The Six Sigma approach is a proven customer focused business strategy for superior quality of products and services. Six Sigma provides a competitive advantage for business through dramatic improvement. At several companies, small and large, Six Sigma has proven to be a very effective strategy for improving quality, reducing costs, reducing cycle times, increasing profit ability, and creating wealth for employees and shareholders.

Without a fundamental shift in approach it is impossible to achieve Six Sigma results’ (3.4 defects per million opportunities). A cornerstone of the Six Sigma methodology has been to aim for a dramatic improvement – an improvement that is visible, meaningful, and profitable. Merely setting an incremental improvement goal is not what Six Sigma is about; Six Sigma will drive for a 70% improvement rather than a 10% improvement.

Aligned with customer requirements and business objectives and implemented under passionate management participation, Six Sigma guarantees success. Companies like GE, Honeywell, Raytheon, and Bombardier have used Six Sigma profitably to achieve double-digit growth and reduce costs. Motorola reported about $2 billion in savings in manufacturing operations during the first five years it implemented Six Sigma.

Integrating Lean with Six Sigma
Accelper Consulting has incorporated the lean thinking in its approach to problem solving using Six Sigma methodology. The integration of the lean and Six Sigma has been detailed in the book Six Sigma Performance Handbook. The right mix of lean and Six Sigma results in excellence (primarily powered by Six Sigma) and efficiency (primarily powered by Lean). Accelper Consulting has trained and consulted various organizations in major lean principles including:

1. 5-S
2. 5-Whys
3. Visual Factory
4. Value Stream Mapping
5. Muda
6. Poka Yoke
7. Single Minute Exchange of Die
8. Total Productive Maintenance

A Black Belt is expected to save on the average $250,000 per project and complete about four projects per year, netting a million dollars for the company.

A company with ten Black Belts can produce savings
of about $10 million during the year.

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