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Key Points
- AI is about to make a big splash with Lean Six Sigma, integrating at multiple levels.
- IoT poses some interesting possibilities for active monitoring and predictive analytics.
- Any business would do well to leverage the supply chain optimization technology coming out.
What future trends are driving innovation in Lean Six Sigma? Lean Six Sigma is in a state of constant evolution, as you might expect from the fast-paced markets in place these days. That said, it can be a bit difficult fully ascertaining the direction of things to come. There are a few things that are certain, we’re going to see tech embraced in a big way in the coming years.
With new technologies on the rise constantly, it can be a bit tough to keep track of what’s happening. That said, we’ve got our ear to the ground when it comes to spotting the latest trends in Lean Six Sigma. So, let’s dive right in and see where things are heading next.
What Is Lean Six Sigma?

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Lean Six Sigma is a hybrid methodology utilizing tools and techniques from both Lean and Six Sigma, respectively. As the name might imply, it focuses on aspects of Lean, like the reduction of waste and organizational skills for the workplace.
This is further leveraged alongside Six Sigma’s data-driven, deeply analytical approach to working, making for a potent and effective combination when properly implemented. Essentially, you want to reduce as much of the waste and inefficiency as you can before setting forward to achieve that Six Sigma level of quality.
It can be a difficult task at first, but proper implementation can run without a hitch while letting any organization reap the benefits of both methodologies.
Guaranteeing Quality
Both Lean and Six Sigma focus on quality deliverables making it to your customers. Now, quality seems like a given when you consider how vital it is to maintain customer trust. However, making sure your production or outputs are efficient, optimized, and ultimately tuned toward quality outputs is a different thing altogether.
When you’ve eliminated the bottlenecks and inefficiencies at play with any production line, you’re guaranteeing that you’re focusing on quality for the sake of your customers. We’ve seen the adoption of Lean Six Sigma across the world since its debut, and it is adapting and changing with the times just like customer needs.
Future Trends in Lean Six Sigma: Looking Forward

Now that we’ve done a bit of a refresher on the particulars behind Lean Six Sigma, it’s time to take a deeper dive into the trends driving it forward. Some of these things might not come to pass. As my time in the tech industry has taught me, you never can tell what will stick and what will fall by the wayside when considering how the business world relates to technology.
There are some areas we are simply shouting in an echo chamber of sorts, as the steps are being taken to make these a regular part of any workflow. At any rate, it is worth staying abreast of the new advances in technology so you have a better idea of what to expect when it comes time to make the change.
The last few years have been a whirlwind when it comes to the advances in technology. Some massive leaps forward have been taken, and it is certainly exciting to see what comes next with technology.
AI Integration
AI integration isn’t just about running the numbers through something like Google Gemini or ChatGPT to see where things are going. One of the more intriguing integrations of both AI and IoT technologies relates to how we change our data collection processes in the workplace. If you have machines that are self-reporting and a homespun AI model that can start inputting those data points into a database, you’re eliminating quite a bit of tedium.
That is one of the big advantages of this new technology. Data analysts don’t need to spend hours poring over logs, spreadsheets, and so forth to find the relevant information needed for their work. Instead, they can simply give everything a once over to make sure none of the data points aren’t wildly out of place and get to work on analysis.
AI integration isn’t a prediction. It is a reality. You’re already seeing it in smartphones, e-commerce, and even web browsers. It is here to stay, and time will tell how that impacts the way we work in the years to come.
Predictive Maintenance
While IoT can be a fun way to integrate things like your house lights to your Amazon Echo, that’s only a fraction of how it can be leveraged. Imagine your production machines are equipped with multiple sensors that keep an eye on their overall efficacy and health, reporting in real-time to your business network.
In fact, this is something where you don’t have to rush to get a machine operational to avoid downtime. You could regularly scheduled downtime for consistent maintenance, making for machines that operate as intended for longer periods of time.
While AI and IoT can’t necessarily fix the machines themselves, they can point your team in the right direction for potential failure points. This is a practical and useful implementation of the technology, and one I imagine we’ll be seeing more of soon.
Robotic Process Automation

It isn’t likely that AI is going to replace all of us anytime soon. That said, it can certainly cut some of the tedium out of the workday. Rather than constantly gathering data points for something like the Measure phase of your DMAIC cycles, you could have AI and IoT gathering data en masse. This saves valuable manhours of your time while you’re still getting the data.
This sort of process automation can be further integrated with things like Big Data platforms. Rather than parsing through billions of data points with no rhyme or reason behind them, you can easily mold them into an easier-to-digest format.
Predictive Analytics
One of the more promising innovations of newer technologies is how we can leverage it to better adapt to failure points. Predictive analytics are a powerful means of seeing potential problems before they arise thanks to historical data and real-time analysis of outputs.
This results in scenarios where you can almost predict when a machine is about to reach a failure point and remediate the issue with ease. Predictive analytics could be further leveraged to understand customer demands and shifts in the market.
Simply put, this is a powerful way of integrating IoT, AI, and data analysis in a tidy package.
Better Understanding Customer Feedback
Understanding customer intent from a simple user survey can be hard. Text doesn’t give the full scope and breadth of a customer’s response. However, with something like a natural language processing model in your AI, you can more accurately gauge these responses.
Customers are an integral part of any business, as I’m sure everyones. Using something like a NLP is going to give you a better handle on recurring trends and complaints with your products or services, even if the issues aren’t immediately evident to you at the time.
Optimizing Supply Chains
Have you ever looked at a warehouse and wished it could just report on the inventory in place? Resource management is key for the success of any organization, and having the right methods in place makes that process even smoother. Thanks to IoT and AI processing, you could have up-to-date accounting for everything you’ve got on hand.
Further, it can tell you when you’re running low on materials without having to send someone out to go check on things. It seems simple, but reducing any sort of busy work is one of the big driving forces behind this new technology and current trends in Lean Six Sigma.
Other Useful Tools and Concepts
Looking for some other tips and tricks to match up with your morning coffee? You might want to take a look at how you can better utilize Lean Six sigma to enhance employee retention. Keeping hold of valuable workers can be a challenge, but you can better equip yourself to navigate the situation.
Additionally, you might want to take a closer look at how Six Sigma for nonprofits can be a recipe for success. Nonprofits already have issues dealing with resource shortages, but you can readily navigate the challenges with the careful application of Six Sigma tools and methodology.
Conclusion
The future looks bright for Lean Six Sigma, at least as far as technology goes. New tools are making it so we can focus more on the work that matters rather having to contend with the busy work that soaks up valuble time and energy.
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