LEAN vs. Six Sigma

[GOS]

•   LEAN is about people – and getting the most from your people by changing to a culture of continuous improvement to eliminate waste from all processes
•   Six Sigma is about data – and using data to refine processes and eliminate errors and reduce process variance
•   LEAN is more suited to environments involving more people
•   Six Sigma is more suited to environments with less people and more automated or semi-automated processes, and tends to be quite bureaucratic (not LEAN)
•   There is only a partial overlap and mutually beneficial space for these two approaches
•   Hence the much advertised “LEAN Six Sigma” approach is in my view very close to being an oxymoron

[Empirica-Consulting]

I always like to think that people will dig behind the buzz-words and hype surrounding supply chain and operations strategy to extract whatever seems useful -- rather than become slavish adherents to any particular solution. Although I recognise and see both types of behaviours in my everyday work.

In operations strategy, particularly where someone is trying to differentiate competitively, "one size" certainly could never be expected to "fit all". For example, if you think of LEAN and SIX SIGMA as having several components, then some useful components/ideas can be extracted to develop an Operations Strategy that best fits the particular context of a business' operations.

I tend to think of LEAN as having ideas about efficiency and waste reduction; and SIX SIGMA as having ideas about quality and process improvement.

If someone is trying to design an efficient processes that gets the job done right, first time, surely they'd be better keeping an open mind and exploring whether they can extract useful benefits from ideas in each "camp".

[GOS]

I think you've got it just about right... The two approaches are complimentary because they do attack quite different areas of opportunity to improve operations... and hence depending on the type of operation you have, you might tend to more of one and less of another... e.g. Manufacturing drugs = 6 Sigma, etc...
However... one very important point... it takes a very very different person with very different skills and capabilities to be a true LEAN sensai... vs. a 6Sigma Blackbelt... I have interviewed many many people who claim they are both, but it's clear they are not, as the fundamental skills required are different...
LEAN Sensais rely on their eyes and ears... and their skills in developing people to think LEAN
6Sigma blackbelts rely on data, analysis and structure projects...