Sadiq Malik, director of business development for BCT Global, says Lean and Six Sigma are a good combination because Lean deals with speed, efficiency and waste, and Six Sigma deals with defects and quality.
Malik will speak at the ITWeb Lean Six Sigma event taking place on 10 and 11 June at the Sandton Sun.
According to Malik, the difference between Lean and Six Sigma is that Lean provides tools to reduce the lead-time of any process and eliminate non-value add cost. Six Sigma provides tools and techniques to measure process deviation and reduce defects.
“Lean is an important complement to Six Sigma and fits well within the Six Sigma DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve, control) process,” he explains.
Malik says the processes in all companies must become faster and more responsive to customers, achieve Six Sigma capability and operate at world-class cost. "Only the combination of Six Sigma and Lean can fulfil all three goals.”
He adds that businesses need both Lean and Six Sigma principles and tools to drive improvements in ROI and achieve the best competitive position.
Lean Six Sigma is a way to better identify problem areas, whether it is activities with high defect rates or those with long set-up times, or downtime.
“The combined effect of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma has led to improvements in product quality (98% reduction in errors) and turnaround time (50% reduction),” he says.
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