Five Laws of Lean Six Sigma

The Five Laws of Lean Six Sigma have been formulated to provide a path for quality improvement efforts. In addition to this, these laws help in the enhancement of business processes that aim to improve customer satisfaction. These laws have been accumulated by mixing ideas of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing.

Five Laws of Lean Six Sigma

1) Zeroth Law: The Law of the Market

The zeroth law acts like the base law and all other laws have been formulated using the principles of this law. This law is the starting point and is rightly indispensable. The law states that “Customer Critical to Quality” defines quality, that is, the main concern for improvement. This is followed by Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and Net Present Value (NPV).

2) First Law: The Law of Flexibility

The first law states that the speed of any process is comparative to the flexibility or elasticity of the process. This means that more receptiveness of the process and flexibility to adapt to changes better would be the progress of the project implementation.

3) Second Law: The Law of Focus

The second law states that twenty percent of the activities in a process cause eighty per cent of the delay. This law is related to the Pareto Principle. The statement is interpreted as the main cause of delay in activities is originated from twenty percent of activities. This allows a faster re-focus during the re-orientation phase.

4) Third Law: The Law of Velocity

The third law defines the velocity of the process. It states that the process is inversely proportional to the amount of work-in-progress. This ensures that the work is completed in the fastest possible time and delivered promptly. The Law of Velocity is also commonly known as the Little’s Law. The law explains how the inertia of work-in-progress bears heavily on the speed of project implementation. It is important to know; the higher the number of unfinished tasks, the lower would be the speed of progress due to various ground level handicaps.

5) Fourth Law: The Law of Complexity

The fourth law is defined as the complexity of the service or product offering adds more non-value, costs, and work-in-progress than either poor quality or low sigma or slow speed process problems. Thus, the higher the complexity of the job, the more you see excess costs and work being incurred.