Key Points

• Putting in the legwork before the deal is completed is vital for a smooth integration of Lean Six Sigma.
• You’ll want to move quickly to integrate the methodology after the merger is completed, communication and front-line engagement are key at this stage.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Consistent and transparent communication is one of the most important tools at your disposal to guarantee the long-term success of your Lean Six Sigma integration.

Keeping Lean Six Sigma rolling while merging with another organization is vital to maintain synergy and successfully integrate processes into your current workflow. Rapidly identifying waste, cutting away non-value-added activities, and improving processes is key for any newly combined entity. Developing key strategies for this can seem somewhat daunting, especially as you’re considering the combination of two disparate workforces.

However, the change doesn’t have to be a difficult one. With a solid plan in place, you’ve got the makings for a streamlined and ultimately successful organization. If you’re looking to accelerate the adoption and integration of Lean Six Sigma in a newly combined organization, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in and look at some practical ways to maximize your integration of the methodology.

Pre-Deal Fast Tracking: Putting in the Work

Some of the most important work to be done before any mergers and acquisitions takes place is before the deal. Any organization is going to have its way of doing things, and taking the time to identify potential problems and opportunities is going to give a solid foundation for later work. As such, you’ll want to consider the following points and integrate them into your overall plan.

Looking at Everything

Financials are well and good, but how an organization works is going to be paramount for future Lean Six Sigma integrations. You don’t need to just consider the revenue, but everything. Look at the processes, supply chain, outputs, and service delivery.

Take the time to identify potential bottlenecks and areas of concern. Non-value-added activities are a concern here, as they will exist in the combined entity later on. By identifying these now, you’re reducing waste, variation, and overburden down the line.

Value Stream Mapping Current States

Once you’ve identified everything of note, you’ll want to use Value Stream Mapping to visualize the value streams of both organizations before any mergers and acquisitions take place. You’ll likely immediately see any shortcomings in both organizations, as inefficiencies are highlighted throughout.

VSM is a handy tool to keep in mind for visualizing any problems, and allows you to start drumming up plans to counteract problems in the future.

Identify Synergies and Risks

Data collected throughout should identify potential cost savings, revenue enhancements, and quality improvements. Quantifying these allows you to identify synergies that should allow any mergers and acquisitions to happen without a hitch.

Additionally, this is where you’ll see any sort of inherent risks. Organizations can have different levels of process maturity, wildly incompatible IT infrastructure, and cultural differences that impact later process adherence and attempts at Lean Six Sigma integration.

Clean Team Analysis

Before the mergers and acquisitions get underway, you’ll want to contact an independent third party. A clean team isn’t going to carry the same biases seen in either organization. Further, this is a must for any sensitive or regulated information that isn’t going to be readily available until the deal is finished. While a third-party clean team cannot divulge sensitive information, they can analyze proprietary data and discover any potential issues that might arise.

Further, this allows you to stay in compliance without violating any federal guidelines. Identifying issues is going to be one of the biggest challenges for Lean Six Sigma integration, but it can also present new opportunities to make the adoption a success.

Rapid Integration and Improvement

When the deal is completed, you’re going to have to move quickly. Streamlining isn’t necessarily about rapid movement, but the initial steps following any mergers and acquisitions are key to capturing and retaining value. Putting in the work now is only going to make future moves that much easier to conduct.

100-Day Plan

Developing a solid 100-day plan is going to be one of the best steps you can take toward Lean Six Sigma integration. This allows for targeting tangible, immediate benefits. You’ll want to focus on projects that are easily accomplished. The goal here is to improve cost savings, streamline critical processes, and ultimately improve the customer experience.

Dedicated Teams

Cross-functional teams with Lean Six Sigma champions are going to be one of your best options early into any mergers and acquisitions. This allows your entire workforce to benefit from these teams’ expertise and acts as a bridge between the vastly different corporate cultures at play. You’re not wanting to override or overtake a culture, but rather take the best aspects from both to develop a cohesive whole.

Front-Line Engagement

Get leaders out and visible alongside your Lean Six Sigma team. Gemba walks should be conducted regularly. Take the time to learn your crucial processes, engage with employees, and ultimately show that leadership buy-in has happened. This is also vital to hear feedback from employees. You can gain valuable insight into potential problems and inefficiencies, which can be solved quickly.

Standardization and Best Practices

Early on, you’ll want to identify the best practices from both organizations. Then, work needs to be done to integrate these as a standard across the newly combined entity. You don’t want to run the risk of duplication, and this will aid in reducing variation, defects, and other wasteful activities. Combining best practices only serves to enhance organizational strength, so give this as much focus as you can manage from the start.

Kaizen Events

You could start DMAIC projects for every potential issue. That’ll take too much time that you simply cannot afford early into any mergers and acquisitions. Instead, Kaizen events are your best bet. These short, snappy events take a few days at most and can lead to explosive breakthroughs and improvements. You’re wanting to build momentum early, not grind things to a halt.

Communication

A lack of communication is going to kill any progress made throughout any mergers and acquisitions. This is a time to be completely transparent, open, and accountable for what you’re doing to integrate Lean Six Sigma. Addressing stakeholders, board members, management, and front-line employees regarding your goals, progress, and other initiatives is key.

This helps to reduce employee uncertainty and helps foster a willingness to change between both cultures.

Sustained Momentum

Doing everything quickly is fantastic, but streamlining is about integrating a culture of continuous improvement. You’re not looking to temporarily utilize the concepts and tools of Lean Six Sigma, but rather embed them as part of your newly combined entity. Stronger leadership sponsorship of the practice is a must. You want to champion what is taking place to ultimately see the successful integration of the methodology in your business.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Looking to start the work week right? You want to see how to use the Theory of Constraints to improve your business processes. Using the principles behind TOC is a fantastic way of making substantial breakthroughs in any business process.

Additionally, you might want to learn about how to quantify the ROI of your BPR efforts. BPR can be a drastic change, but the proof is in the pudding. Measuring your ROI can be an immediately useful means of communicating the success of your project to leadership and stakeholders alike.

Conclusion

Mergers and acquisitions can be a difficult thing to navigate for any business. Thankfully, streamlining Lean Six Sigma integration is a piece of cake. It does take some legwork, but you’ll be reaping the benefits of your efforts soon enough.