The 5 key principles of Lean

The 5 key principles of Lean, as explained originally by the MIT group ( Jim Womack et al ) after 5 years and $5 million in research of the Toyota Production System. They are of course 1. Identify Value to your customer of your service or product 2. Understand your value-stream 3. Implement 'pull' or JIT in your value stream 4. Create Flow in your value-stream 5. Strive for perfection in your processes with continuous improvement. Students of Lean Six Sigma are required to understand these 5 key Lean principles and the methods, tools and techniques required to achieve them.

Are we heading in the right direction ? Good Performance Measurements are key !

Defining and using the correct Key Performance Indicators, better known as KPIs,  is vital to the success of any organization.    It is impossible to run a Lean Six Sigma program in your company without defining and using the correct KPIs.

The right KPIs are 'the compass' that shows you if you are heading in the correct direction as an organization.

I was recently introduced to someone who understands this better than anyone.  She is an author and thought leader in the field of Performance Measurement, and her name is Stacey Barr.

Stacey's new book is well worth a read for any company attempting a Lean Six Sigma transformation.

Practical Performance Measurement: Using the PuMP Blueprint for fast, easy, and engaging KPIs ( 2014).

So I asked Stacey what are her tips for defining and using the correct KPIs ?

This is what she says:

1.   Avoid the BAD HABITS of Performance measurement:

• measuring activity rather than results (and using milestones rather than true measures of performance)
• writing objectives and goals with vague, weasely words like effective, efficient, sustainable, reliable, quality, and so on
• filling reports with overly complex gauges, dials, and graphs, and tables and commentary that contains more information than is necessary to get the point across.
• interpreting performance by comparing this month to last month

2.   Implement your 8 Step strategy for Performance measures:

STEP 1: Understanding Measurement’s Purpose in your organization

STEP 2: Mapping Measurable Results

STEP 3: Designing Meaningful Measures

STEP 4: Building Buy-in to Measures

STEP 5: Implementing Measures

STEP 6: Reporting Performance Measures

STEP 7: Interpreting Signals from Measures

STEP 8: Reaching Performance Targets

Stacey Barr is a specialist in organisational performance measurement and creator of PuMP, the refreshingly practical, step-by-step performance measurement methodology designed to overcome people’s biggest struggles with KPIs and measures. Learn about the bad habits that cause these struggles, and how to stop them, by taking Stacey’s free online course “The 10 Secrets to KPI Success” atwww.staceybarr.com/the10secretstokpisuccess.

Design for Lean Six Sigma : 2 day introduction course

Lean Six Sigma Training Ltd ( UK ) now offers a 2-day introduction course to DFLSS,  Design for Lean Six Sigma.  This training is critical for moving the concepts of Lean Six Sigma from existing process improvement and into new product development and new process development.   The course is built upon the ICOV ( Identify, Characterize, Optimize, Validate ) methodology as set out by Kai Yang in his seminal work 'Design for Six Sigma : A Roadmap for Product Development, 2008. When businesses incorporate DFLSS into their product development processes, not only do they find payoffs in quality, cost and customer satisfaction, but productivity ( throughput ) also improves.   Case studies published by Ford Motor Company, GE Aircraft Engine and Bombardier show that they acheived up to 50% less waste ( as defined by Taiichi Ohno in his '7 wastes' )  by building DFLSS into their upstream design for new product and process development.

The Lean Six Sigma methodology is enhanced in DFLSS with tools such as Genichi Taguchi’s concepts of the Quality Loss Function and Robust Design.  Genrich Altshuller’s TRIZ (a Russian acronym for “theory of inventive problem solving”) and Nam P. Suh’s axiomatic design are also key tools in DFLSS which are covered in the DFLSS 2-day training class.

Numerous case studies show that DFLSS methods, tools and techniques can make order of magnitude improvements in waste reduction, variation reduction, productivity and ultimately customer satisfaction in the products and services produced.

See ICOV roadmap below.

New 'Excellent' status on TrustPilot

Excited to announce that we just made the 9 out of 10 'Excellent' grade onTrustPilot.com based on feedback from our students.www.trustpilot.com/review/www.lean6sigmatraining.co.uk

Quality Function Deployment and Design for Six Sigma

A nice clear example of a 'House of Quality' (HOQ) which is the primary tool used in the methodology of 'Quality Function Deployment' (QFD) used for the design of new products and services. This particular QFD is showing the Customer Requirements for a Village Volvo Car Sales service. Analysis shows that Training is the most important function to meet customer requirements ( score of 127 ) and also shows comparison with other Volvo dealer. For more training on QFD sign up for our 2-day Design for Lean Six Sigma class ( DFSS ).