Efficiency Unleashed: Breaking Down Lean and Six Sigma

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As a child in the late 1970s, I lived near Fremont, California, the home of the GM automotive manufacturing plant. At the time, GM had a terrible reputation for producing poor quality cars that were dwindling in popularity. I toured the GM plant while in elementary school. Each child received a pair of safety glasses before our group was escorted around the plant with our teacher. I remember seeing the car pieces on the line, and workers using blow torches to assemble the car together. It was a heady experience, yet despite the openness of these tours, our parents weren’t buying their cars.

Toyota cars had been rising in popularity since the 19609s, and by 1995, the Toyota Camry was the best-selling car in the United States. This was even after GM and the other American automakers had spent the better part of the 1980s examining the quality and efficiency of their factories. In 1984, GM had joined forces with Toyota to create the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) plant, a pivotal partnership and enduring example of cross-cultural collaboration that lasted until 2009. The U.S. auto industry was forever changed for the better because of Toyota’s emphasis on continuous improvement, termed “Kaizen.”

In the competitive manufacturing landscape, continuous improvement is essential for maintaining efficiency, reducing defects, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management (TQM) has become an umbrella term for various quality improvement efforts with various methodologies developed to drive improvements and quality.

Toyota’s practice of Kaizen is based on the genesis of the word: “Kai” means change, and “zen” means good. Lean, Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma are the guiding principles of quality improvement in manufacturing and offer the most comprehensive toolkit for addressing waste reduction and quality improvement at any level of manufacturing. In the aggregate, these systems speak directly to defect reduction.

To continue reading the entire article, which originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.