POST

Increase process transparency with Lean Six Sigma and Motion-Mining®.

Motion-Mining® and Six Sigma, two methods to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company.

15/12/2022

Minutes reading time

Motion-Mining® and Six Sigma are two different methods that can be used together to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company or, for example, a manufacturing process. Motion-Mining® technology uses advanced algorithms and sensors to analyze and optimize the movements of employees or machines in a process. Six Sigma comprises a set of tools and techniques used to identify and eliminate errors and deviations in a process. By combining the two methods, promising optimization potentials can be identified because the process analysis can be carried out more precisely. We will tell you how.

‍

Lean Six Sigma - a powerful process optimization methodology

The term "Lean Six Sigma" already reveals that the roots of the methodology can be found in the lean management approach. An approach that is used to efficiently design the entire value chain for industrial goods. For this reason, lean methods are excellently suited for putting industrial production or manufacturing processes through their paces, identifying optimization potential and preventing waste, for example. In fact, service processes can also be improved using this method.
Costs can often be reduced and the value chain shortened in the process. Nevertheless, quality is the top priority in lean management.

Now that the effects of the pandemic are still reverberating, the economic situation is placing a heavy burden on companies, and energy prices are hitting the manufacturing sector in particular, it is particularly important to offer one's own products or services as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible in order to conserve resources.

Lean management is therefore a strategy for withstanding competitive pressure and keeping customers satisfied or even more satisfied through improved production, manufacturing or service. A stable order situation is just as important as a positive corporate image.

‍

Reliable quality management for industrial companies

Lean Six Sigma is the combination of Lean Manufacturing and the Six Sigma method. Lean manufacturing is about optimizing the process of production as efficiently as possible.

With the help of the Six Sigma method, an attempt is made to control the error rate in the production process and to reduce it to a minimum through improvements. The greatest challenge of this proven methodology to date is the availability or collection of a valid database that maps the processes.

In order to link Motion-Mining® and Lean Six Sigma, it is necessary to integrate Motion-Mining® technology into the DMAIC cycle. This involves recording the motion data within the process, analyzing it for any inefficiencies, and using the information to develop and implement a Lean Six Sigma project. Ideally, waste is uncovered and the process optimized as a result.

The process optimization training developed by oloido and MotionMiners combines Lean Six Sigma and Motion Mining®. oloido teaches participants the Lean and Six Sigma mindset, and MotionMiners complement this partnership by offering a technology that uses wearables to record this database. Combined, the two methods offer the possibility of evaluating optimizations based on key figures.

The combination of the two methods offers the chance to verify the "invisible" with the help of process data, to understand its processes and thus to optimize them.

‍

Lean Six Sigma - The Yellow Belt

The training concept of Lean Six Sigma is based on the belt colors of Japanese martial arts. Participants in this training course learn, among other things, which prerequisites a project must have for the application of Lean Six Sigma, what the general process of a Six Sigma project is, which different meanings are associated with Six Sigma and how the DMAIC cycle is applied in the different phases of a project. During the training, the participants will learn statistical key figures for the evaluation of process stability as well as creative methods for generating ideas, searching for causes or finding solutions.

‍

Comprehensive analysis with the DMAIC cycle

Six Sigma follows a standardized procedure for process optimization and quality assurance of the improvement measures, which structures the sequence of the individual work steps. The DMAIC cycle consists of the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control phases.

In the Define phase, the problem or the process section is narrowed down. As soon as this phase is completed, process data is recorded in the subsequent Measure phase on the basis of certain key data and influencing factors. During the Measure phase, Motion Mining® comes into play for the first time. The previously defined measurement points are recorded with the help of the technology and processed for the Analyze phase in a dashboard, the so-called MotionMiners PROCESS INTELLIGENCE, or MPI for short. In the analysis, the actual status/actual process is first examined and then compared with the target status/target process. Process deviations and weak points of the process can thus be identified.

Various methods can be used in the Six Sigma analysis, for example, surveys and flowcharts can be created or cause-effect diagrams can be generated. In this phase, various problems are analyzed and categorized in order to find solutions later on.

Improve is the phase in which the focus is on the experience of the process experts. They are the ones who ultimately have to make the decision and select possible optimization measures. Data acquisition via Motion-Mining® has the advantage that facts are extracted which actively support the decisions. Already in this phase, various optimization measures are implemented in order to be monitored in the subsequent control phase.

The control phase is the last phase of the DMAIC cycle. After the adjusted process has been repeated, the old and new results can be compared with each other and initial improvements can be identified.
The knowledge subsequently gained can be examined again in a DMAIC analysis, thus allowing various optimization approaches to be tested and implemented.

The combination of Motion-Mining® and Six Sigma opens up many more areas of knowledge for analysis and optimization measures, as well as many new possibilities for optimizing processes.

‍