Group case study

Submitted by
1. Ajouwad Khandoker 1620001030
2. Humaira Shifat Nilima 1620781030
3. Md Abdullah Al Hasan 1731257030

Case overview:
3M was founded in 1902 then through the course of time they became a giant. So when Motorola
implemented this ground breaking model of six sigma 3M also followed that path. In this case
the journey of six sigma implementation, acceptance and the contradictions are shown.

1. What are the benefits and costs of a Lean Six Sigma program and how should they be
tracked?
The benefits and costs of a Lean Six Sigma programs are-
 Six sigma reduce variation and improve yield by reducing the cost and lean eliminate non
value added activities.
 Benefits of Lean Six Sigma program include majorly improvement in customer
satisfaction and cost reduction
 It improves the speed and value added process.
 Purchase resources in strategic ways will reduce cost
 Growth and productivity improvement
 Control and maintain the improvement
Cost of six Sigma -
 It blocks the innovation
 Too many statistics that’s make it complicated
 financial investment for reduction of risk
 The team leaders and management of the process selected for Six Sigma are held
accountable for the result
 Each project costs six months of time
They should be tracked –
Carefully allocated the project
 All projects are approved by management.
 Each project is tracked and the savings are tracked by the financial department.
 The tracking systems calculate savings and reduction in defects.
 The team leader and manager are ultimately responsible for the project.
  The risks of the program are the costs, the complexity of the program, and difficulty in
measuring results for service processes and transaction-based processes.

2. How should the various functional areas in the organization be included in the Lean Six Sigma
initiative, and what role should senior and middle management play in this change initiative?

Lean Six sigma initiatives cannot be achieved with just one functional area of any organization.
To have a successful lean six sigma project the whole organization needs to work on the
harmony. Six sigma might work on a particular process at a time but it requires all the support
from the other functional areas. As six Sigma is generally a one time project it needs to stimulate
all the functional areas in the organization to achieve a sustainable outcome.
If we are doing six Sigma on an existing product, then traditionally we will be doing a DMAIC
model where to define the issues we will be needing the help of production team who already
know the existing issues and the marketing team who are actually receiving the feedback from
the customers. To measure the issue, we will be needing statistical data of the process and for a
financial impact we will incorporate the financial brunch. Then to improve and to control the
whole process we will be needing HR’s help to educate the workforce on the new development.
Six Sigma is a huge project requiring a lot of resources from the organization. The main
initiatives should come from the senior management as its not any regular organizational project.
This requires close monitoring and overall control of the organization which should be ensured
by the middle manager. Six sigma is a project for the future of the company this initiative should
come from the top managers to be successful.

3. Do you agree with any of the points made by skeptics about the original Six Sigma program at
3M? Explain why they believe that skepticism is warranted.

I partially agree with one point the skeptics made. “our customers don’t need this level of
quality”, my argument is if the customers don’t need six sigma level of performance then it’s
a waste of time and money, for example in the airlines industry the plains are maintained on a
six sigma level. But the luggage handling does not require that level of efficiency so it will be
a waste of time and money to implement six Sigma there.
The skeptic philosophers believed that some knowledge is uncertain. So the believe of some
people on that track of philosophy is justified. As in any condition we cannot know or control
all the elements of the environment.
4. How will lean Six Sigma affect the innovative culture at 3M, and is lean Six Sigma enough?

Basically lean is used for eliminating the non-value added activities from the process. Lean
improves the overall speed of any process as well as the throughput time and most of the
times lean reduces the inventory. Lean uses the value stream mapping, Kaizen events, visual
control and the 5S tools for process improvement. On the other hand, six sigma approaches
the best suited to reduce variations in the process as well as improve the yield while reducing
the cost.
Lean six sigma is a methodology of process improvements and it is designed to eliminates
the problem, to remove the waste and inefficiency as well as improves the working
conditions for providing better respond the customer’s needs.
The culture that always seeks to continuous improvement will be frustrated if there are no
techniques for the analysis. Lean six sigma recognizes that not all processes are alike in their
deficiencies and the extent of improvement needed. So, lean six sigma affects the innovative
culture at 3M.
Lean six sigma is not enough. It tends to block the innovation, the development and the
creativity of new products.