{"id":6545,"date":"2003-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10003\/the-lean-post\/articles\/jim-womack-on-how-lean-compares-with-six-sigma-re-engineering-toc-tpm-etc-etc\/"},"modified":"2020-11-30T15:31:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T15:31:28","slug":"jim-womack-on-how-lean-compares-with-six-sigma-re-engineering-toc-tpm-etc-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lean.org\/the-lean-post\/articles\/jim-womack-on-how-lean-compares-with-six-sigma-re-engineering-toc-tpm-etc-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Womack on how lean compares with Six Sigma, Re-engineering, TOC, TPM, etc., etc."},"content":{"rendered":"

It amazes me, but I still get lots of questions about how \u201clean\u201d compares with Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance, Business Process Re-engineering, Demand-Flow, the Theory of Constraints, and other approaches to improvement.\u00a0 And I always give the same answer: At the end of the day we are all trying to achieve the same thing: The perfect value stream.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how I think about it:<\/p>\n

To create value for the customer \u2013 which I hope we agree is how we should be earning our living \u2013 a series of steps must be conducted properly in the proper sequence.\u00a0 These steps collectively are what we call the value stream<\/em><\/a> for each product.\u00a0 As I walk through any value stream \u2013 and I walk a lot every year as I visit many companies in many countries — I ask the following very simple questions about each step:<\/p>\n

Is the step valuable<\/em>?\u00a0 Or would the customer be equally happy with the product if the step could be left out?\u00a0 If the latter is the case, the step is at best what Toyota would call \u201cincidental work\u201d and what I often call Type One muda.\u00a0 Get rid of it as soon as you can!<\/p>\n

Is the step capable<\/em>?\u00a0 Can it be conducted with the exact same result every time?\u00a0 This is the starting point, but never the end point, for Six Sigma.<\/p>\n

Is the step available<\/em>?\u00a0 That is, can it be performed whenever it is needed?\u00a0 Or is the step subject to breakdowns and varying cycle times so you are never sure what will happen?\u00a0 This is the starting point, but again not the end point, of Total Productive Maintenance.<\/p>\n

Is the step adequate<\/em>?\u00a0 That is, is there capacity to perform it exactly when the value stream requires it?\u00a0 Or is there a bottleneck?\u00a0 Bottleneck analysis is, of course, the starting point of the Theory of Constraints.\u00a0 Or, and more likely in the current era, is there too much capacity?\u00a0 Toyota tries to avoid this by adding production capacity in small increments rather than in big hunks, increments that can be flexed by adding or subtracting employees.<\/p>\n

Is the step flexible<\/em>?\u00a0 Can it shift over quickly from making green ones to making red ones quickly?\u00a0 And can it changeover without compromising capability, availability, and adequacy?\u00a0 Flexibility is the key to rapid response to changing customer desires while avoiding the inefficient production of big batches.<\/p>\n

If all the steps in your value streams are valuable, capable, available, adequate, and flexible, you are well on your way.\u00a0 What remains is to perfect the linkage between the steps.<\/p>\n

Does the product flow<\/em> from one step to the next with no delay?\u00a0 Henry Ford pioneered with \u201cflow production\u201d in 1914 by moving the process to the product rather than the reverse.\u00a0 This is how he created nearly continuous flow not just on the assembly line but also in component fabrication at Highland Park.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he found flow hard to sustain in a world with changeable demand and wide product variety.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Toyota came in.<\/p>\n

Does the product only flow at the pull<\/em> of the next downstream step?\u00a0 This is the central point of JIT, one of the pillars of TPS: Products should only flow at the command of the next step downstream.<\/p>\n

Is the flow leveled<\/em> back from the customer to the extent possible, with a standard inventory of finished goods if necessary?\u00a0 Leveling permits every step in the whole value stream to operate smoothly while still satisfying the customer with exactly what is needed exactly when it is needed.<\/p>\n

None of us, of course, have created any perfect value streams.\u00a0 Probably we never will.\u00a0 But energy expended on comparing and criticizing improvement methods rather than pursuing the perfect value stream, is surely Type Two muda.\u00a0 That\u2019s the type of waste we can get rid of immediately!<\/p>\n

Best regards,
Jim<\/p>\n

Jim Womack
President and Founder
Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It amazes me, but I still get lots of questions about how \u201clean\u201d compares with Six Sigma, Total Productive Maintenance, Business Process Re-engineering, Demand-Flow, the Theory of Constraints, and other approaches to improvement.\u00a0 And I always give the same answer: At the end of the day we are all trying to achieve the same thing: The perfect value stream.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how I think about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJim Womack on how lean compares with Six Sigma, Re-engineering, TOC, TPM, etc., etc. - 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