lean Six Sigma

Better Together

W
hich is better: lean or Six Sigma? The question is absurd, yet it
Combining lean is often debated among continuous improvement professionals.
and Six Sigma Through a simple classroom or group demonstration, participants
can gain an understanding of the advantages of lean and the advantages of
leads to Greater Six Sigma. More importantly, however, they will see how beneficial it is when
lean and Six Sigma work together.
Success Lean and Six Sigma can exist separately, but the benefits of bringing
them together are tremendous, such as the alignment of an organiza-
tions resources and the creation of a single improvement strategy. If kept
separate, the disadvantages are just as great: Employees are sent confusing
messages for improvement, and competition is established for continuous
improvement resources.
Six Sigma can improve the effectiveness of a system by optimizing it and by
reducing process variability. Lean can improve the efficiency of that system by
stabilizing work in process (WIP), reducing inventory and eliminating waste.
A traditional process includes so much WIP that the people involved have
no idea where to look for problems. Consider a process in which a large
amount of WIP must account for a process with lots of variability. In this
process, some imaginary work (or value-added processing) is accomplished
By Lloyd C. at each of four work stations.
The stations are in series, so A must complete its task before B can
Patterson, Master perform its task. Each station draws from a bufferor inventoryof goods
located just before it in the flow. Variations at each station, such as defects
Black Belt, ITT and downtime, cause output levels to vary.
Communications The process flow (see Figure 1) works like this:
1. The buffer at each work station and the warehouse starts with 16
Systems items. Each area draws from its buffer of items. Items sent or pushed
to the next station are not available until the next day.
2. Receiving sends seven items to the buffer of the first work station each
day.
3. The number of items each station completes is based on the roll of
a pair of dice. The number rolled is the amount of items sent to the
buffer of the next station.
4. The last station moves a certain number of items to the warehouse,
again based on the roll of the dice.
5. Shipping sends seven items each day from the warehouse to the cus-
tomer.
The customer expects seven items per day. Because the roll of two dice
results in seven more than any other number, each station will move an aver-
age of seven units. Items can be represented by poker chips or other small
items that are easily stacked and counted. Round one requires 150 items.

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 B e t t e r T o gether

Figure 1. Round one process flow

Traditional manufacturing company

Buffer of 16 Buffer of 16 Buffer of 16 Buffer of 16 Warehouse

16 items Customer
ice

ice

ice

ice
Available

Available

Available

Available

Available
day

day
d

d
wo

wo

wo

wo
per

per
of t

of t

of t

of t
en

en
Sev

Sev
Sum

Sum

Sum

Sum
Receiving Station A Station B Station C Station D Shipping

Round one How much WIP do we have at the end?

Probably about the same.
To simulate the first day, start with the shipping What is the PCT?
department delivering seven items to the customer Estimated to be 11 to 12 days.
from the warehouse. Then move upstream, and have
Station D roll the dice and send that many items to Was the customer satisfied?
the warehouse. Next, have Station C roll the dice, Probably, because full deliveries should happen.
sending that many items to Station D. Continue the How many items were delivered?
process upstream until receiving delivers seven items 7 items per day x 10 days = 70.
to Station A (from an imaginary supplier). This com- Using a flip chart (see Table 1), keep track of the
pletes day one. answers for all three rounds. Typically, the buffers are
Run the factory for 10 days. The actual class time it large enough at the beginning of the first round that
takes for one day will shorten as the students get more the customer receives seven items per day. Even with
familiar with the simulation. Make sure everyone is a low number being rolled occasionally, the process
on the same day. This can be accomplished by having keeps up with demand.
everyone roll their pair of dice simultaneously.
Remember, items sent or pushed to the next station Round twolean applied
are not available until the next day. But the dice may
call for more than what is in a particular buffer. If that There is a very good chance that the customer was sat-
happens, push all that can be moved, and that marks isfied in round one and received each days delivery.
the end of the day.
Have a piece of paper with 10 squares so the custom- Table 1. Flip chart example
er can keep track of the daily deliveries. Remember,
customer demand is seven items per day. Process Work in Process Units
cycle times (PCT) can be calculated or measured by process cycle time delivered
placing a uniquely colored item at the very beginning End of
of the process at Station A and by maintaining first-in, round one
first-out at each station. End of
round two
Ask the following questions:
End of
How much WIP do we have at the beginning?
round three
16 items x 5 locations = 80 items.

s i x s i gma f or u m maga z i n e I MAy 2009 I 11

Better Together

Figure 2. Round two process flow

Lean applied

Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Warehouse

8 items Customer
dice

dice

dice

dice
Available

Available

Available

Available

Available
day

day
wo

wo

wo

wo
per

per
of t

of t

of t

of t
en

en
Sev

Sev
Sum

Sum

Sum

Sum
Receiving Station A Station B Station C Station D Shipping

At that point, there is a great temptation to reduce What is the PCT?

WIP and inventory to free up cash and floor space for Estimated to be five to six days.
the business. But forcing WIP reduction too quickly Was the customer satisfied?
in the name of lean would be a disaster. Lets cut the Probably not, because deliveries fall short.
WIP in half and run the process again.
Run the factory for 10 days with one changebegin How many items were delivered?
with a WIP of eight items at each station (See Figure 2). Because WIP was cut, the process encounters prob-
How much WIP do we have at the beginning? lems (large variability), and deliveries are not met.
8 items x 5 locations = 40 items. While this forces immediate quick fixes in the real
world (such as overtime, expedited material and dis-
How much WIP do we have at the end?
ciplining employees), the purpose of this exercise is
Probably about the same.
to simulate fixing the root problemreducing vari-
Figure 3. Variability using standard dice ability.
Variability is reduced through the vigorous use of
Six Sigma, which is applied to the worst problem
25
Mean 7 until it is no longer the worst, then attacking the next
Standard 2.449 worst and so on until the lean goal of reducing WIP
deviation
20 is attained.
Number 36
We are using standard dice to inject variability into
the process. Each die has an equal chance of having
Frequency

15
the numbers one through six displayed. Together,
they can display two through 12, with seven being
10
most likely. That should keep deliveries at seven items
per day, but a low roll cant always be compensated
5 for if the buffers begin small and variability is high
(see Figure 3).
0
But what if we used a custom set of dice at each
2 4 6 7 8 10 12 station (see Figure 4)? The custom dice only work
Result of rolling two dice when properly paired. One needs to have four sides

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Figure 4. Process for customizing dice

Custom die Custom die

Four sides of three dots Four sides of four dots
Standard die Two sides of four dots Two sides of three dots

Existing dot
Existing dot removed
New dot added

with four dots, and the other needs to have four sides
with three dots.
This can be accomplished by placing the correct
pair in a clear plastic case large enough to roll the dice
in or by using multi-colored dice so matching colors
create a correct pair.
To remove dots, use a small drill to clean out the
paint. Drill a small indentation, and use paint to add
new dots.
Together, the custom dice (see Figure 5) will pro-
duce a total of six, seven or eight. The number seven
is most likelymatching customer expectationbut
variability is greatly reduced (see Figure 6).
Round threereduce variability
For the final round, run the factory for 10 days, but
start with a WIP of eight items at each station and use
the custom dice, which reduce variability (see Figure
7, p. 14).

Figure 5. Custom dice Figure 6. Variability using custom dice

25
Mean 7
Standard 0.6761
deviation
20
Number 36
Frequency

15

10

0
2 4 6 7 8 10 12
Result of rolling two dice

s i x s i gma f or u m maga z i n e I MAY 2009 I 13

Better Together

Figure 7. Round three process flow

Lean and Six Sigma applied

Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Buffer of 8 Warehouse

8 items Customer
dice

dice

dice

dice
Available

Available

Available

Available

Available
tom

tom

tom

tom
day

day
cus

cus

cus

cus
per

per
wo

wo

wo

wo
en

en
Sev

Sev
of t

of t

of t

of t
Sum

Sum

Sum

Sum
Receiving Station A Station B Station C Station D Shipping

How much WIP do we have at the beginning? Other combinations could be created and used
8 items x 5 locations = 40 items. to make different points. The distribution could be
How much WIP do we have at the end? further tightened, with one die having five sides with
Probably about the same. four dots and the other having five sides with three
dots. The mean could be shifted by altering the dice to
What is the PCT? have sides with four and five dots, effectively increas-
Estimated to be five to six days. ing capacity.
Was the customer satisfied? Regardless of the approach taken, this hands-on
Probably, but deliveries might fall short. exercise is an effective way to illustrate the power of
How many items were delivered? lean and Six Sigma working together.
Notes
Discussion points
This demonstration is an expansion of the one created by John McCon-
nell that illustrates one of the most vital quality principlesthe fundamen-
Round three doesnt always result in 100% delivery. tal importance of minimizing variation.
An animated and shorter version called The Dice Experiment can be
If it doesnt, should we allow more WIP or tighten found in PQ Systems Quality Game Box.
the variability even more? The answer is whichever is Special thanks to Atomic Hobbies & Games, the source of the standard
dice.
economically more feasible. In some cases, tighten-
ing the process variability is a small investment in
process changes or new equipment, and the items
being produced are expensive. Other times, the cost
of the items is small compared to the cost of variability
reduction, and larger buffers make more sense.
Should Six Sigma or lean be applied first? Lean can
lead Six Sigma in implementation, but they must be
applied together, with Six Sigma used to attack prob- What do you think of this article? Please share
lems and lean to combat waste. What will happen if
your comments and thoughts with the editor by e-mailing
just Six Sigma is applied? The financial advantages of
reduced WIP and improved PCT will not be realized. godfrey@asq.org.

14 I MAY 2009 I WWW.ASQ.ORG