You have a long history with both Lean and Six Sigma. Why did you decide to blend these methodologies for your current deployment?

The tools of Lean combined with Six Sigma are better than either of them independently. They harmonize extremely well by addressing the cause of variation, as well as what slows you down in terms of speed. Also, our company wanted to launch an initiative that had 100 percent employee engagement. Lean is much more oriented to high employee involvement, where Six Sigma tends to be more Belt-driven. So, with a high employee engagement model, the company’s need for speed, agility and process variation elimination, the combination of Lean and Six Sigma provided the comprehensive tools we required to meet the needs of our business.

Do you train practitioners in both Lean and Six Sigma, or do they specialize in one methodology or the other?

Our belts all go through Lean and Six Sigma at the same time through an integrated approach. We don’t teach them as separate entities. So while they’re learning DMAIC they’re also learning Lean tools. We also do a dedicated week just on SCORE events and a dedicated week on change management techniques.

What’s the advantage to this approach?

We try to keep it simple. We don’t want people thinking they have to put different hats on depending on what they’re doing. We view it as equipping our teams with several good tools to use when addressing different problems. So if it’s a cycle time issue, you go to the tools that come out of Lean. If it’s a variation issue, you pull out the DMAIC tools.

In my opinion, you’re better off in a company not to approach Lean and Six Sigma separately. One of the things you’ll find is there are some people who grew up in industries where Lean was the tool of choice. And then there are people who come from industries where Six Sigma was the tool of choice. The reality is it really doesn’t matter. The tool is not what’s important. What’s important is the problem you’re trying to solve, and equipping the belts with the ability to pick the tool to fix what’s wrong. So what you’re doing is taking the toolbox of a traditional Black Belt and you’re enriching it with more tools to solve problems. The focus should be solving problems, not which methodology you use.

In your experience, what might prevent an organization from successfully deploying Lean Six Sigma or another improvement initiative?

Unfortunately, I think a lot of companies have leaders who’ve had negative experiences with ineffective deployments and therefore don’t support the effort. Many times, Lean Six Sigma is delegated to the belts to run, and is treated as a separate initiative – something extra to do – versus  being viewed as an enabler used by the company’s leaders to achieve their strategic initiatives.

So leaders may think, “this is a lot of extra work, it takes too long to get results, it costs a lot of money and it takes my best people away from me.” When it’s not done right, leaders aren’t supportive. And top support is key to being successful in Lean Six Sigma.

Company leaders may also be concerned about the upfront costs of a deployment and a lengthy return on investment. Does Lean Six Sigma help alleviate these concerns?

Lean Six Sigma does give you very fast return on your investment. The quick wins generate excitement in the organization. The leaders say, “This is helping me accomplish my job.” The employees feel it’s bringing value because it’s helping to make their work easier, and frankly, they love being involved and being asked to participate. The combination of high participation, seeing results that impact immediately, and solving chronic issues all fill the need for instant gratification that a lot of businesses have.

We’ve had some people say “can we just do SCORE events and skip the DMAIC?” because they are so powerful and they do achieve such quick results. That’s why we do a SCORE event in each one of our operations every month, so we’re constantly having quick wins as well as the longer, larger improvements. It keeps the momentum going while you’re also solving longer-term issues.

It sounds like you have good handle on what makes a successful program.

Thank goodness, I’ve been doing it a little while. But you learn over time. Every time you do a deployment you see why it is or isn’t successful. A lot of it is cultural barriers. There’s nothing like having quick wins and successes to overcome cultural barriers. People hear negative things about the programs either through first-hand experience or through word of mouth. And so when they see success, and they see the value it brings to their company, that overcomes all the biases they had in the past.

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Robert Crescenzi has more than 15 years of Six Sigma expertise. An early adopter of Motorola’s Six Sigma program in 1992, he led Six Sigma deployments at Norand Corporation, Compaq Computers and Standard Register before joining NewPage Corporation.