No business is a stranger to the need for efficiency, but Sri Lanka’s unique challenges make the need for lean business-building more prevalent by the day. The Lean Six Sigma Company APAC’s Chief Executive Dayan Hengedara and Managing Partner Pradeesh Wanniarachchi spoke to Echelon about the company’s unique approach and why its coaching matters in Sri Lanka and the broader Asia-Pacific region.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, The Lean Six Sigma Company has a presence in more than 30 countries, offering globally recognized accreditation, such as ISO 18404 and ISO 13053, in Lean Six Sigma training and certification. Its presence in Sri Lanka also serves as a foundation for expansion across the region.
How would you describe your leadership approach at The Lean Six Sigma Company, and how has it influenced the company’s growth and evolution over the years?
Dayan: My approach is rooted in three core principles: empowerment, collaboration and continuous improvement. This facilitates a culture where people can think critically, are comfortable challenging the status quo, and are driven to grow. We practice what we preach, so clients are similarly encouraged to give their team the right tools and training, alongside strategic guidance, to drive meaningful change from within. Our reputation and our growth across the Asia-Pacific region speaks for itself.
At a time when organizations across industries are under pressure to cut costs and do more with less, why do you believe Lean Six Sigma remains not just relevant, but essential?
Pradeesh: We focus on eliminating waste, which falls under Lean, and using data-driven tools and statistical analysis to improve consistency and quality, which is Six Sigma. Together, they give students a framework for continuous improvement, efficiency, and effectiveness. It is widely used across both manufacturing and service sector organizations such as Apparel, Banking and Finance, BPO, Healthcare, Hospitality, Printing, Logistics, FMCG, Mining, Universities, and so on.
Our simulation-based training allows students to put theory into practice as a programme moves forward. This produces tangible results in a matter of months, and our goal is to ensure they will continue to build on this long after we have left.
Can you tell us about the Total Improvement Framework (TIF)? Can you share specific examples of how this framework has helped your clients achieve measurable business outcomes?
Pradeesh: Our goal is to help clients instill a culture of continuous improvement that endures long after we’re done working together. With Lean Six Sigma’s powerful tools, clients can develop committed leadership and reorient their organizational structure for continuous improvement. As such, the Total Improvement Framework (TIF) model is a simplified version of the ’end state’ of a continuous improvement driven organization (CIDO), following the Lean Six Sigma methodology.
A CIDO is built on top management, middle management, and the shop floor, and these key layers are accompanied by the core elements of Voices, Routines and Roles. This model can be adapted to any organization’s needs, fueling both improvement efforts and true transformation. They can also take either a top-down or bottom-up approach; either can be successfully executed with a tailored approach.
Can you walk us through a recent case where your methodology transformed a client’s operations—what were the challenges, how was TIF applied, and what results were achieved?
Dayan: We recently worked with a leading manufacturer in the APAC region who was struggling with inconsistent quality, rising operational costs, and a broader lack of structured problem-solving ability. TIF was brought in after their prior improvement efforts failed to yield results.
The first step was to align the client’s leadership with their CI vision, after which we developed a rollout strategy based on our assessment. Within TIF’s three layers, we helped the client define clear roles, routines and voice mechanisms to embed improvement into daily operations. Within months, defect rates dropped by over 25%, lead times were reduced by 20%, and employee engagement in problem-solving activities more than doubled. Crucially, the client was then able to sustain and continue this improvement without our oversight.
Looking ahead, what are your strategic priorities for The Lean Six Sigma Company? How are you evolving your offerings to meet the needs of businesses navigating increasingly uncertain and complex environments?
Pradeesh: The Lean Six Sigma Company’s foremost priority is to help organizations become more proactive rather than reactive, and TIF plays a critical role in fostering a culture that can adapt progressively to a volatile environment. TIF allows us to go beyond traditional Lean Six Sigma deployments by offering a structured yet flexible approach that aligns improvement efforts across all levels of the organization, from the boardroom to the shop floor.
In the future, our offering will progress down three key paths.
Through customized CI roadmaps, we will use TIF to co-create tailored strategies that reflect each organization’s maturity, ambitions and context. By capability building, we will expand our development programmes to train individuals as well as enable organizations to build internal CI leadership and governance that lasts beyond any one project. Finally, through digital integration, we will integrate TIF with data and digital tools to support faster decision making, performance tracking, and virtual collaboration.
Ultimately, our goal is to empower clients to move from reactive problem solving to proactive, continuous improvement and finally making them more agile, competitive and future ready.