Key Points

• Lean Six Sigma’s future hinges on the development of advanced technologies like AI.
• Hybrid approaches with Lean Six Sigma might be more common in the coming years.
• Simulating process improvement efforts should be more robust with Lean Six Sigma in the years to come.

The future of Lean Six Sigma is looking brighter than ever. Technological changes are nothing new, especially when we consider the rapid advancements in computing just over the last 40 years. That said, business methodologies and philosophies have to change right alongside things to make a difference.

Lean Six Sigma is highly adaptable, leveraging technologies as they come around. So, with that in mind, we’re taking a closer look at the future of Lean Six Sigma and how things might look in the next five to ten years.

What Is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a hybrid methodology that leverages principles and tools from both Lean and Six Sigma. It takes the focus on the reduction of waste and more practical tools like Gemba and Kaizen from Lean. You don’t need technical expertise to leverage some of these tools, but rather people skills and a keener understanding of your organizational culture.

It also leverages the data-driven approach seen from Six Sigma, resulting in a scenario where you’ve got plenty of means to focus on efficiency, reduction of defects, and continuous improvement. Hybrid approaches with business methodologies are nothing new; you likely have taken on aspects from a whole slew of different techniques for getting work done.

Where Lean Six Sigma makes a difference is in guaranteeing a throughput of quality throughout the production cycle, while also relying on tools that place more of a focus on people rather than technology. When properly implemented, it results in higher quality, less overall waste, and happier employees, customers, and stakeholders.

Why Companies Are Using It

Everything I just mentioned sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? When you facilitate an environment centered around the reduction of waste and continuous improvement, you’re guaranteeing customer loyalty for the foreseeable future.

Lean Six Sigma has been a leading force in manufacturing and other business sectors for the last couple of decades, and for good reason. Beyond the more theoretical combination of factors that make both approaches so powerful, it is highly adaptable, changing right alongside customer expectations.

Further, we’ve seen the power of Lean Six Sigma when combined with newer technologies, which results in an approach that allows teams to embrace things like digital transformation or outside tools like design thinking with great efficacy.

The Future of Lean Six Sigma

Now that we’ve done a bit of a foundational explanation behind the methodology, let’s take a closer look at some of the exciting developments that are driving LSS forward. The future of Lean Six Sigma is heavily reliant on technology, as you might expect. However, there are aspects of these technological leaps forward that are reliant on the people at the core of things.

As such, don’t think of it merely as a solution accomplished with great computing power or new software. Instead, it is a further realization of the ideals and goals behind any Lean Six Sigma organization.

You’re focusing on a throughput of quality, listening to customers, and ultimately delivering a product or service that meets or exceeds expectations. That hasn’t changed since the introduction of the hybrid approach, and it isn’t likely to switch up anytime soon.

Integration with AI

It feels like we talk a fair amount about artificial intelligence, and that is probably true. However, the future of Lean Six Sigma and many other business methodologies is intrinsically tied to the mass adoption of artificial intelligence models in businesses.

AI is set to make some fairly large changes as far as things like data analysis go. While you could certainly use any LLM to generate ideas for products or services, that seems a bit of a fool’s errand. Instead, using it to collate and sanitize mass quantities of data seems a better use of the technology.

This serves one main benefit, as it frees up your skilled and practiced analysts to focus more on the analysis work and less on the formatting of data. Additionally, this technology is likely to help with things like preventative maintenance, root-cause analysis, and other vital functions in the workplace.

Big Data Analytics

Big data is a killer app of sorts in the modern workplace. It has a few flaws when looking at the grander picture. You need off-site services to leverage it to its fullest potential, and you need practiced and educated analysts to interpret the results. This is where something like an LLM or AI is going to come in handy, especially as we see specialist suites developed.

Currently, big data is more at home with larger enterprises that can soak up the financial burden of having to hire data scientists to interpret the results. The future of Lean Six Sigma might see the reliance on data scientists to leverage the power of big data go by the wayside. While this is certainly a dire situation for data scientists, it does democratize the process for organizations of all sizes.

Instead of needing to have some huge team on board to handle things, you could very well have a specialized department with a few people leveraging the power of an AI-driven analytics platform.

Robotic Process Automation

Automation is nothing new when it comes to manufacturing. However, we’re seeing more automation taking place in the workplace outside of just the machines used for manufacturing. Robotic process automation is leveraging technology to aid in the reduction of tedium and busywork.

Using technology for the sake of automation is something we’ve seen time and time again in the tech sector. But it’s seeing uses like the automatic generation of invoices for orders, keeping track of inventory, and other useful applications.

As such, the future of Lean Six Sigma looks to be providing a workplace where people can focus on creative solutions for services and products, while leaving the more banal work to the machines, as intended.

Digital Twins

Imagine that you could create a bespoke 1:1 model of a machine, process, or so forth without any physical space needed. Simulations are nothing new, but the depth and verisimilitude of those simulations can leave something to be desired.

The future of Lean Six Sigma is pointing to a scenario where technology allows for a deeper replica of a system. This system than then be used to run testing, simulate process improvement efforts, and give feedback that is far more in line with reality.

Simulations are an integral part of testing any process improvement efforts, and they’re looking to be more robust and realistic in the coming years.

Hybridization

Hybrid approaches in business are nothing new. After all, we’ve spent most of this article discussing the future of Lean Six Sigma. However, we might see additional tools, techniques, and philosophies from other methodologies make it into LSS.

Imagine utilizing the iterative approaches behind something like Agile in a service-oriented industry. You’re doing rapid prototypes to get a service up and running while using Lean Six Sigma tools to keep the team on track and take a closer look at the way work is being done.

This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario by any means, but rather a reality. The future of Lean Six Sigma is going to see more and more of these methodologies assimilated and iterated upon for the sake of greater overall quality.

Deeper Analysis of Customer Feedback

Our final talking point on the future of Lean Six Sigma has to relate to the most crucial part of any business: customers. Now, gathering customer feedback hasn’t been anything new. After all, we’ve been looking at customer feedback since before the advent of computers in the workplace.

However, the technologies on the market today allow for a greater understanding and collection of the feedback given by customers in a given space. You don’t have to play guessing games on the intent behind a written opinion in a survey. Instead, you can leverage something like a Natural Language Processing model in AI to get a better grasp on what is being said.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for a little something extra to go with your morning coffee? You might want to take a closer look at ways you can improve employee retention with Lean Six Sigma. We’ve seen a drop off in terms of retaining skilled talent since the pandemic, but you can leverage LSS to mitigate some of that talent loss.

Additionally, you might want to see how you can leverage Six Sigma for a nonprofit. Nonprofits operate unlike most businesses, with resource constraints and workforce limitations being the norm rather than the exception. Still, you can utilize Six Sigma to create a potent and effective organization.

Conclusion

The future of Lean Six Sigma is a bright one, and we’re likely to see more beyond just the handful of predictions made today. Technology continues to be a driving force in the future of any business methodology, and it is something that we should embrace with enthusiasm.

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