BSS0496 Project Management Practice: Six Sigma vs Lean Analysis

This report provides an overview of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing methodologies used in project management. It discusses the pros and cons, challenges, and benefits of each methodology, highlighting key performance indicators (KPIs) that can enhance best practices. The analysis covers how Six Sigma focuses on defect reduction and process improvement, while Lean Manufacturing aims to minimize waste and maximize efficiency. Real-world examples, such as GE's reported savings through Six Sigma adoption, illustrate the practical impact of these methodologies. The report also addresses challenges in implementation, such as scope creep and cultural issues, and emphasizes the importance of data-driven strategies and employee engagement. KPIs like Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) and Average Lead Time are discussed as crucial metrics for monitoring and improving processes within a Lean Manufacturing framework. This student-contributed assignment is available on Desklib, where students can find a variety of academic resources and study tools.

BSS0496 Project
Management Practice

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................................3
1st Project Management Methodologies (Six sigma)...................................................................................4
Pros/cons.................................................................................................................................................4
Challenges/benefits..................................................................................................................................5
KPIs that can help enhance best practice.................................................................................................6
Analysis/discussion.................................................................................................................................6
2nd Project Management Methodologies (Lean Manufacturing).................................................................7
Pros/cons.................................................................................................................................................7
Challenges/benefits..................................................................................................................................8
KPIs that can help enhance best practice.................................................................................................8
Analysis/discussion.................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Projects are critical to a corporation's overall success. Employers expect project teams to
execute regularly and quickly, given the heightened competitiveness in modern sectors. Only by
employing excellent project management methods can business primary functions, becoming
speedier, and more economical whenever compared to past outcomes. Project managers plan,
coordinate, and utilize things in order to optimize the player's output and effectiveness.
According to the PMI, a project manager must have a combination of business leadership and
management capabilities qualities in addition to essential technical knowledge to guarantee the
project's successful completion (Meredith and et.al, 2020). This report based on the project
management methodologies which are using by the different organizations for the global
projects. These methodologies are agile methodology, six sigma, lean manufacturing and many
others. In this report discuss about the six sigma and lean manufacturing methodologies. Along
with there are mentioned pros/cons, challenges/benefits and KPI to enhance practices.
BACKGROUND
Six sigma: The original concept behind it technique was to greatly enhance the company's
processes through detecting and eliminating flaws while also enhancing customer satisfaction.
The Six Sigma approach does not include a structure due to its process starts. Rather, it tries to
optimize existing systems and raise an organization's total efficiency and profitability. In these
other terms, Six Sigma is not, at least not in the usual sense, a project management approach. Six
Sigma depends on an established system to simplify current methods instead of specifying what
has to be accomplished, how, and with whom
Lean manufacturing: A concept known as "lean manufacturing" aims to increase efficiency
whilst reducing wastage in industrial processes. Everything which buyers do not think creates
value to and are not prepared to pay for is considered waste. Lean manufacturing has several
advantages, some of which include shorter lead times, lower operational expenses, and higher
quality products. Companies from a variety of industries can enable the practice of lean
production, commonly referred to as lean production or lean (Maheshwari, Gautam and Jaggi,
2021).

1st Project Management Methodologies (Six sigma)
Pros/cons
There are mentioned different pros and cons face by the organisation during the global
projects after application of six sigma methodology such as:
1. Achievement is assured: Businesses who have effectively applied the Six Sigma
technique inside one or more commercial and operation areas have benefited greatly. Six
Sigma has been applied in a variety of contexts, including boosting customer happiness,
share price growth, and sales growth. General Motors was managed to conserve more
over $8 billion over the first three years of implementing the Six Sigma approach.
2. Value is increased: Six-Sigma has helped businesses add value and improve the standard
of their production, which might take the shape of a service or item. Six-Sigma could be
employed to enhance the customer experience and supply chain operations. Once
embraced and executed, Six Sigma is becoming an element of the company's culture, and
all operations may be streamlined and enhanced one at a time.
3. Avoids wastages and provides learning: Six-Sigma reduces waste and promotes
education by identifying mistakes and variations in advance, thereby reducing waste.
This also reduces operational expenses and increases profitability. Six-Sigma also
establishes a good learning experience inside a company. Specialists and ordinary staff
benefit from the documenting and evaluation of procedures, faults, and deviations
(Chakraborty and Biswas, 2019).
Cons
1. Adoption of Six Sigma is challenging since it calls for full engagement from every
individual responsible for operations as well as other commercial activities. Six Sigma
can be technically challenging to execute in large commercial companies, even though it
could be simple in a different firm.
2. Complications: Throughout deployment, a lot of statistical and empirical data is
produced since Six Sigma closely examines business operations. To identify the
variations, the data must be meticulously reviewed and analyzed. Whenever carried out

repeatedly over an extended period of time, the procedure can be exceedingly moment
and intricate.
3. Get costly in the long run: Six-Sigma may save money over time, but because it is a
process for quality enhancement at its foundation, its recurrence after a certain point may
raise administrative and operating expenses (Nicholas and Steyn, 2020).
Challenges/benefits
Challenges
1. Incorrect Scope: The project's scope determines the overall objective and establishes the
boundaries for what the project will cover. Unfortunately, scope creep can happen when
one construction began and problems are found. This causes organizations to veer off
course and pursue interests unrelated to the project's declared aim. A project may be
hampered by politicking and management's distorted perspective.
2. Absence of a data-driven strategy: Finding the right data to gather for a project and
correctly analyzing it to draw insights that will help a company is challenging enough.
Despite what the research indicates, executives and directors frequently still rely on their
"gut feelings."
Benefits
1. Customer Satisfaction or Customer Loyalty: Through decreasing possible issues and
removing unnecessary specs from the system, Six Sigma generally improves customer
experience. A happy customer is a pleased customer. Therefore, six sigma aids in repeat
business by helping to win their loyalty.
2. Elimination of Variation and Expense from the System: Six Sigma is a data-driven
strategy for eliminating variation and departure first from system by removing
undesirable players. Therefore, Six Sigma aids in pinpointing operational areas of
improvement.
3. Effective Time Management: Six Sigma places a strong emphasis on helping other
people control their time properly in order to boost production and run more efficient
businesses. When time is efficiently handled, individuals' work-life enhancing, this in

turn boosts their enthusiasm and incites them to work long and intelligently (Takakura
and et.al, 2019).
KPIs that can help enhance best practice
1. Annual Total Costs: This is the sum of all the expenses that the company must pay every
year in order implement and maintain the Lean Six Sigma effort. The Launch and
Development Expenditures, Employee Salaries, and any other ends up costing that the
firm could incur as a result of implementing Lean Six Sigma are added together to get the
Yearly Overall Cost.
2. The profit produced by implementing Lean Six Sigma in a company is known as return
on investment (ROI), and it is easily determined simply deducting the annual total costs
from the annual projects net earnings. Experts advise monitoring the ROI of the Lean Six
Sigma programme using two key performance indicators (KPIs): annual ROI and
accumulated ROI.
3. The quantity of DMAIC projects: The Lean Six Sigma approach relies heavily on
DMAIC projects to generate money, consequently you should always aim to increase the
proportion of DMAIC initiatives that are profitable. To assure the success of such
initiatives, they must have the proper staff and equipment, so take care not to move too
quickly. According to the usual rule of thumb an organisation should have at least 2.5
times as many DMAIC initiatives as Black Belts. Thus, increasing the BBs by 2.5 will
give they a good idea of the number of DMAIC projects you'll require (Unzueta and
Eguren, 2021).
Analysis/discussion
Six Sigma has been shown to increase sales and client experience; for example, GE stated
that a 3 adoption of the approach resulted in a $8 billion savings. It's claimed that when applied
correctly, it will increase employee satisfaction due to an enhancement in cooperation and
communication. Larger production and hence higher profits are brought on by improved job
satisfaction. The drawback of Six Sigma is that it might be difficult to implement. It necessitates
a large investment in data collection and analysis which may be challenging and moment. A
business analytics team is for a larger organisation; using Six Sigma in its purest form, which

necessitates hiring specialized data collection and analysts, may be too costly for small
organizations. Additionally, full engagement and purchase are required for Six Sigma; the
emphasis is on regularity and clearly delineated performance measures. This won't work even
without support of the entire organisation and, in some ways, a dedication to a changing work
style. To enhance project administration, a few of Six Sigma's concepts and techniques can be
selected.
2nd Project Management Methodologies (Lean Manufacturing)
Pros/cons
Pros
1. It reduces costs: Regardless of how big or small your firm is, people want to produce
high-quality goods at the lowest feasible price. Lean manufacturing solutions, like the
WinMan ERP software, will help do this. In addition to they cut input costs, but you'll
also save space in the warehouse.
2. It saves time: Utilizing effective equipment to generate greater quantities of goods speeds
up the production process. While this could be a drawback for company employees, it is a
benefit for their company. When the same task can be done in fewer periods, they may let
go of numerous individuals and keep their team small (Yu, 2020).
3. It reduces fuel costs: Lean manufacturing entails investing in more electricity tools and
machinery. Furthermore, the tasks performed indicate that they may run the computers
for less hours than previously. This leads into significant fuel and power savings.
Furthermore, environmentally devices save you money on climate control.
Cons
1. Employee impression may be negative because lean manufacturing places a strong focus
on efficient management of human resources. Since you want to use fewer people,
employees may be opposed to it. Most significantly, don't fully put the onus of cost-
cutting on them. Apply the lean methodology throughout their organization's divisions.
Everyone who will be influenced by the change must accept it for it to be effective
(Müller, Drouin and Sankaran, 2019).
2. Unbalanced economies: Take care to avoid going too far while putting the plan into
practice. For instance, company may acquire machinery that produces twice as many

goods per day as you do now. The equipment appears to reduce manufacturing costs from
the outside. Nevertheless, when there is no market for the final items, they are going to
go trash.
Challenges/benefits
Challenges
1. Technological challenges: From new production equipment to quantitative analytic tools
for tracking process improvements on factory floors, lean manufacturing might
necessitate a large upfront technological investment. Because they'll be depending on
their processes for the ongoing smooth functioning of their firm, selecting the appropriate
technologies is crucial for their success as a lean manufacturing.
2. Cultural issues: Being lean causes a radical change in how work is carried out in a
manufacturing firm. The boundaries among official position description are blurred as a
result of the implementation of lean manufacturing, which calls for a smaller workforce
to do a greater variety of duties. It entails a rigorous and sincere dedication to cost
minimization, which can require altering the workers' usual work procedures (Zhang and
Min, 2019).
Benefits
1. Reduce waste: It may eliminate jobs that don't offer value and productivity-robbing
problems by continuously improving your process.
2. Concentrate more: The team members may devote greater emphasis to tasks that bring
value by eliminating those that don't.
3. Improved inspiration: Workers feel more purposeful when they can concentrate on
important and influential work instead of pointless busywork.
4. An improved method of working: The team will only work on jobs when there is demand
if the pull approach is used. Any downtime can be used for education or planning.
KPIs that can help enhance best practice
1. Overall Equipment Efficiency is one of the KPIs that producers most frequently monitor
and find to be most helpful (OEE). OEE measures how well a product's machinery
operates whenever it is supposed to.

2. Average Lead Time: The average time frame to manufacturing is one of the most crucial
lean KPIs to monitor, perhaps the most crucial. This might ideally refer to the period of
time needed to develop a concept into a finished good before it is put into use. In
actuality, the time limit is often estimated as the amount of time in between beginning of
a notions development and its completion (Jewell, Jewell and Kaufman, 2022).
3. Value stream mapping is a Lean manufacturing approach that aids in the improvement of
processes. It entails developing a thorough pictorial depiction of each step necessary to
develop a concept into the company, item, or valuation Endeavour. It is simpler to find
waste in procedures and enhance teamwork using mapping of value streams. One of the
earliest steps taken by organizations looking to switch from project-based to product-
based delivery is frequently mapping their supply chain.
4. Develop a Kanban pull system. Historically, businesses distributed tasks in accordance
with the push strategic approach. This method involves pushing jobs onto employees and
basing investment choices on expected consumer demand. Lengthy delay periods, large
stockpiles, and overworked employees may result from this strategy.
Analysis/discussion
This methodology uses by the most of the manufacturing organisation to complete their big
projects. It helps to reduce wastages. Businesses nowadays must contend with problems and
complexity as a result of the fast-changing corporate environment. Any company, either
manufacturing- or service-focused, may eventually rely on its capacity to consistently and
methodically react to all these developments in order to increase the value of the output in order
to survive. Lean manufacturing proposed system is therefore will become a key capability for
every kind of company to operate, since valuation processes are required to reach this excellence.
Only a very small percentage of studies focus on more than one lean element at a time, but for
lean to be successfully implemented, an institution needed to start concentrating on all of the
components, including Value Stream (VSM), Cellular Manufacturing (CM), U-line system, Line
Balancing, and Asset Tracking. Lean manufacturing seeks to cut waste without compromising
the calibre of company goods or services. Implementing a customer-centric strategy that
considers the wants and aspirations of the customer is necessary to achieve this result (Wilson,
Bhakoo and Samson, 2018).

CONCLUSION
As per the above report it has been concluded that to organize any global project require
using effective project management methodologies that can help to implement project in
effective manner. Just being able to standardize, regulate, and organize work techniques requires
project management system. It promotes a consistent emphasis across all initiatives and enables
us to replicate effective elements and lessons learned from failures, leading to a method of
ongoing progress. There are using six sigma and lean manufacturing in order to get effective
results and identify their pros and cons that help to know their positive as well as negative
effects. Along with there are analyzing key performance indicator that help to improve
performance in projects. By using these KPIs identify the improvements require in the projects
and improve according to requirements.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Meredith, J. R. and et.al, 2020. Project management in practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Maheshwari, S., Gautam, P. and Jaggi, C. K., 2021. Role of big data analytics in supply chain
management: current trends and future perspectives. International Journal of
Production Research. 59(6). pp.1875-1900.
Chakraborty, D. and Biswas, W., 2019. Evaluating the impact of human resource planning
programs in addressing the strategic goal of the firm: An organizational
perspective. Journal of advances in management research.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2020. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Takakura, Y. and et.al, 2019. Application of critical path method to stochastic processes with
historical operation data. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 149, pp.195-208.
Unzueta, G. and Eguren, J. A., 2021. Training in higher education in the Covid-19 context: A
case study of operation management training in a Business Innovation and Project
Management Master.
Yu, M., 2020, June. Standardization Construction of Fire Information Communication Operation
and Management Based on Remote Communication. In Journal of Physics: Conference
Series (Vol. 1570, No. 1, p. 012048). IOP Publishing.
Zhang, Z. and Min, M., 2019. The negative consequences of knowledge hiding in NPD project
teams: The roles of project work attributes. International Journal of Project
Management, 37(2), pp.225-238.
Jewell, D. O., Jewell, S. F. and Kaufman, B. E., 2022. Designing and implementing high-
performance work systems: Insights from consulting practice for academic
researchers. Human Resource Management Review. 32(1). p.100749.
Wilson, K. B., Bhakoo, V. and Samson, D., 2018. Crowdsourcing: A contemporary form of
project management with linkages to open innovation and novel operations. International
Journal of Operations & Production Management.
Müller, R., Drouin, N. and Sankaran, S., 2019. Modeling organizational project
management. Project Management Journal, 50(4), pp.499-513.