My Mom does not know Lean or Six Sigma…….

I was attending one of the training program on Six Sigma where one gentleman from sales (no offence please J ) said sarcastically… “These methodologies have just been hyped…My mother never learnt six sigma but she makes perfect chapatis (Indian Bread) from so many years.. Same size Same shape every time..…”

Well, our mothers did not learn Lean or six sigma but what they followed is what we call principles of Lean, Six sigma or some other tools / methodologies we are yet to discover J They learnt it from their mother and over a period of time mastered the art of it!!!

To summarize, six sigma or lean or any other process improvement tools is more of a common sense to be applied in a systematic way. Most of us apply it in our daily lives (believe me!!). We just have to follow it in our workplace as well. Some examples of it that we come across in our daily lives are as follows

1. Setting alarm clock so as to not miss the early morning flight (sometimes we put multiple alarms to avoid the chance of missing it first time ..It is called Mistake proofing)
2. Look around your house, everything is kept at its place and everything has a place (we call it 5S).. Thanks to our Mom!
3. Preparing of list before going to grocery shop so as to not miss picking the required stuff( Again mistake proofing..isnt it !)
4. Calendar in every kitchen to mark the absenteeism of house maid, to mention the date when you started the cow milk from dairy and many more…perfect example of Visual Management & eliminating wastage of time

Do you have any examples to share….. J