Six Sigma? Lean Management? Conquer the Terminology

By Eileen Webb

How do you know which method to use when improving your business, department, or operation?

Many improvement methods have been developed over the years. Although most began by arising to fill a special need, over time they have borrowed ideas from each other and the successful ones often have much in common. Here’s an illustration that shows how most have shared concepts.

Management Term Overlap

Common to all of these are:

  • A reliance on data and measurement
  • Viewing work as a process,
  • Continuous quality improvement
  • Use of teams

Six Sigma and Lean Enterprise are improvement methods. MBNQA (Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award), CMMI (for software) and ISO 9000 are methods for evaluating companies to identify gaps to plan improvements.

When companies create their own quality program, it usually is a custom blend of multiple methods.

Contact Eileen Webb: ewebb@streamline-consulting.biz