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Lean Six Sigma and Promoting Innovation

A bout 40 years ago, approximately about one in four US workers were in manufacturing; today, it is about one in ten. Only about 30% of current US GDP derives from manufacturing. The numbers in Europe are approximately comparable. This should not be a huge concern. In the early 1800s, about 70% of the US workforce was involved in agriculture, compared to less than 5% today. Yet, the agriculture productivity of the USA is unsurpassed. Most of the really important work being done now and in the future will be done by knowledge workers. This includes new technology creation, the design and development of products and services based on this new technology, and improvements in productivity in existing technologies. This is the process of innovation. There are two kinds of innovation: breakthrough innovation that creates new technology and incremental innovation that improves existing technology to increase productivity, product function, and reliability. Energy, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and communications are examples of industrial sectors where breakthrough innovation will lead to economic growth and development. The automotive, electronics, chemical, and medical device industries often provide examples of incremental innovation. Lean Six Sigma and the associated tools of quality technology should play a major role in this. Unfortunately, these tools are most often thought of in terms of their application to manufacturing. But many aspects of the Lean Six Sigma tool kit are essentially knowledge generation tools. Designed experiments are an obvious example. Well-planned, well-designed, correctly executed, and properly analyzed experiments are in my view one of the most powerful tools of innovation available to business organizations. Practitioners of Lean Six Sigma and quality professionals in general should position themselves to play a key role in the knowledge economy by thinking of themselves as innovation engineers. How do we get the word out that Lean Six Sigma and the associated statistical techniques are an integral part of the general process of innovation? A good start is publicizing your successes. Lean Six Sigma projects often contain excellent case studies of innovation. Some ways to get a wider audience for these examples of innovation include the following: