International Journal of Multidisciplinary Thought, CD-ROM. ISSN: 2156-6992 :: 2(3):123–130 (2012) Copyright c  2012 by UniversityPublications.net REASONS OF FAILURE IN LEAN SIX SIGMA PROJECTS Atakan Gerger and Ali Rıza Firuzan Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey In order to obtain the alteration and the improvement in the business processes, several methodologies are used by companies. In this process the companies also allocate their resources for the usage and improvement of these methodologies. Human resources which are the core ones need project budget for its facilities. Lean Six Sigma is one of the favourite methodologies which have been focused on lately. Companies have assigned considerable resources in order to apply the Lean Six Sigma project. But this does not mean that all of the Lean Sigma Six projects fit well and be successfull in application to all companies. For some companies the Lean Six Sigma projects cause the waste of time, loss of money and motivation which result in the failure of application and the methodology. In this study, the reasons of the failure in Lean Six Sigma projects have been identified and examined and the issues which lead to a successful project have been investigated. Keywords: Lean six sigma failures, Lean six sigma, Six sigma, Lean. 1. Introduction For the academic field of quality Lean Six Sigma has become one of the most prominent trends in the past few years. Many large and well known corporations like Motorola, General Electric, American Express, Ford Motor Co. and AlliedSignal, have appealed to the Lean Six Sigma methodology. The results of this methodology have been quite good and beneficial for the companies so this lead to a growing interest and tendency to this method. However, the main problem in the application of this method arose since the companies couldn!t handle the application according to their requirements and needs. Some companies chose to be trendy and followed the herd without questioning, adapting or redesigning the Lean Six Sigma program to their own companies. The hoped for results fail to be seen because of flawed application and expectations -for example; in quality circles, kaizen, ISO 9000 and quality award models-. A similar future scenario for Lean Six Sigma is possible (Sandholm and Sorqvist, 2002: 17). Studies have indicated that as many as 67% of total quality initiatives and 80% of reengineering efforts have failed to produce their promised results (Young, 2001: 19). Therefore, many companies have focused on some factors on Lean Six Sigma for not being unsuccessful. For instance, The Xerox Lean Six Sigma deployment has three dimensions; projects and results, cultural change, and leadership development to continue its progress (Fornari and Maszle, 2004: 16). Key success factors for Six Sigma: According to Goldstein (2001: 36); Six Sigma success factors are deployment plan, active participation of senior executive, project reviews, technical support (Master Black Belt), full- time vs. part-time resources, training, communications, and project selection, project tracking, and incentive program, safe environment, and customers. 123