Both. In college I took 20 weeks worth of statistics (theory and some engineering application for things like t tests, ANOVA, etc.). I'm currently going through the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification process, which involves stats to the level of DOEs, Multivariate statistics, non-normal distributions, etc. on a largely applied level. This has the potential to be a very hand-wavey, obtuse subject if you don't truly know what you're doing, which many people don't so you'll likely find mixed reviews on this. But if you do understand the fundamentals, it looks like an extremely powerful tool. The two weeks of training were conducted by certified Black Belts within my company, and one consultant who is also a university professor in the area who has 30+ years of experience and is absurdly knowledgeable. From here on out it's on me, though I plan on having continuous interaction with the Black Belts and have signed up for some webinars from the SAS Institute and plan on doing multiple a month to continue my learning.
Is this the same Six Sigma management philosophy? I know nothing about it, tell me more.
Okay blackbootz I'm going on no sleep and a cross-country flight but here goes nothing. At least there's some coffee in front of me. Maybe? I'm not sure what your reference point is for "Six Sigma management philosophy". I don't consider it a management philosophy so much as a problem solving approach that can be used across disciplines, industries, research, and transaction issues (how business is done, infosys, etc.). It's very statistics driven, and has a central tenet of improving process capabilities and reducing variation. There are some issues with how that is measured, but that's a more technical topic. It is a management approach in the way that problems are handled, as DMAIC and DMADV are foundations of Six Sigma. How does this tie in to lean? Well, lean is all about reducing waste and non-value added activities. These two topics have a lot of overlap, which is why "Lean Six Sigma" is a catch phrase right now. Lean tools and Six sigma tools can be used with each other, such as Kaizen Events which can be used for larger, Six Sigma projects. Ultimately these two approaches combine for a similar purpose. Let me know if you have questions on any of this, or follow-ups. That's a really high-level overview and I'm unsure if it will be covered in an economics statistics course (I'm assuming it's a course within your major and not, say, an engineering stats course). This stuff has a firm grip on certain industries, such as semiconductors and electronics manufacturing in general. One of the gold standards for lean manufacturing is probably Boeing. Seriously, watch that video. It looks so simple and yet it's not at all.
That video is really something. The assembly line is just such a massive feat of engineering. I probably misunderstood what Six Sigma was when I first read about it. Jack Welch popularizing a management philosophy sounded like conflict resolution and not systems implementation. But now I understand it more. It sounds like Six Sigma is best suited for algorithmic, repeatable processes. And what's your goal in earning your belt in Six Sigma? Where do you want to go next with it?
Blackbootz : you are correct in your initial assessment of Lean. In theory it's exactly like ButterflyEffect describes it. In practice it works nothing like the theory. Lean suffers badly from bad data and bad incentives. It fails to account for people naturally wanting to cheat and cut corners thereby requiring the non value added steps it so boldly try's to eliminate. I liken lean and six sigma to being a corporate version of communism. It sounds great in theory but in practice it's poorly implemented and does not work well. Dispite that its proponents keep championing it as a magic bullet saying that all failures are a result of improper understanding of lean and all successes being a direct result. As a concequnce lean and six sigma are much like corporate versions of religion where the successful are true believers and the failed are heathans. If you want to know what lean truly looks like and not the theory that you read in text books and promo videos, stop by the cactus moon bar on a Friday after 3pm and ask some Boeing mechanics. You will get some awesome stories of spectacularly expensive failures.
I'd agree with both of these things but faulty data...that's prevalent everywhere. Research, government studies, manufacturing, that's not necessarily a shortcoming of Lean so much as a shortcoming of a person's ability to ensure data quality, which is arguably the harder part of the equation. As for human behavior, that's a tricky one. Plus, it's near-impossible to ensure consistency across people doing the same exact thing. Which is frustrating, however, I do think it can be successfully implemented if data quality and the inclusion of operators and such into it's implementation are accounted for. It shouldn't just be a tool of the engineer or equivalent.Lean suffers badly from bad data and bad incentives. It fails to account for people naturally wanting to cheat and cut corners thereby requiring the non value added steps it so boldly try's to eliminate.
Haha, is the Cactus Moon a bar by the factory? Where is the main Boeing factory? It sounds like, according to you, that lean Six Sigma and communism make faulty assumptions about human behavior and motivation. Where did you gain such insight/experience of lean Six Sigma?
Fuckin' Jack Welch. I like this (and just about only this) about the guy: Anyway. It is, it's also useful for things like process scale-up, new process implementations and qualifications, and highly repeatable processes. I'm hoping to use this as a stepping stone to get a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, and leveraging that in to a full-time position that can take in a more holistic business function beyond working in one factory. I'd like to work on process improvements across an entire business, across departments, and improve process capabilities while reducing waste. It's a decent way to feel okay about working in an industrial setting. If, somehow, I could get in to a more R&D oriented position which uses these principles that would be great too.Regarding shareholder value, Welch said in a Financial Times interview on the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy...your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products".[51]