Lean and six sigma are the time-tested philosophies of continual process improvement. Introduced in the 1980s, industrial communities across the globe have witnessed the transformative power of lean and six sigma philosophies for process industries. Today, a range of new technologies are available that can complement these principles. The lean and six sigma principles, as such, provide a foundation on how these modern tools can be used for continual improvement of processes. In this blog post, we are exploring the use of process mining to complement lean and six sigma principles of continual improvement of business processes.
Lean principles focus on removing waste in business processes. It has identified the seven most common wastes, aptly abbreviated as TIMWOOD. These wastes are Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, and Defects. Process experts use this framework to eliminate obvious waste in their business processes. However, when the obvious wastes are eliminated, a data-driven approach is needed to further identify waste and remove them. And in their search for this data-driven approach, organisations often find themselves using the rigid statistical approach prescribed in Six Sigma. However, the jump from obvious waste elimination using lean principles to a rigid statistical approach of Six Sigma may not be very smooth for organisations.
This is where process mining finds its way into the world of process improvement. For organisations that have already achieved low-hanging process improvement through lean principles and for whom the rigid statistical approach of six sigma is a bridge too far, process mining tools can help them to dig deeper into their business processes and unlock the next level of improvement. This is achieved by visualising the actual process using the process timestamps and identifying the gap between the standard work and the reality.
For organisations that have already achieved low-hanging process improvement through lean principles and for whom the rigid statistical approach of six sigma is a bridge too far, process mining tools can help them to dig deeper into their business processes and unlock the next level of improvement.
Lean principles suggest that process improvement requires a deep understanding of the standard work in the business processes. A clear understanding of the activities that add value to the process is needed. Also, to continuously improve this standard work, we should be able to sense the deviation from the standard work. Such deviations could be useful for the development of the process, or they could be a waste. In both situations, efforts must be made either to make it a part of the standard work or to eliminate the deviations. In complex processes, sensing the deviation from the standard work is the task where process mining can help. Process mining would enable you to visualise the deviations in complex business processes, which can be used to dig deeper into your processes and find improvement opportunities.
In complex processes, sensing the deviation from the standard work is the task where process mining tools can help. Process mining tools would enable you to visualise the deviations in complex business processes, which can be used to dig deeper into your processes and find improvement opportunities.
The quest for finding improvement opportunities in your complex business processes may not be stopping here. After all, it is a competitive world, and we need to keep improving all the time to gain a competitive edge in our business. By this time, we have crossed the bridge from lean to six sigma, and we are ready to apply the rigid statistical approach prescribed in six sigma to further improve our complex business processes. Let’s explore, how process mining can help us in process improvement at this stage.
Six Sigma assumes that variability is the cause of process problems, and thus removing variation and eliminating defects creates products and services that delight customers. The DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control) improvement cycle lies at the heart of six sigma, and process mining can help you speed up the DMAIC process improvement cycles.
The DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control) improvement cycle lies at the heart of Six Sigma, and process mining can help you speed up the DMAIC process improvement cycles.
In the Define phase, process mining can help in defining the scope of a project by providing a detailed map of the existing processes and identifying areas of improvement. In the Measure phase, process mining can provide data on process metrics like cycle time, throughput, and error rates, which can be used to measure the current state of the process. In the Analyse phase process mining can provide complimenting additional data that can be used to analyse the root causes of issues and bottlenecks in the process. In the Improve phase process mining can be used to simulate and test potential process changes before they are implemented. In the Control phase, the process mining tool can produce alerts and error messages if the new process deviates from its intended path.
In conclusion, process mining can help in identifying the wastes in the processes and can help in sensing the deviation from the standard work. This capability will provide a boost to your organisational capability in implementing lean principles. In addition, process mining will help speed up the DMAIC process improvement cycles, by turbo-charging your organisational capabilities at each stage of DMAIC. This will reflect in improved process performance metrics as well as in the profitability of your business.
In this blog, Alok Jain and Virpi Lehtisaari explored the connection between process mining, lean, and six-sigma, and explained that process mining can complement lean six sigma initiatives in a process organisation. Alok is trained at the black belt level in Lean Six Sigma and works as a senior consultant in process mining implementation projects at PwC Finland. Virpi works as a senior manager in the operations consulting team, and she is the lead of Connected Supply Chain and process mining consulting areas in PwC Finland.
Do you agree with the views of Alok and Virpi? Has this topic raised your interest and you want to explore more? Have you been contemplating using process mining in your organisation, but need support? Do you need help in developing your organisation’s strategy for process mining implementation, vendor selection, or change management support to get the best out of process mining for your organisation? If any of these questions resonate with you, please get in touch with the undersigned. PwC Finland has rich experience in helping organisations in their pursuit of process mining implementation, you are invited to explore this topic with us. We are happy to discuss this with you!
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