Masonry Magazine June 2006 Page. 42
BUSINESS THEORY
Six Sigma vs. Lean Six Sigma
WHILE SIX SIGMA methodology aids in increasing the
quality of a service or product, Lean Six Sigma methodol-
ogy aids in increasing the speed and reducing the cost to
provide the service or product. While Six Sigma can stand
alone as a business strategy, Lean Six Sigma is best incor-
porated with implemented Six Sigma methodologies. In
other words, a mason contractor may want to increase
tional version by bringing additional tools and methods to
the mix.
"The two methods are very complimentary," Monroe said.
"Imagine trying to make a process Lean with the requisite low
in-process inventories when that same process has a high level
of defects throughout. The task then goes from difficult to
impossible. In order to succeed, both Lean and Six Sigma
improvement methods must be applied to the process."
A mason contractor may want to increase
speed and reduce costs, but he or she will need to
tackle any issues of quality first.
speed and reduce costs, but he or she will need to tackle
any issues of quality first.
According to Dennis J. Monroe, a vice president spe-
cializing in business performance improvement at the
Juran Institute, which provides a wide range of training
and consulting services designed to improve overall busi-
ness performance, Lean Six Sigma differs from the tradi-
Over the past five years, both methodologies have seen an
explosion of books published covering their topics, which
will only help to elevate the interest in Six Sigma and Lean as
more business leaders become immersed in the published
materials now being made available. Each year, however,
books published on the topic of Six Sigma consistently out-
pace Lean by a wide margin.
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40 Masonry
June 2006
www.masoncontractors.org