A Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach to operations management delivers many benefits:
- A comprehensive operations management system, processes and staff aligned with organizational priorities through a balanced scorecard.
- Engaged staff who understand what actions deliver customer satisfaction and increase long-term profits.
- An improved root cause oriented decision-making process that includes all functional perspectives.
- A system which naturally identifies potential process improvement projects.
- Improved supplier loyalty and willingness to invest in customer success.
- Satisfied customers, sales growth, pricing power and a more effective sales force.
- Less fire fighting. Exceptions are managed effectively with less negative impact.
- Increased ROI from the existing ISO 9000 infrastructure.
- Finished goods defects below 1%. Defect rates cut in half.
- Total cost of quality cut in half, especially scrap, waste and rework.
- Individual process quality levels are measured so that risks are understood and managed.
- Customer expectations are made explicit, holding operations accountable for delivery and limiting the power of individual staff or customers to lobby for exceptional (unprofitable) results.
- Delivery cycle times are reduced by 33-80%, with clear understanding of process capabilities to avoid overpromising.
- Consistent on-time delivery improves from 98% to near 100%.
- In-stock product availability increases from 95-97% to 99%.
- Peak period delivery capacity doubles.
- Real conversion cost per unit improves by 2-3% per year.
- Product costing better reflects the real cost of low volume products.
- Buying and selling transaction costs are reduced by 50%.
- Risks are reduced through process definition, staff engagement, cross-training and supplier experience.
- A constructive culture is built which engages staff in continuous improvement towards near perfection goals in quality, delivery time, capacity, cost, product variety, transaction costs, risk management and customer engagement.
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