The Lean Six Sigma Guide to Doing More With Less: Cut Costs, Reduce Waste, and Lower Your Overhead

by Mark O. George

Praise for The Lean Six Sigma guide to Doing More with Less"At Frito Lay, we have applied many of the concepts and tools in this book, and we are realizing a five to seven times return on our annual Lean Six Sigma investment."
--Tony Mattei, Lean Six Sigma Director, Frito Lay

"Ecolab has experienced a sustainable, competitive advantage through Lean Six Sigma. The principles in this book are helping us drive greater value for our share-holders, better service for our customers, and talent development opportunities for our associates."
--Jeffrey E. Burt, Vice President and Global Deployment Leader, Lean Six Sigma, Ecolab

"This book gives excellent insights into Lean Six Sigma and its strong impact within different industries. We used Lean Six Sigma in numerous process improvement projects, which, in turn, helped to create momentum and set up a process improvement culture. Amid a challenging economic environment, we are accelerating this initiative globally."
--Satheesh Mahadevan, Directeur des Processus, Societe Generale

"Our Lean Six Sigma deployment of the concepts and tools described in this book is transforming our business--with tangible benefits for our employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders."
--Jeffrey Herzfeld, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA

"We have deployed the holistic Lean Six Sigma strategy described by Mark George across our enterprise. It is providing remarkable returns for Unum."
--Bob Best, Chief Operating Officer, Unum

""The Lean Six Sigma Guide to Doing More with" "Less" presents a comprehensive view of operations transformation, the approaches required for success, leadership's role, and the competitive advantage that results. Transformational changes are enabling us to do more with less, by investing and working smarter."
--Ted Doheny, President and COO, Joy Mining Machinery

Genres: Management, Business, Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2010

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it a good read to get a handle on what Six Sigma is and how to use it. The book is written by members of a consultant company, using their case studies.

The first section of the book was the most useful to me. It explained core Six Sigma (I guess pureists would insist I say "Lean Six Sigma", but I don't care). That was the section I learned the most from. As the book went on, it was more about applying Lean Six Sigma to business problems that I'm already familiar with from other studies. I started to skim through these sections, as a lot of them were review for me.

[Pjbhaumik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark O. George’s “The Lean Six Sigma Guide to Doing More with Less” described successful Lean Six Sigma methodology and techniques. The Lean Six Sigma methodology had been yielding substantial returns for many companies during the mid to late 1900’s. George’s book investigated some of those past successes as well as some failures and the necessary corrective actions. George coalesced examples with anecdotes, remediation of the basics, and progressive applications not found in the popular text, Thomas Pyzdek’s Six Sigma Handbook. Many Lean Six Sigma practitioners first learnt of DMAIC and DMADV from Pyzdek’s book, but George’s book emphasized the relationships amongst multiple projects. Project execution took a backseat to project selection because most transformations could not manifest in a single project. True transformational improvements in ROI came from a program of projects. Each project developed the basis for the next in the program. Project selection became no longer a matter of singular novel applications but an intentional succession towards a desired end state. ROI worked as George’s recommended metric for the end state. Eliyahu Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints complemented George’s work and ROI as a suitable metric. Classical Lean Six Sigma found rejuvenation in George’s modern business context.

Metric selection is often a very challenging part of Lean Six Sigma execution. There exists a countless number of financial and operational metrics. George’s book prescribes ROI as the fundamental metric and treats other metrics as behavioral magnifiers. They magnify the behavior in question but alone do not drive the analysis or control phases. ROI analyses during the DMAIC process ensures that its practitioners breakeven and reap profits as soon as possible. The book covers example applications of P/L margin, Economic Profit, balance sheet, cycle efficiency, and other metrics. Each example illustrates a measurement that serves as the basis for an improvement, but the comparison amongst various improvements still requires an ROI analyses. Two different computers, for example, execute the same tasks within the same time, so they appear the same in terms of cycle efficiency. If they cost different amounts, however, then the one with the higher ROI deserves a preference. An exception occurs in the event that an initial project of low ROI provides the necessary stage for a subsequent project of higher ROI. Series of projects lead to transformations. Every “Measure” phase includes an opportunity for analysis of ROI so that the most lucrative actions emerge foremost.

Transformations shape the future of businesses for many years. Each transformation affects a company’s market position, asset allocation, and overall competitive outlook. A transformation represents a serious undertaking. Alignment and buy-in amongst stakeholders not only internal to the company but also external becomes necessary for success. If a transformation yields faster and smarter manufacturing, then the supply chain must adapt, so it sustains the increased throughput. Customers, during a transformation, discover new choices in deployment strategies, and other Product Lifecycle variables scale in different proportions. The transformative effect accelerates the adoption of certain goods and services, and they, in turn, yield the basis for the next transformation. Actuation of a transformation requires deliberate preparation. Project definition extends beyond the single project and addresses the project’s role in the transformation. Not all projects within a transformation must promise high ROI as long as the overall transformation’s ROI remains maximal. Certain projects fit into a transformation because of the stakeholders that they incorporate into the process. More substantial projects then progress based on these new found relationships. Many people must work together in concert for a successful transformation, and George’s book provides several case studies that exemplify the justification for this axiom.

The anecdotes and case studies, within George’s work, span everything between excerpts from small consultations to synopses of large business transformations. George utilizes real outcomes from failed and successful Six Sigma programs, so the method seems more relatable and less abstract. Techniques such as root cause analysis, WIP caps, ROIC, and project selection involve theoretical fundamentals that with George’s practical examples appear feasible. They present real world difficulties where businesses need the correct interpretation and execution of the DMAIC process. Also supportive of this holistic approach is the various business facets that George draws examples from for discussion such as Human Resources, Marketing, Engineering, and Finance. Anyone from any organizational component has a capacity for Lean Six Sigma. Opportunities exist everywhere. One of George’s case studies recounts a successful Lean Six Sigma permeation into the roles for all employees. Similar scenarios for periods of low market demand become a company’s revenue stream as a pervasive Lean Six Sigma program improves diluted operations. Retention of more employees means that the business still has trained people ready for future periods of increased market demand. Lessons from this case study and others create George’s framework, so every theoretical point has substance and relevance.

“The Lean Six Sigma Guide to Doing More with Less” by Mark O. George will meet the needs of anyone who seeks advanced Lean Six Sigma applications. Lean Six Sigma should be a component of every business. The benefits of proper execution shall help transform businesses with their markets, so they can keep pace with the changes. Customers might change their demands with increased frequency because new technologies are emerging and competition is increasing. Case studies and anecdotal examples from George’s book could help people make the transformations necessary towards sustainable business practices. Businesses of the future will be systems of people who will interact and adapt themselves. They will seek efficient methods of business. Lean and agile businesses shall offer the scalability and flexibility needed as customers require more variety and immediacy. Responsiveness to market shifts would be difficult without the “Control” phase. Control, in Lean Six Sigma, can keep the output of a process observable for analysis of its fluctuations, so people may re-define their objectives and re-iterate the DMAIC/DMADV process. Each iteration of Lean Six Sigma can be different and concurrent deployments will become necessary for important transformations, and George’s book will be a great reference.

[muhammedallia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a novice to the Six Sigma world, so some of the chapters and equations were lost on me because they expected a base level familiarity with the tools and graphs. However, this was very "readable" and had great examples of how the action plans can go well or common mishaps that could occur. I would have given it a 4 star review, but there are a few typos and the layout of the graphs and tables is not great.