The idea of cost-cutting, under various sobriquets, is prevalent in these times, and Lean Six Sigma is attracting interest amongst companies on whose radar it may not have appeared in the past, according to Olivier Ries, Business Operations Manager at Opex Management. “We have started a collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg,” he says, “and Opex Manage­ment is a privileged member of the Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour la Qualité (MLQ),” adds Managing Director, Samuel Essaka Ekedi. So where do these methodologies come from? “The link between large enterprises and both Lean and Six Sigma is purely historical. Yes, it was Toyota who conceptualised Lean as a management process, who noted down the systems, but there has been a desire to eliminate waste and accelerate production, and processes towards those goals, since the time of Venetian ship-builders,” says Essaka Ekedi. In the case of Six Sigma, it wasn’t entirely different. Similar types of practices existed before, and Motorola documented Six Sigma as a “modern management tool,” but it was General Electric, under the leadership of Jack Welch, who blazed the early trail for Six Sigma, using the methodology to propel the company to become the “most admired in the United States,” according to Essaka Ekedi. Six Sigma seeks to remove errors in manufacturing and business processes by using a set of quality management methods. Lean focuses on the elimination of expenditure that does not contribute to the creation of value for the end customer.

A question of compromise?

“The two approaches existed for a certain amount of time in parallel, without crossing over, but there are complementary tools at the heart of both practices,” says Ries. “But each of the approaches had its limitations,” insists Essaka Ekedi, “for example, Lean is weaker when it comes to statistical controls and performance prediction. On the other side, Six Sigma is somewhat specialised, requiring a certain skill set and capabilities for complex calculations. In a lot of industries, one wouldn’t necessarily have all the data required to carry out these calculations.”

Around the turn of the millennium, the two started to be talked of together as Lean Six Sigma, and elements of both methodologies were combined to create a system of operational excellence more tailored to any given organisation, and taking into account potential technical issues in carrying out one or other method. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘compromise’,” suggests Essaki Ekedi, when asked if Lean Six Sigma has to cut corners when applied to a smaller organisation. “The basic pillars of the methodologies apply to any company, namely customer satisfaction and improved business processes. And these two have elements of both Lean and Six Sigma in their genetics, creating one single platform of operational excellence. It’s like one large toolbox, if you will,” illustrates Ries. “At the point where one knows the methodo‑logies well enough, one can use the particular tool required for the situation. Now, in financial services, banking and insurance, where we are working at the moment, people seem to be placing a premium on Lean. This may be quite surprising given that the ultimate product is strictly a service, but it demonstrates that they dovetail.”He continues: “but the situation remains where very few companies in the services industry actually use Lean Six Sigma tools, and because they have their origins in industry, the skills come from there. Transferring those takes time. Even in the case of our own company, of the seven people we have, all except myself come from a more manufacturing-based background.”

Programmes are being created for small and medium enterprises to try and avail of Lean Six Sigma practices, and the French and Luxembourgish governments are, at least indirectly, backing such schemes as they incentivise excellence and seals of quality for local businesses, particularly the smaller ones. And questions of pride? “There can be a resistance towards consulting,” concludes Essaka Ekedi. “But people need not think that what they were doing before was wrong. These methodologies just allow them to do things differently, with better results.”