1. Lean Six Sigma:
What Every
Program
Manager Should
Know
Dianna Hoyt Mark Adrian
Used with Permission
February 9, 2010

2. Executive Summary
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ NASA has a strategic imperative to realize better efficiencies
within internal NASA processes
♦ Lean Six Sigma is becoming the method of choice
♦ Lean Six Sigma is a defined approach to synthesize the use of
established tools and methods
♦ Proven results in both commercial and government applications
♦ Momentum is gaining for the implementation of this management
tool across NASA because of demonstrated results
♦ Lean Six Sigma “NASA Style”

3. Lean Six Sigma is Customer Driven
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Lean Six Sigma rests on “Value From the Customer’s Perspective”
♦ Lean Six Sigma is all about meeting or exceeding customer needs and
things that are critical to them
♦ Cost
♦ Quality
♦ Schedule
♦ NASA Customers suffer when their “Voice” is not correctly considered,
captured or confirmed
♦ Confirming the “Voice of the Customer” is critical for successful Lean Six
Sigma projects

4. Lean and Six Sigma Methodologies…
NASA Lean Six Sigma
The two methods are complementary and, if performed properly, can produce unprecedented results.
♦ Lean Principles: ♦ Six Sigma:
♦ Specify what creates value from the ♦ If you cannot express what you know in
customers perspective numbers, you don’t know much about it;
♦ Identify all the steps along the value stream ♦ If you don’t know much about it, then
♦ Make those processes flow you can’t control it;
♦ Strive for perfection by continually removing ♦ If you can’t control it, you are at the
wastes mercy of chance.
Lean Methods Six Sigma Methods
Product or Service Outputs
Increase Consistency
Increase Efficiency Reduce Variation
Simplify Work Flows Eliminate Defects
Focus On High-value Steps The Customer Is The Driving
Eliminate Waste Force Behind Improvement
The Customer Is The Driving Force Efforts
Behind Improvement Efforts
“As-Is Flow” “To-Be Flow”

5. Lean Principles…
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Lean is a methodology that evaluates processes with a focus on
♦ Speed
♦ Efficiency
♦ Lean aims to cut waste and remove non-value added activities
♦ Waste and value are measured with respect to the customer’s requirements
Views of your process
What you BELIEVE it is… What it ACTUALLY is… What you WANT IT TO BE…

6. Six Sigma…
NASA Lean Six Sigma
3σ Process 6σ Process
-6σ-5σ-4σ-3σ-2σ-1σ 1σ 2σ 3σ 4σ 5σ 6σ -6σ -4σ -2σ
-5σ -3σ -1σ 1σ2σ 3σ4σ5σ6σ
LSL Mean USL LSL Mean USL
3.8σ= 99% Good 6σ = 99.99966% Good
Practical Examples
♦ 20,000 lost articles of mail per hour ♦ 7 lost articles of mail per hour
♦ 5,000 incorrect surgical operations per week ♦ 1.7 incorrect surgical operations per week
♦ 200,000 wrong drug prescriptions each year ♦ 68 wrong drug prescriptions each year
♦ No electricity for almost 7 hours each month ♦ 1 hour without electricity every 34 yrs
Variation has a major impact on the customer’s perception of quality
If we assume standard government processes operate at 1σ these examples become:
♦ 636,000 lost articles of mail per hour ♦ 6.36M wrong drug prescriptions each year
♦ 159,000 incorrect surgical operations per week ♦ No electricity for approximately 2 days per week

7. Lean Six Sigma in Government and Private Sector
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Government and private sector organizations have much in common
♦ Pressure to improve service and products
♦ Expectations to control or cut costs
♦ On-time delivery is paramount
♦ Large organization behavior
♦ Lean Six Sigma has been successful in government
♦ Benchmarking has revealed many approaches
♦ Tailored Lean Six Sigma utilization better serves NASA’s mission, goals, objectives and
culture
Tailored Lean Six Sigma Approach Serves NASA

8. NASA’s Lean Six Sigma Journey
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ MSFC employee-driven grassroots effort has applied industry best practices
♦ Successful projects brought have visibility and demand has grown for more Lean Six Sigma
capability
♦ Training program has been developed to create “in house” experts to meet demand
♦ Lean Six Sigma project efforts have increased in scope and become cross
cutting
♦ Ares Project Office has embraced Lean Six Sigma as a means for employees to improve the
processes, products and services they are accountable for and use
♦ Engineering Directorate has embraced Lean Six Sigma as a means for employees to improve the
processes, products and services to meet program and projects needs

9. The Journey Continues…
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ MSFC, LaRC, GRC, JPL and HQ are strategically applying Lean Six
Sigma
♦ MSFC, LaRC, GRC, and JPL Center and Program focused
♦ HQ Center, Program, and Agency focused
♦ SSC, GSFC, JSC, KSC, and Dryden employees have attended Lean
Six Sigma training and are starting projects at their locations
♦ “First Step” employee grass-root efforts utilize Lean Six Sigma for cost, quality, and
schedule improvements
♦ Successful projects are resulting in Lean Six Sigma expansion…

10. The Focus Is On What Matters Most…
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Leaders are engaged in Lean Six Sigma
♦ NASA Leaders are highly visible in leading Lean Six Sigma training and projects
♦ Visibility is planned into key training and project activities
♦ Lean Six Sigma goal setting
♦ Serious challenges or problems are identified for projects
♦ Lean Six Sigma project scope and goals are explicit
♦ Lean Six Sigma reporting is linked to existing reporting venues
♦ Agency goals are major drivers
♦ Improvement / design efforts are aligned to meet or exceed customer
requirements
♦ Implementation accountability
♦ Successful project implementations are resulting in Lean Six Sigma expansion…
Lean Six Sigma must be relevant to Agency Goals and Objectives

11. NASA’s Lean Six Sigma Evolution
NASA Lean Six Sigma
Transforming
• Continuous improvement is everyone's job
• Improvement driven by strategy and measurements
• Lean Six Sigma is "the way we work"
• Result: Value delivered to taxpayers & customers
• Management team leads process improvement
Optimizing
• Opportunity-focused clusters
• Managers applying the Lean Six Sigma methodology
• Result: larger benefits & better strategy execution
• Black Belts and Lean Six Sigma team drive deployment
Improving
• Ad hoc projects focused on tactical benefits
• Learning the Lean Six Sigma tools
• Result: cost-quality-schedule benefits
Agency Leaders Encourage Lean Six Sigma Applications

12. Roles and Responsibilities
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Agency Leaders ♦ Master Black Belt
♦ Vision ♦ Trains and mentor’s belts
♦ Goals ♦ Technical resource
♦ Priorities ♦ Coaches deployment champions
♦ Strategy and managers
♦ Manages top projects
♦ Champions/Deployment Leaders
♦ Black Belts
♦ Center / Program / Project level
♦ Leads projects
deployment
♦ Mentors Green Belts
♦ Barrier removal
♦ 1% Population
♦ Project identification and selection
♦ Green Belts
♦ Project Sponsor
♦ Lead smaller projects
♦ Resource allocation
♦ Key team member on larger projects
♦ Project focus
♦ 6% Population
♦ Ownership of the process
♦ Cross functional coordination
♦ Sustain the project gains

13. Types of Training Available
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Types of training
♦ Champions
♦ Executive Overview
♦ Master Black Belt
♦ Black Belt
♦ Green Belt
♦ General Awareness
♦ Delivery Methods (In House)
♦ On Site
♦ MSFC
♦ Open enrollment (Satern)
♦ Management Selects

14. NASA Lean Six Sigma Program Metrics
NASA Lean Six Sigma
Training Projects
Total # of Projects Completed: 316
Total # of Ongoing Projects: 77
Processes Impacted by LSS Projects Cumulative ROI

15. Lean Six Sigma and the Product Lifecycle
NASA Lean Six Sigma
Disposal/ Demil
Concept & System Development Production & Operations & Up To
Technology & Demonstration Deployment Support
Development (1000+)X
PRE -
-SYSTEMS AQUISITION SYSTEMS AQUISITION SUSTAINMENT
100%
Robust Designs Costs are High
Reduce Production to Repair Fleet
& Sustainment Costs or Stockpile
Life Cycle Cost Influence
Cost of Corrective Action
Greater ROI through Early
DFLSS Detection & Preventive Action
LSS
Little Impact w/o
Costs are Low
Re -design
to Redesign
0% X

16. Agency Level Projects
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Agency Desktop Software Delivery
♦ Reduced span time from 305 work days to 187 work days (39% improvement)
Reduced approvals from 78 to 33 (58% improvement)
♦ Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) and Space Act Agreements (SAA)
♦ Cycle time reduced 47% (36 days to 17 days)
♦ Agency Records Management
♦ Reduced records retrieval time by 98.8% (456 hours to 5.25 hours)
♦ Disposition Process of Shuttle-Related Property and Assets
♦ Reduced Cycle time 56% (103 days to 45 days)
♦ Reduced process steps 66% (67 steps to 23 steps)

17. Center Level CMO Projects
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ HSPD-12 Process
♦ Increased throughput from 4/day to 45/day
♦ Reduced cycle times for process from 52 minutes to 9 minutes
♦ New Procurements Requisition Process
♦ Reduced span time from 58 days/PR to 13 days/PR (78% improvement)
♦ OCFO Purchase Requisition Process
♦ Reduced labor from 42,309 hours/year to 6,428 hours/year (87% improvement)
♦ Process steps were reduced from 27 to 5 (81% improvement)
♦ Cycle Time was reduced from 20 days to 2.25 days (89% improvement)
♦ Foreign National Visitor Process
♦ Reduced labor from 31,410 hours per year 12,438 hours per year (60%
improvement)

18. Engineering Projects (Design & Manufacture)
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ Ares Interstage Production Flow between Ares 1 First Stage
and Upper Stage
♦ Reduced Interstage Production Flow time by 32% (44.25 m-days to 35 m-days)
♦ J-2X Ancillary Rigid Lines Fabrication
♦ Lead Time Reduced 85% (245.5 to 36 days)
♦ Ares Common Bulkhead Bonding Development Process
♦ Reduced flow time 35% (100 days to 65 days)
♦ MAF Thrust Cone Assembly Flow
Reduced flow time by 50%

19. Engineering Projects (Tactical Support)
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ MAF Receiving
♦ Reduced motion (People) 92% - from 97.8 miles per month to 8 miles per month
♦ Reduced labor by 92% from 32.6 hours monthly to 2.67 hours monthly
♦ Reduced process steps by 45% from 20 to 11 steps
♦ Calibration Lab Facility Liquid & Gas Flow Lab
♦ Reduced labor in minutes from 12,653 min to 6040 min (52% reduction)
♦ Risk Management Process
♦ Cycle time has reduced from 95 days to 68.7
♦ Contractor On-site Badge and Facility Access
♦ Reduced Cycle time 85% - from 15 days to 2.25 days

20. Ares I-X Lean Six Sigma Lessons Learned
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ LE’s are an excellent way to understand current development flows
♦ Disconnects become apparent.
♦ LE’s are an excellent way to change processes to improve efficiency.
♦ Established tools & techniques are efficient means to identify and improve targeted
processes.
♦ Core (traveling) team is important.
♦ Each LE team must have representatives with authority.
♦ Shorter time for LE (but not too short) works better.
♦ Four to Seven working days is a good “rule of thumb.”
♦ Out-briefs should be open to stakeholders.
♦ Emphasize near term actions for implementation of future state.
♦ Do events at the “production” sites.
♦ Having the personnel with the intimate knowledge and vested interest of the targeted
process make the event more efficient and the results are more easily accepted.
♦ Documenting assumptions is critical.

21. Additional Lean Six Sigma Lessons Learned
NASA Lean Six Sigma
♦ The ROI of Lean Six Sigma projects are directly proportional to the commitment
of Senior Leadership to follow through on implementation
♦ Projects must be endorsed and reviewed by senior management
♦ Acceptance of Lean Six Sigma within an organization is accomplished through
projects / events and not by training alone
♦ Most effective results have been attained by Black Belts working Cradle To
Grave on assigned events and projects
Senior Leader Commitment is
Essential to Lean Six Sigma Success

22. NASA Lean Six Sigma
NASA Lean Six Sigma
Diana Hoyt Mark Adrian
Manager, Strategic Planning and Policy CEO, Adrian Technologies Incorporated
Development 203 East Side Square
Innovative Partnership Program, NASA HQs Suite C6
Voice: 202-358-1893 - Fax: 202-358-3878 Huntsville, Alabama 35801
E-mail: Diana.hoyt@nasa.gov Voice: 256-508-1209
mark.adrian@adrian-tech.com