Gemba Consulting Inc. Six Sigma Overview

Are your customers demanding price reductions? Are your delivery schedules not being met? Are you pressured to do better? Whether you are in business operations or in manufacturing, Gemba Consulting coaches you through to breakthrough performance!

An Overview of Enhanced Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a highly structured data-driven methodology that uses statistical tools to deliver breakthrough business performance through the reduction of variation in products and processes.

The central tenet of Six Sigma is that systematic reduction of variation in every aspect of a business will significantly improve customer satisfaction, profitability and shareholder value.

Lean focuses on eliminating waste or anything that does not add value in the eyes of the customer, while producing quality products or services as quickly and economically as possible.

By amalgamating the concepts and introducing the Lean toolset into the Six Sigma methodology, you get better results, faster.

For the average North American company, a typical process will have a ‘sigma level’¹ around 4 and will display a ‘cycle efficiency’² of 20% or less. This equates to spending 10-40% of revenues on defective product (rework, scrap, warranty, etc.) and other waste (inventory, expediting, etc.).

In contrast, a ‘best-in-class’ operation will perform with process sigma levels between 5 and 6 – a reduction in defect rate by a factor of between 30 and 2000 – and a 2 to 3 times improvement in cycle efficiency.

While that may seem daunting, every one of the 'best-in-class' companies started out with a problem that needed to change. Many companies started with a structured approach based on DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. Gemba Consulting's approach and depth of experience is particularly valuable to companies seeking to eliminate the barriers affecting bottom line performance.

1 Sigma level of 4 equates to 6200 defects per million opportunities.

2 Cycle efficiency is defined as value-added time / total lead time

DMAIC
Do you need to make significant and immediate changes to an existing process? Gemba Consulting helps you reach your target on the first attempt without a large investment in dollars or time. Take a closer look at DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

DFSS
Are you implementing a new product, process, or service? Learn more about DFSS - Design for Six Sigma.