Masonry Magazine June 2006 Page. 44
BUSINESS THEORY
The difference in prominence between Six Sigma and SIX SIGMA RESOURCES: Lean may be due to the fact that Six Sigma has been able to move beyond its roots in manufacturing into other disciplines, while Lean is still largely perceived as a tool to improve manufacturing processes.
"This perception is changing as more and more businesses across the board are looking to blend the best of each methodology to accelerate their continuous improvement efforts," said Tim Noble, managing principal of The Avery Point Group, an executive recruiting firm and publisher of "Lean Versus Six Sigma... And the Winner Is?"
"Companies are increasingly realizing that these are truly complementary tool sets and not necessarily competing philosophies," Noble said.
Six Sigma for the Mason Contractor
This sounds all well and good, but Six Sigma theories are typically utilized in manufacturing, medical and financial fields. How can mason contractors use these methodologies in the construction industry? Monroe says any product-goods, services or information is the output of a process.
"A mason contractor provides a combination of goods and services to customers, plus the labor and skills required to construct a wall, building, structure or whatever is required," Monroe said. "All these processes contain features of ineffectiveness and inefficiency, higher than desired levels of defects and variation, longer than desired process times, wasteful activities, etc. These process deficiencies lead to less than a desirable fulfillment of customer expectations and, often, dissatisfaction.
"Application of the Lean Six Sigma tools and methods can help reduce these deficiencies in any process and, thereby, reduce the levels of dissatisfaction by meeting customer expectations."
Of course there are differences when using Six Sigma in a service industry rather than in a manufacturing industry, but Monroe said the differences are minute at most.
"A service is just another type of process or product," he said. "Since all products are the result of processes, Lean Six Sigma tools and methods are equally applicable. The main difference between a process, where the output is based on services provided compared to goods produced, is that measurements of process effectiveness (defects and variability) may be difficult to analyze statistically and involve more basic (graphical or logical) tools instead. The measures of efficiency (cycle time, value-added ratio, etc.), are identical."
In the end, the real winner is any company that successfully engages in some form of continuous improvement, regardless of whether it is Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma or some other well-executed approach.
"I can't think of any company that claims to be world-class that is not utilizing some form of continuous improvement approach," Noble said. "World-class status is a constantly moving target defined by both your customers and your competitors. Without a continuous improvement approach, you're not even treading water in today's global economy."