Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1981. As of 2010, it enjoys widespread application in many sectors of industry, although its application is not without controversy.
Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction or profit increase).
The term six sigma originated from terminology associated with manufacturing, specifically terms associated with statistical modelling of manufacturing processes. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating indicating its yield, or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six-sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million).
Source: Wikipedia
Utililizing the tools of Lean Six Sigma, we focus on the manufacturing processes at the plant level to improve on the following:
- Cost Reductions
- Spoilage
- Maintenance
- Materials
- Labor
- Eliminate Waste
- Productivity Improvements
- Problem Solving
- Training
- SMED (Changeover Reductions)
- Contraints Analysis (Process Bottlenecks)
- Training
- Job Specific
- Maintenance
- New Procedures
- Maintenance (TPM)
- Problem Solving
- Quality Improvements
- Eliminate Customer Complaints
- Improve Product Quality
- Tooling Control
- Materials
- Measuring Methods
- Data Analysis
- Problem Solving
- Specification Analysis
- Process Improvements
- Value Stream Mapping
- 5s
- Work Standardization
- Process Streamlining
These are only a small sample of the total tools we put into use to move a company/operation toward becoming a profitable, low cost producer. The ultimate goal is to make the operating plant profits as high as possible through the elimination of waste in the processes, materials, and methods. At the same time, the operations quality and productivity increases. Training and the proper guidance is the key to obtaining this. The continuous improvement process starts with management and flows through the entire organization. With our guidance and training, the company can expect excellent returns on their investment.
The process starts with a "Lean Assesment" of the processes. This quickly highlights areas of concern and where we can help you the quickest. This also provides a means of continuous assesment to monitor improvements.
Contact us today about our Lean Six Sigma training.