Six Sigma is a tool for optimizing operations and is focused on statistics. The fundamental principle is that this is terrible for variety. You need continuity and predictability when running a process or supply chain. If you don’t have continuity, any proportion of your work will not benefit your clients. If you have consistency — that is, if you have a managed process — there’s a lot better possibility that the goods you’re making will be useful. Consistent workflows contribute to achieving a high degree of product consistency.
For several years now, Six Sigma and it’s close relative Lean Six Sigma have been effective methodologies for improving supply chain efficiency.
Lean Six Sigma strengthens the manufacturing operation in several respects. The emphasis of Lean on eradicating all forms of waste and Six Sigma’s commitment to removing errors helps to create a useful tool to establish continual performance change.
Six Sigma for Supply Chain Management
Supply chain optimization is, as it should have been, an ongoing task. Today’s businesses continue to search for more efficient approaches and procedures to streamline processes. For this mission, Lean Six Sigma offers an optimal framework incorporating both Lean and Six Sigma on defect avoidance. Lightweight philosophy on that and streamlining waste. Businesses worldwide have embraced the Lean Six Sigma method to improve supply chain productivity in a variety of applications.
Improve Speed
One of the most significant advantages of supply chain productivity that you can enjoy is pace enhancement by implementing Six Sigma. This is because Six Sigma is focused on ensuring that procedures are done as soon as possible and eliminating redundant systems. Six Sigma will, therefore, help you ensure your orders are put and executed quicker.
Prevent Defects
Originally designed to tackle flaws in production, the Six Sigma process reduces them below a reasonable threshold.
Any supply chain manager will take invaluable advantage of the in-depth acumen into quality management methods provided by incorporating Six Sigma best practices.
The DMAIC approach makes it much easier to determine the root cause of the defects and to refine the manufacturing process accordingly.
In this, too, lean thought has its part to play. Every complicated, time-consuming, confusing procedure leaves more space for confusion and opens up possibilities for human or technological error. This can be condensed and standardized by combining the Lean approach with the Six Sigma process analysis. This means less blame, which tends to improve quality levels and reduces the damage produced by faulty goods.
Perfect Order Fulfillment
This is reflected in the proportion of orders that achieve the delivery target with comprehensive and correct reporting and no disruption to delivery. The six Sigma approach can help optimize order fulfillment by recognizing challenges such as obsolete preparation procedures and inadequate execution mechanisms where possible. Later Lean can be used to reduce waste and increase efficiency.
Enhance Performance
The Lean and Six Sigma approaches together are ideally suited for maximizing a supply chain. These ideologies together have a common perspective on two essential facets of manufacturing: productivity and efficiency. Any level of the DMAIC / DMADV strategy is an exceptional opportunity for process optimization, problem-solving, and waste reduction.
The Lean Six Sigma approach will help supply chain administrators to ensure that each component of their production lines is defect-free and customer-oriented. By identifying their consumer base and expectations early in the DMAIC / DMADV process, companies will coordinate all their process changes to deliver differentiation to their clients.
Increase Supply Chain Flexibility
Performance in the supply chain requires a swift reaction to shifts in supply and demand across the ups and downs of market cycles, as well as through emergencies. Companies with the most flexible supply chains are the ones suited to the customer’s needs. Establishing consumer expectations that are essential to quality (CTQ) in Six Sigma’s Identify Process allows businesses to develop customer awareness and, thus, bring stability into their supply chains.
You should also checkout the blog “Six Sigma in Construction Industry” to understand the verstalie characteristics of the methodology!
Reduce Costs
The most important problem is in the form of the accumulation of goods due to cost inflation. The cost of the raw materials, the cost of shipping and supply, and the cost of work will all vary. This will take the supply chain spending seriously off track. Six Sigma will automate operations and cut prices, providing a gap between the budget and the unforeseen supply chain costs.
Zero Waste
Lean methodology to remove waste has been developed and can be described as actions that do not add value to the commodity or consumer. Lean makes supply chains work more effectively by addressing non-value-added production and removing it:
- Over-production – As a result of an optimistic outlook, generating more upstream demand results in high inventory costs.
- Transportation – Unneeded commodity transport increases to cost of production and processing time—lean aims to do away with unnecessary travel.
- Non-value added processing – preliminary design of production facilities requires extra work which does not bring much value to the commodity. Lean simplifies manufacturing to make supply chain operations more efficient.
Improve Team Member Engagement
Six Sigma allows your team members the freedom to make crucial decisions on issues about the supply chain without consulting superiors. This not only lets you make your team more independent, reducing the number of roadblocks with each decision, but it also creates buy-in for the team members, making them deliver value at a high level.
Raising Performance With Six Sigma
Finally, by guiding the business to boost efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and customer loyalty, Six Sigma will create a beneficial impact on the bottom line and enhance consumer relationships — both factors leading to increased competition and market share acquisition.
As for every principle or technique in performance improvement, Six Sigma’s success would depend on whether you will spend it implementing and maintaining it.
Early improvements can be spectacular, but they appear to tail off after choosing the lesser-hanging fruit. Continued use of Six Sigma, however, will help you chip away from inefficiencies in your supply chain, directly increase operating efficiency and promote long-term commercial development.
Understanding Lean Six Sigma for the supply chain process takes time. Enterprises looking to enhance their teams should consider training in popular Lean Six Sigma courses from an accredited training partner. Invensis Learning is an IASSC Accredited Training Partner to deliver Lean Six Sigma courses worldwide.
Some of the popular Lean Six Sigma Courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up to improve their supply chain processes are:
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification Training
