The starting point of Lean Six Sigma is to realize breakthrough projects. The approach of Kaizen is to improve the quality step by step. A Kaizen-project takes at most a couple of days and is mostly carried out by the employees.
In plaats van de kwaliteit stapje voor stapje te verbeteren kan ook gekozen worden om ineens een grote verbeterslag te maken door een Lean Six Sigma project uit te voeren. Een doorbraakproject duurt doorgaans 3 tot 6 maanden en wordt uitgevoerd door een Green of Black Belt.
Instead of improving the quality step by step, it is also possible to ensure a big improvement all at once, by carrying out a Lean Six Sigma project. A breakthrough project usually takes 3 till 6 months and is carried out by a Green or Black Belt.
Within a Lean Six Sigma organization, one or more (Master) Black Belts will be responsible for training and coaching the organization. The Lean Six Sigma improvement projects are carried out by Green and Black Belts. The Yellow Belts and Orange Belts support the projects as team members in larger projects or independently carry out smaller (Kaizen) projects. Managers in their role of ‘Champion’, are the clients of the projects. They facilitate and supply the tools that are required to carry out the projects.
Lean Six Sigma offers in addition to powerful statistical techniques also a structured approach for carrying out an improvement project. This approach is called DMAIC which is short for Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control. Even though the DMAIC-roadmap originates from Six Sigma, this can also be used for Lean projects.