By Doug Burgess
June 17, 2010

The terms “lean” and “six sigma” often conjure up thoughts of car assembly lines and black belts. The reality is Lean Six Sigma is a combination of the industry-recognized Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies – a rigorous, data-driven, results-oriented approach to process improvement relevant to companies in all industries.

While these methodologies received much fame in previous decades, Lean Six Sigma is currently battling the train of thought that it is cumbersome, time intensive, bureaucratic and too expensive for small (and some large) organizations. But Xerox is proving that Lean Six Sigma-thinking can be applied to everyday problem solving without the rigor of a full project. We’re continuing to use Lean Six Sigma tools for time intensive, large scale projects as well, but by applying it to everyday problems and smaller projects we’re bringing the Lean Six Sigma success rate into everything we do. Not every assignment is going to require a full assessment, in fact, Lean Six Sigma techniques can be applied to almost every situation.

For example, say you were asked to assign one employee to participate in an urgent project and a decision must be made by the end of the day. By using the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC process, the guess work is removed and a sound decision can be made quickly. DMAIC offers a step by step process (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) which can be done in an accelerated timeframe.

That’s why I and the Xerox leadership team are so committed to making Lean Six Sigma part of our everyday work environment. We’ve seen the results and know that this is the path we need to continue to take. Especially now, given the need to reduce costs in this turnaround economy, thinking in terms of Lean and Six Sigma has never been more important.

We find that process improvement is relevant in every aspect of our business -- from Xerox’s finance department’s use of Lean Six Sigma to reduce operational redundancies, to the company’s research centers’ optimizing products with Design for Lean Six Sigma, a subset focused on engineering.

With Lean Six Sigma, Xerox has reduced internal costs and efficiently brought to market breakthrough products. We have even revamped some of the Lean Six Sigma training so it can be completed in only one day to make the most of everyone’s time.

Lean Six Sigma is not just another quality initiative. It helps us to make fact-based decisions to run the business and we integrate the principles of Lean Six Sigma in nearly everything we do, both inside our company as well as the services we offer our customers.

Sundyne, a global manufacturer of engineered pumps and compressors, solicited the help of our Lean Six Sigma team to improve the company’s print center. Xerox and Sundyne implemented a “Kaizen,” a day-and-a-half exercise focused on increasing efficiency and eliminating waste. 

The Kaizen helped to better understand the workflow for the print center and develop a lean design that incorporated existing and new equipment. The new layout gave Sundyne back 90 square feet in the company’s print center, and reduced the number of employee work steps by 23.2 percent – all in less than two days!

When we embarked on our Lean Six Sigma journey back in 2003, we decided that this would not be a narrow initiative, focused on just a few specific processes. Instead, it would truly define and shape our Xerox culture. From the boardroom to every division, team and function, it would become an integral part of the Xerox business fabric. In other words, it would be the way we work.

Seven years later, it is our culture. Xerox Lean Six Sigma is woven into our business fabric. It takes leadership commitment and support to make it the way we work and behave on a daily basis without thinking about it.

Doug Burgess is senior vice president of Xerox Lean Six Sigma, Xerox.