How Lean Six Sigma will help you meet your cost reduction targets
Suzanne Powell
simplebusinesstransformation.com ? Helping business leaders to optimise their businesses by reducing their operating costs, increasing their profits & building high performing teams.
Lean Six Sigma is a business improvement methodology which improves process cycle time, customer satisfaction, quality and employee satisfaction to name just a few.
Lately, I have been asked questions about Lean Six Sigma and whether it’s appropriate for Service Industries.
The answer is an absolute YES. Let me explain why it works.
Service Processes are full of Waste and are ideal for Lean Six Sigma
Service processes tend to evolve over time. They become encumbered with new bolt on processes as scenarios arise, need resolving, and work arounds are devised.
They tend to be slow and prone to poor quality, both of which drives up cost and drives down customer satisfaction, and therefore revenue.
Typical signs which signify a need for Lean Six Sigma are
? Customers, either external or internal, are chasing for updates or progress of a task
? There are several decision points, such as sign offs, which stalls the process
? People are involved in expediting delays
? People are interrupted in their day to day work
? Customers complaining
? Increased costs
? Employee dissatisfaction
So why blend the 2 methodologies?
Lean
Well Lean can’t bring a process into statistical control as it doesn’t address variation and poor quality.
Variation and poor quality are obviously bad, as variation means that the customer experience varies, and no 2 customers get a consistent product or service.
What Lean does do is look at the removal of non value add activity from your business processes.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma can’t make processes more efficient and improve on speed of the operation.
But Six Sigma removes customer defined “defects” which tend to cause variation, and then cost, to put right.
What they both do, when combined, is remove complexity and remove cost from your business.
And this is absolutely why we need to combine both methodologies to get the best of both words.
Conclusion
So should you consider Lean Six Sigma for your business? Absolutely.
Lean Six Sigma will give you rapid results through the identification of initiatives that can be tracked to the bottom line and support strategic goals & objectives.
Give it a go and if you need help contact me on www.simplebusinesstransformation.com