Lean talent demand continues to outpace Six Sigma by a substantial margin
Lean talent demand continues to outpace Six Sigma by a substantial margin
The Avery Point Group is a global executive recruiting and search firm that assists companies in identifying, assessing and recruiting midlevel management to senior executive Lean & Six Sigma talent.
"Companies are seeking Lean and Six Sigma talent as a way to help their organizations better leverage their performance during the ongoing recovery. They don't want to add back one-for-one on headcount, inventory and operating cost as the economy recovers and volume returns. Rather, they see continuous improvement talent as an enabler to help them gain and maintain significant performance leverage."
This year's study found that Lean talent demand continues to outpace Six Sigma by almost 35 percent, in-line with last year's study. Nonetheless, this is still a dramatic shift from The Avery Point Group's 2005 inaugural Lean and Six Sigma talent demand study that showed Six Sigma talent demand exceeding Lean by more than 50 percent.
"These results continue to show an overall bias for Lean skills, perhaps as an ongoing hedge against the challenges of today's economic climate, which Lean's more immediate and practical focus on waste, flow and flexibility may better serve. It may also indicate that companies are continuing to balance out their continuous improvement talent stable with Lean candidates versus slightly more ubiquitous Six Sigma talent."