Key Points

• BPR can enact rapid and radical change on a given process.
• Six Sigma is a more deliberate means of improving a process.
• Using both methodologies for your process is a solid way of making sure you’re developing a process that delivers quality throughput.

What are the real differences between BPR and Six Sigma? When it comes to business processes, there are a few different ways to get there. Our focus is primarily Six Sigma here, but we are certainly open to other complementary methodologies that get us to where we need to be in the grander scheme of things. As such, we’re looking more closely at BPR in comparison to Six Sigma.

Both of these methodologies are completely valid ways of handling a given process. However, the means of deployment are something else entirely. Further, there are quite a few differences between the two. You’re likely to find that both of these are quite complementary to one another, though, especially if you’re coming across some trickier processes to tweak.

What Is BPR?

BPR, or business process reengineering, is a radical means of redesigning processes. It is meant to enact change quickly, upsetting the status quo while hoping to achieve drastic improvements in areas like cost, quality, and efficiency.

At its core, BPR is intended to be a fast means of enacting change in a massive way on a particular process. It doesn’t concern itself with improving the quality of a given process, but instead looks at how to do a process to get the best possible results. This can mean just ripping everything out and starting from scratch.

Focus and Approach

BPR focuses on a clean-slate approach, typically in a top-down fashion. When undergoing any sort of BPR project, you’re looking at the default assumptions of a given process and trying to figure out how to best accomplish your stated goals.

If there is infrastructure in place, that is often disregarded entirely as a team seeks to get the desired results. It is less of a precise means of accomplishing process design, and more of a complete shift to another direction. You aren’t concerned with making a process more efficient, but rather getting the right results from the vision your project manager might hold.

What Is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma is a data-driven approach that hones in on concepts like quality and efficiency. This is typically an exhaustive, organization-wide shift to the methodology. One of the major cornerstones is building a culture of continuous improvement. This doesn’t just pertain to the process and mechanisms in place at an organization, but a much wider look at the whole.

At the center of Six Sigma is the desire to reach near perfection. This isn’t done overnight, but incrementally. A process might be fine now, but it could be just a little more efficient and produce slightly better quality with another pass. This extends to all facets of the methodology, you’re seeking something viable now while honing it to a mirror shine later on.

Focus and Approach

Six Sigma is very methodical by design. This is seen in how you go about process improvement, with frameworks like DMAIC serving as the backbone of any effort. DMAIC itself is a measured, logical response to the inefficiencies of a process. It also extends to how moves are seldom made in Six Sigma without hard numbers to back them up.

Data is at the forefront of any decision in Six Sigma, and it is something you’ll get very used to when working with the methodology after a time. Analysis plays a key role in how a team approaches the process improvement cycle. You’ll want hard numbers on hand to identify things like pain points or bottlenecks, after all.

BPR and Six Sigma: Understanding the Details

With the finer details out of the way, a more pointed comparison between these two approaches is warranted. At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking these are interchangeable approaches to process improvement. In a vacuum, they both focus on accomplishing the same goal of delivering quality, efficiency, and reducing costs when possible to do so.

However, the truth of the matter is that despite these similarities, they have some significant differences. Both BPR and Six Sigma are complementary approaches to process improvement. When something isn’t working, you can simply rip it all out and start fresh following BPR. From there, it is simply a matter of initiating DMAIC projects to continue improving things.

Scope

BPR is very much concerned with the broad strokes of process improvement. You aren’t looking at the inner workings of a given process, but rather the whole kit and kaboodle. The clean slate mantra behind BPR is centered on breaking everything off and essentially starting from scratch all over again in a singular, intensive effort.

Six Sigma, by comparison, is very much oriented around the details of a given process. You aren’t looking at the broader picture, but the components thereof. Projects are given a defined range and scope, with efforts taking a keener look at continuous improvement rather than starting again from a blank slate.

Change

Navigating change is a difficult task, no matter the methodology you’re using. It is certainly a tall order when considering BPR. You’re enacting drastic, rapid change out of nowhere. It is a complete and total disruption of the status quo, so you’ll need good change managers on hand to help navigate the entire project.

While change is certainly present in Six Sigma, it is far more calculated and precise. You’re looking at gradual, deliberate changes rather than upsetting whatever balance has been created since the start of your process.

Potential Risk

It goes without saying, but rapid and drastic change carries quite a bit of risk. There is always the potential that something won’t work or will fail later down the line. Now, that isn’t a bad thing, as it always presents a learning opportunity. However, risk-adverse teams might want to steer clear of BPR if maintaining a semblance of safety is a matter of great importance.

There is certainly risk present in Six Sigma as well, but it is far less pronounced. Since things are gradually done, there is less room for things to go wrong. Further, when you’re looking into process improvement through something like a DMAIC cycle, you’re measuring each one of those phases and looking over the numbers.

Data Needs

There is data analysis present in BPR, but it isn’t quite as important as you might think. Instead, the need for data is superseded by the vision at the core of the new processes. You aren’t relying on historical data, as the historical data might not even be pertinent to where your new processes are going.

Six Sigma is defined by data. Decisions are made with data in mind, and you wouldn’t dare go about initiating a DMAIC cycle without having some hard figures in hand. Historical data also plays a key role in the culture of continuous improvement emphasized by Six Sigma. You want to look at past events to make sure your efforts are truly paying off.

Primary Goals

BPR isn’t for the faint of heart, if you missed that point so far. The core goal of any BPR project is to achieve a breakthrough of sorts with processes. You’re wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch, and that can sometimes result in radical improvement for your intended results.

Reducing variation is more or less Six Sigma’s wheelhouse. You aren’t looking for the next breakthrough or eureka moment for a process, but how to reduce and curtail the inefficiencies that arise in any process. This is a slower pace than some might prefer, but it has its benefits.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking for something else to broaden your knowledge base? You might want to take a closer look at how you can improve employee engagement during a process improvement cycle in Lean Six Sigma. Getting everyone on board for a process improvement project can be difficult, but increasing employee engagement can yield fruitful results.

Additionally, you might want to learn how you can harness big data in Lean Six Sigma. Data is at the core of any Lean Six Sigma project, and big data has numerous benefits despite its requirements. You might find yourself arriving at new opportunities you might not have found otherwise.

Conclusion

BPR and Six Sigma are ultimately a complementary set of methodologies for process improvement. The drastic, sudden change enacted by BPR might be exactly what you need when faced with a process that simply won’t improve. Six Sigma can come into action when you’ve pinpointed what works, and you can steadily improve things from there.

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