What are the most effective ways to sustain Lean Six Sigma gains?

Sustaining Lean Six Sigma gains involves leadership commitment, employee involvement, standardized processes, metrics, continuous training, celebrating successes, feedback loops, cultural integration, long-term focus, and adaptability. These practices embed improvements into daily operations, ensuring lasting impact and continuous enhancement.

Key points: 1. Training to all concerned team members. 2. Evaluation by experts. 3. Project completion and review. 4. Alignment with organization goals. 5. KPIs shall be decided to achieve Targets using lean six Sigma tools. 6. Reward and recognition effectively. 7. Development of 2nd line and 3rd line as a lean six Sigma expert.

Sustain Lean Six Sigma gains through ongoing leadership commitment, employee engagement, and standardized processes. Implement robust measurement and monitoring systems, provide continuous training, and prioritize customer focus. Conduct regular Kaizen events, recognize achievements, and maintain transparent communication. Integrate initiatives with strategic goals, emphasize root cause analysis, and foster cross-functional collaboration. Conduct regular audits, empower Lean Six Sigma champions, and remain adaptable to changing business conditions. This comprehensive approach ensures a culture of continuous improvement, driving long-term success.

Where sustainability becomes problematic starts with why an organization employs lean six sigma methodologies, whether they truly believe in the ideology and practice of continuous improvement, and how aligned leadership is in their beliefs and advocacy of these elements in supporting projects and establishing sustaining expectations. The environment must also enable the stakeholders and practioners to have the authority to influence and make the critical decisions that formulate the foundation for sustainability, much as my colleagues here have described at the tactical level. When leaders know and understand the competitive advantage of CI and LSS, you will have sustainability. Otherwise, not likely.... Thoughts?

To take advantage it needs to be rolled out "Top down". Done properly it increases workflow efficiency , identifies "unneeded" processes and ultimately creates results of great quality with very little variation ( if at all) to the benefit of customers and internal bottom line

The following are some of the ways to engage and empower your team: 1. Set Clear Expectations to your team members 2. Give them Authority & Responsibility to perform 3. Teach them people management skills 4. Review their performance once a month 5. Give Space to perform in their work 6. Appreciate them in Public 7. Do not Micromanage 8. Train them on the job 9. Do not gossip 10. Do not lie

In order to increase engagement, “self determination theory” is a key to implement. First item to focus on is autonomy. People should have chance to give their own decisions and take the responsibility. It is proved that, human being is satisfied when they are solving problems. So, you should give problems to people, instead of solving those problems for them. Competency is another important factor for better engagement. Of course, recognition and rewarding is critical step. In some cases, rewarding may have negative effect. A systematic fair rewarding is necessary, not to disturb others while improving engagement of a single employee. Doing social activities with some friends from working environment, will also help.

Drive all employee behaviour change to look for, recognise and speak- up about any problems they see across the entire enterprise. Develop all employees as habitual problem seekers and problem solvers. For any business strategy (or personal goal): No behaviour change = No success. It’s easy if you know how!

Build process improvement into you and your teams' 'day' job so it's not just something you do periodically. To help with this - use and track process metrics that give the team quick feedback as to whether the process is in control or whether it is performing - make this performance visible to the team - have daily conversations as a team to pick up issues and concerns - structure these conversations around PDCA and lean problem solving techniques daily to get to root cause and potential solutions plus track improvement

In my experience, the following steps are important: 1. Having Lean Six Sigma Dedication in the Leadership team 2. Establish an Environment of Ongoing Improvement 3. Streamline Procedures 4. Education and Talent Acquisition 5. measurements and Key Performance Indicators 6. Cross-Functional Teams 7. Management Review and Feedback 8. Celebrate Successes 9. Continuous Monitoring and Auditing 10. Customer Feedback

In my experience, if we don’t monitor the improvement and continue putting energy into the improvement, order will return to disorder. I think there is a physics law that supports this.

Remember DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and CONTROL) Measuring and monitoring your key metrics is paramount to sustaining results. No process is safe from change (planned or unplanned), by adequately and routinely verifying your key metrics you will identify issues promptly. Make sure to think about control ahead of time while developing your VSM. This will save time down the road.

La medición y el monitoreo periódico, genera en el equipo un ansia de buscar mejores resultados, generando un fuerte compromiso.

To sustain Lean Six Sigma gains effectively, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for continuous monitoring, foster a culture of accountability, conduct periodic audits, and integrate improvement methodologies into daily operations. Ensure leadership alignment, empower employees through skill development, and celebrate successes to reinforce the importance of continuous improvement.

A falta de controle em qualquer processo é um sério problema a ideia de que está tudo certo e n?o precisa de acompanhante pode levar ao fracasso tudo aquilo que se conseguiu com muito trabalho de todos. Chegar no objetivo é mais fácil do que se manter nele pois temos por natureza quando se chega no objetivo dar uma relaxada e e aí que precisa ent?o o gestor com seus controles para garantir que isso n?o ocorro é que se garanta o sucesso do programa.

Many people think Standards / Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are difficult to create and follow. No, It’s very easy to create. What is a Standard? A simple way to teach yourself and others to repeat a process again and again without variations / defects. You can list your daily activities in a sheet of paper to avoid missing out. That is a Standard. You can label things in your workplace to reduce searching. That is a Standard. Anyone can easily follow the same thing without doubts / clarifications. Benefits of Standards: 1. Teaches the Best, Easiest and Safest way to do a job 2. Measure performance 3. Preserve the knowledge / Expertise 4. Helps in Training others 5. Prevent the recurrences of the problems / defects

Unless standards are created and maintained there can be no "sustaining" of progress. Standard work acts as a wedge to keep the inevitable push of chaos from erasing the learning and best practices discovered. Without standards there is no control of the process that can be assured and the variability of a process will inevitably increase.

Standard work is one of the foundations of lean. It was drilled into me early on that without a standard process there can be no improvement. You can't improve something that isn't stabile. A mediocre standardized process that is followed regularly will provide far greater benefits than a well designed optimal process that is followed intermittently. Get operator buy-in and get a process locked down as soon as possible. I would caution against delaying implementation while everything is being fine tuned. I would also caution against developing standards without strong participation of the operator. The #1 objective is meeting the standard at all times. Once this is accomplished, then the standard can be continuously improved.

Definitions to Discipline I would also like to add my opinion here. It is very important to create the right definition in the form of Standard Operating Guidelines or Operational Instructions and following those. The leader's role is to demonstrate the right execution by self discipline and timely awareness and training to subordinates and coworkers.

Lean is based in part on standard work. I was taught early on that improvement is impossible in the absence of a regular method. What is not stable cannot be improved. A well-designed ideal process that is followed infrequently will not yield the same benefits as a mediocre standardized procedure that is followed consistently. Obtain operator support and lock down a process as soon as you can. While everything is being fine-tuned, I would advise against postponing implementation. Additionally, I would advise against creating standards without the operator's active involvement. The primary goal is to always meet the standard. The standard can then be continuously raised after this is completed.

As I mentioned in the previous one, never come to the conclusion that the absolute best method has already been discovered. There’s always a better way that’s just waiting to be found.

Generate enthusiasm. We implemented 6 sigma throughout the company. It was manufacturing in daily care products. It took us a year to train 500 people. They began to see results, the product of the projects became visible. Then, we moved to Lean 6 Sigma and began a process of continuous improvement. The result? Managers wanted to appear on billboards and internal magazines and enthusiastically submitted their ideas. I recommend always making the results visible and saying that we are not just following a trend. We were making the difference

There is no perfect operation or a perfect line. Sakichi Toyoda, the great man who started the Toyota Group, was a firm believer of Kaizen mentality and always strove to improve his textile machines. Similarly, one should look at keeping an eye on how to improve a line or a plant and develop an eye on how to locate opportunities for improvement. This needs training and self awareness. In fact it should go into the blood and must be done subconsciously without even being aware. Like, why is an operator bending and working, why is he walking so much, why a temporary makeshift tool which is not accurate being used and so on.

Leveraging Benchmarking for Continuous Improvement in Tech Industries: MultiTaction exemplifies sustaining Lean Six Sigma gains through benchmarking in the tech industry. By comparing their collaboration and visualization solutions against industry standards and competitors, they continually identify improvement areas. This approach helps eliminate waste and spur innovation, keeping them aligned with market trends and customer needs. Such proactive benchmarking ensures MultiTaction’s products not only meet but exceed market expectations, embodying Lean Six Sigma’s principles of excellence and adaptability in a fast-evolving sector.

Tambem é interessante, criar uma cultura organizacional que valorize a melhoria contínua. Envolve e encorajando a participa??o de todos os funcionários na identifica??o e solu??o de problemas, além de reconhecer e recompensar os esfor?os de melhoria.

Leader Standard Work… check because you care and appreciate people that follow the standards. In a very short time the team will realise that those who follow standards are the real super hero’s and will be coming up with ways to improve standards. This is when the real improvement magic happens!

if you want to change people's behavior, you need to incentivize them. How about if we rewarded successful project by "paying back" the team with a portion of the savings. For instance, if a project team implements a solution that will result in $1 million in hard savings over the next 12 months, then reward them with 5% ($50,000) of the savings at the one year mark. Handing out a few big checks will certainly keep people interested. Obviously, an accurate way to measure savings will be needed. Monetary incentives are not just for the sales force!

One of the most important things to make any continuous improvement scheme sustainable is: a) Recognize and accept our weaknesses. b) Identify strengths in others. c) Leave the focus on the tools and focus on the philosophy of the method. f) Leave the ego aside. g) Experience the management that we are developing. h) Avoid the use of unnecessary tools.

Acknowledge that perfect control is not possible. Drifts will occur from equipment needing calibration or from people leaving and/or coming into the team requiring training, etc. But to minimize drifts, the process owner needs to be vigilant and have checks built into the process to catch drifts beyond upper and lower control limits (determined by the data) in order to stay within the spec limits (determined by the customer).

As for every system here compliance to improved processes post success of the improvement project. Here is what can be done - updated SOP and certification of people involved with new processes - monitoring and reaction plan documented and followed - commitment from management - empowerment and appreciation for improvement suggestions to keep moving forward.