I’m a huge proponent of both Six Sigma and lean manufacturing. I’ve been teaching the tools used in Six Sigma for more than 15 years, and I make a portion of my living from consulting and training in these areas.

However, Six Sigma and lean manufacturing are business improvement processes that should be viewed to be part of a continually improving quality management system (i.e., ISO 9001). Six Sigma and lean are not replacements for your quality system; they must be fully integrated into your quality system to make them more effective.

As more companies embark on a Six Sigma, lean manufacturing or lean Six Sigma journey, they either forget about their ISO 9001-registered quality system or bypass building a quality system altogether. ISO 9001 seems to be losing steam as Six Sigma and lean are gaining in popularity. In fact, according to the American Society for Quality, attendance at the annual ASQ Six Sigma Conference has increased from 223 attendees in 2002 to 333 in 2004, whereas attendance at the annual ASQ ISO 9000 Conference had less than half the number of attendees (152) in 2004.

Why is this happening? One possibility, at least for those who are ISO 9001:2000-registered, is that companies haven’t seen the positive financial impact of being registered. Now they are looking at the latest craze to bring home the returns.

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