As a general long-term management strategy, Six Sigma preserved and advanced ideas from management that all players in an organization are responsible for ensuring product quality. Therefore, from a management perspective Six Sigma can be defined as the improvement of profitability, efficiency, as well as effectiveness of all of the operations in an organization to meet, or better yet, exceed the expectations and needs of customer (Shonhadji, 2016) . This is done by identifying and eliminating the causes of errors or defects, as well as minimizing variability.
On the other hand, Lean management, has a historical background in the production system used by Toyota, stresses on the reduction or better yet, elimination of waste in order to ensure that all the processes along the value chain can create value (Nicholas, 2010) . The focus of Lean management is on the elimination of waste an on ensuring continuous improvements. Similar to Six Sigma, Lean management also seeks to reduce variability and tries to reduce disparities through the establishment of consistent work procedures (Pepper & Spedding, 2010) . It is important to mention that Lean also focuses on process quantity; therefore, Lean is a significant factor since it outlines the time it would take for a project or item of work to be completed.
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Although Lean and Six Sigma have different origins but similar objectives, they both can be effective on their own. Nevertheless, studies have shown that some firms that have adopted either Six Sigma or Lean have found themselves at a point of fading returns. The two management strategies have benefits that are to a large extent complementary; thus, they can be integrated and used together. Lean might utilize the management structures that Six Sigma provides such as the DMAIC approach which offers an effective embedding framework through which Lean principles can be applied. Similarly, Six Sigma projects can, given the omnipresence of process inadequacies, take advantage of the standard solution s offered by Lean (Huang, Li, Wilck, & Berg, 2012; Pepper & Spedding, 2010) .
Figure 1 : Lean Sigma benefits (Huang et al., 2012)
Figure 1 shows how an organization can benefit from a Lean Six Sigma approach, as well as the accompanying improvements that either strategies, on their own, could not provide. As depicted, the straight blue middle line represents an idea situation that results in the lowest non-value-added cost, while at the same time leads to improved efficiency and quality (Huang et al., 2012) . Thus, Lean Six Sigma is a process that combines Lean’s speed and Six Sigma’s quality, has the unique benefit of recognizing that complexities that are unnecessary, not only results enormous wastages and additional time, but also results in more process costs.
In any industry, for instance, healthcare, the ideas of lead time and process speed are associated with cost reduction. Moreover, it involves both internal quality as well as the quality of the entire chain. As a result, lead time and the effects of Little’s Law presents an opportunity for major players, particularly in the healthcare industry, to not just improve quality and eliminate wastage, but by extension reduce cost (Huang et al., 2012) . Therefore, it is safe to conclude that yes, Lean Six Sigma tools can be deployed to improve cost management since they offer great potentials for achieving process improvement – better customer service and efficiency with the least cost. These are achievable since Lean Six Sigma integrates the administrative infrastructure, comprehensive examination, and diagnosis tools of Six Sigma. It also integrates best practice solutions offered by Lean for challenges dealing with unnecessary costs and wastes. Adoption of Lean Six Sigma tools can thus result in an integrated model for improving service and product quality, while at the same time reducing operational costs.
References
Huang, Y., Li, X., Wilck, J., & Berg, T. (2012). Cost reduction in healthcare via Lean Six Sigma. In G. Lim & J. W. Herrmann (Eds.), 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference . Knoxville, TN.
Nicholas, J. M. (2010). Lean Production for Competitive Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Lean Methodologies and Management Practices . New York, NY: Productivity Press.
Pepper, M. P. J., & Spedding, T. A. (2010). The evolution of Lean Six Sigma. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , 27 (2), 138–155.
Shonhadji, N. (2016). Using six sigma tools to improve strategic cost management: Management accounting perspective. Journal of Economics, Business, and Accountancy Ventura , 19 (3), 427 – 434.
