Category: Lean Six Sigma

  • How to Eliminate the Seven Kinds of Waste Using Lean Six Sigma

    There are seven major types of non-value-added work: Though as an organization you may find some of these – transportation and inventory, for instance – are necessary, they don’t add value to the customer’s experience. When trying to increase value for your customers with Lean Six Sigma, value equals only what the customer is willing…

  • Use 5-Whys to Eliminate Non-Value-Added Steps in Your Lean Six Sigma Process

    Lean Six Sigma is all about doing the right things in the most efficient way in order to provide value to customers. Yet, organizations routinely include non-value-added steps – work that isn’t important to the customer – that increase expenses. Since customers only want to pay for value, it makes no sense to incorporate non-value-added…

  • Combining Lean Six Sigma with Simulation Software

    Systems rarely perform exactly as predicted. This is the opening line from a Predicting Process Variability blog. It is also, according to the blog, “the driving force behind most improvement projects.” Because variability is inherent in all processes, regardless if you work in manufacturing or at a bank, there will always be some amount of…

  • Lean Six Sigma: Improving the Environment

    Our growing focus on improving our environment has placed pressure on many organizations to re-evaluate their business practices. As a result, many manufacturers are on the hot seat when it comes to implementing production methods that will lessen their environmental impact. That’s the beauty of Lean Six Sigma. By aligning it with sustainability principles, manufacturers…

  • Are Lean Six Sigma and BYOD a Good Mix?

    Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) seems to be cropping up in organizations all across the country these days, as the convenience and portability of these devices allows their owners to do a host of tasks, wherever they are. Though some see this move as a potential security risk, if personal devices improve worker productivity, this…

  • Lean Six Sigma Reduces Government Waste

    Lean Six Sigma works for private-sector companies, so why not big government? That’s exactly what many people want to know. Well, several years ago the U.S. government began applying Lean Six Sigma (LSS) techniques to some departments and agencies. The U.S. Army and Navy implemented LSS in 2005 and 2006, saving a combined $2.45 billion as…

  • Integrating Lean Six Sigma into Company Culture

    Integrating Lean Six Sigma into Company Culture

    To achieve perfection is to combine the best of Lean – eliminating waste to reduce costs – and Six Sigma – removing business process flaws to create perfection – to become Lean Six Sigma. However, Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is more than just a combination of these two philosophies. LSS is a practical business tool…

  • Lean Six Sigma Enables Improvements Through Technology

    A recently concluded webinar and panel discussion included the CEO of the Center for Excellence in Operations, Inc. and MetricStream. This company is a market leader for global corporations in Enterprise-wide GRC and Quality Solutions. The goal of the webinar was to provide participants with insights into how Lean Six Sigma is a technology game changer. There…

  • Lean Six Sigma Improvement and Work Design, Part 13

    This is the thirteenth and last post in a series taken from a lesson in Pyzdek Institute Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training. You can find all of the articles in the series by searching this site for the title. Sustain Sustain  is the name of the whole 5S game. You gain nothing by deploying…

  • Lean Six Sigma Improvement and Work Design, Part 12

    This is the twelfth post in a series taken from a lesson in Pyzdek Institute Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training. Future posts will continue the topic. You can find all of the articles in the series by searching this site for the title. Standardized Cleanup Standardized cleanup is used to maintain the 5S activities…