Lean Six Sigma Gets to the Skinny

Lean and Six Six Sigma Are The Perfect Tools

Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma combined is the perfect tool. That being said, you can still use them separately, because they are designed to fix different things.

Six Sigma was designed to find and fix every error and mistake in every aspect of your business that gets in the way of giving your customer/client what he or she wants. Lean Six Sigma, on the other hand, was created to become more competitive by cutting the time it takes to deliver what the customer wants, thus making your business thrive over your competitors.

Fix that Leaky Faucet!

Every business has 2 ways they can turn a profit:

• Externally, by providing a service or product and having customers purchase your service or product.
• Internally, by fixing the gaps in your cash flow; this accounts for 25-40% of lost revenue.

Most businesses concentrate on creating new, innovative products or services to seduce new customers as a way to turn a profit.

An easier profit gain would be to check each existing process. Every process has its gaps, which is losing revenue for your business. Saving this revenue is instant profit for your company.

A Harsh Reality

Contrary to what business owners believe, most business processes have three large gaps in their processes:
Delays: Every process has wasted time between steps, which translates to wasted time (and time is money).

Defects: Mistakes and errors that now have to be fixed. These should not have been made in the first place; this again wastes time, which could be better spent serving customers.

Deviations: Even the tiniest variation from product to product or service can cost businesses money over the long haul.

So, as you can see, even a small reduction in any of the three large gaps in your business processes (the way in which things are done) can yield an instant profit in the way of savings.

Focusing on your employees and not developing an easy to follow, speedy and efficient process is creating gaps for your business internally.

It is like putting your eggs in someone else’s basket. What if the employees leave? You are giving the control to someone else. A well thought out process that is easily taught to a new employee, is something you can rely on.

Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma are methodologies that you can rely on to fix a multitude of sins in your business, whether your company is small or large.

Learn more information about 6Sigma.com’s Lean Six Sigma training coursework, available as classroom, onsite, or online options.