization goals that focus on growth.

Check out the Six Sigma Marketing blog on sixsigmaiq.com or Six Sigma Marketing: From Cutting Costs to Growing Market Share by ASQ's Quality Press.

Eric