Why eventually Lean and Six Sigma efforts cannot be sustained

Don't get me wrong.

Lean is a tremendous filosofy of more profit using less resources. Less is more.

And the right use of tools like Value-Stream mapping, Quick change-over (SMED) or Total Productivity Maintenance (TPM) cannot be underestimated. Stronger, each company should embed lean thinking in every operation and apply these tools where they can be value-adding.

Six Sigma is a wonderful concept too.

If you want to fix a process, first make it predictable. Listen to the process first. Analyze symptoms and root causes based on data. Identify the steady state or work towards a stable system. Then like a doctor, apply the remedy that will really make a difference in performance. The one way that will align the Voice of the Process with the the Voice of the Customer. Performance driven by Customer specifications and data. Powerful. Simple. And Scientific. No arguing.

Original thinkers thought best way to embed processes in an organization was via documentation. Hence the ISO Quality movements preaching quality via documents and creating a living for lots of junior consultants creating huge piles of documents.

Then tools for Business Process Management (BPM) were invented. Rather than paperwork, flow diagrams are now kept in huge databases which can be administrated by Process Analysts and governed by Process Owners. Main advantage is the versioning and comparison of processes can be centrally maintained while leaving the local experts to map and document their parts of the processes. Additionally, these tools offer embedded training modules, making process training much more dynamic. A SAP module can now have a dynamic screen set to train the users embedded in the application. Great progress.

But the great gap these tools could not bridge so far is how to adjust the systems and software to optimize these processes.

How to apply lean and six sigma on information flows. In the information age, flexible processes depend from flexible IT systems. A changed process is only as optimal as the support the underlying sofware provides to the user. And optimal systems must be continuously improved to stay optimized.

Nowhere is that more obvious than in Supply Chain Management. Agile supply chains need agile and integrated planning concepts. Such a system takes forever to build. As business planning integrates more and more functions and departments.

We planned production in sites with Material Requirements Planning (MRP), then Distribution with Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP), then Supply Advanced Planning Software (APS).

The next race is to embed financial planning, marketing planning, sales planning and product creation planning to the existing planning systems landscape.

Planning workflows to drive execution and processes.

Welcome the age of eBusiness design.