Army Depot's Business Practices

Lean production and Six Sigma help a company to make the production and the workers work more efficient. The processes allow different types of programs to be put in place to ensure the workers and the production process operate at the optimal levels. The processes ensure that each element of the production and looks at each step to ensure that the process is working in a more efficient way (Wisner , Tan, & Leong, 2012).

Lean Six Sigma combines Lean’s time-focused waste-elimination philosophy to dynamic analytical problem solving toolkit of Six Sigma.

Now a day's global market in the world and all companies are looking up making new improvements that drive bottom line results. In that process all originations and companies are turning to process improvement methodologies such as lean six sigma. Continual improvement, as one of the objectives of a quality management system is achieved by the improvement of all processes and activities at a particular stage of the production cycle. Continual process improvement is also the only way how to survive and succeed among competitors. The management of the company will always be looking for opportunities that will enhance the effectiveness of the company’s processes. Lean Six Sigma is one of the significant methodologies of quality management, this seeks to increase productivity and improve quality of process outputs. As a customer oriented managerial strategy, it emphasizes that imperfection is an opportunity for improvement. The Lean Six Sigma system helps to effectively reduce any defective process; it improves the quality of the provided services and makes the

In order to accomplish this vision, Ford decided it would be in their best interest to use Six Sigma. According to google, “Lean six sigma can be defined as a management methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste.” Six sigma was originally created by Bill Smith and Bob Galvin of Motorola in 1986. The idea is to improve quality so that the number of total defects is reduced to the point where they are statistically insignificant; and means that an error will occur only 3.4 times per million observations.

As a management system, six sigma permeates all aspects of an organization. Many of those who have had the opportunity to participate in six sigma projects have experienced the transformation of six sigma principles and concepts into the fabric of the management system of the companies in which they are employed by witnessing improvements that will have continuous, long term influences within the company. This is accomplished by creating alignment within the company leadership. Six sigma offers a way of thinking that facilitates improvement by reducing the amount of variation in each process. Statistical tools are used to provide insight so that management can predetermine process outcomes. It also provides a method to analyze a process to determine areas of possible improvement.

ABSTRACT: I will try to theorize that, while Six Sigma and Lean as a change and change procedure is conveying noteworthy business advantage to expert associations, it has not been effectively adjusted to convey comparable advantages cross wise over Supply Chain Management. To exhibits by reference to the writing that most distributed uses of Six Sigma and Lean in Supply Chain Management are identified with the use of conventional interior Six Sigma and lean procedures to the inner procedures of a supplier to the “Six Sigma and Lean Organization”. In my paper, the issues specific to an utilization of Six Sigma and Lean in a more extensive Supply Chain Management setting that I will talk about, with reference to particular Supply Chain

Lean is a system that relies heavily on all aspects of the system running flawlessly and efficiently. To achieve this an operation must place extreme emphasis on creating a culture of lean company wide. A popular misconception is that lean is suited only for manufacturing. Not true. Lean applies in every business and every process. It is not a tactic or a cost reduction program, but a way of thinking and acting for an entire organization. Many organizations choose not to use the word lean, but to label what they do

Lean Six Sigma processes are used by many businesses without it being realized. Many companies today are adopting the Lean Six Sigma processes to aid in cost reduction and waste management. The Six Sigma program aids in eliminating the negative effects caused by variations within the supply chain. The Lean process is all about the speed, flow and elimination of waste concerning inventory. Although Lean and Six Sigma are separate programs, they complement each other. Together these two programs provide supply chains with a tool that eliminates, “unnecessary inventories through disciplined efforts to understand and reduce variation, while increasing speed and flow in the supply chain.”(Lean Logistics Understanding) Lean and Six Sigma

As Lean matured and Six Sigma started to receive acceptance across organizations other than Motorola and Toyota, they both became successful and competing methodologies for business improvement. Today, several companies rest upon either Lean or Six Sigma in order to streamline and improve their processes. Smart companies however are finding ways to integrate both methodologies, under the umbrella of Lean Six Sigma (LSS). This paper deals with a case where a large software service provider firm LPS implemented lean Six Sigma methodology to improve upon the existing process outsourced by a large international client X1RT Ltd.

Lean practices can be beneficial for all types of organizations. The primary objective of lean is to improve organizational efficiency by eliminating waste, which in turn will lead to increased profitability. Organizational efficiency is directly linked to profitability. Often times growing businesses can find their organizations facing challenges due to the inefficiencies causing their bottom line to take a hit. According to Lancaster 2011, some of the strategies that organizations could use to improve efficiency include Lean, Just-in-time (JIT) and Six Sigma. Implementing practices such as Lean is an approach that can help organizations improve operations and increase profitability. However, lean implementation is not as easy as it sounds, it can be challenging for organizations. This paper will discuss the obstacles associated with lean implementation as well as how to overcome those obstacles.

Lean manufacturing is an exercise that is based on waste minimization. It considers the utilization of resources for any activity other than the creating value for the customer, as waste. Basically, lean is centered on “Delivering value with less work by eliminating waste” (Liker, 1997). Lean manufacturing philosophy involves never ending efforts to reduce or eliminate 'muda' (Waste) in manufacturing processes.

Six Sigma has two different focuses which includes Management and technical [1]. The Management focus deals with Project metrics, identifying goals, approving/selecting projects and selecting the workforce on the project [1]. The technical focus primarily deals with minimizing the variation and improving process performance. Six Sigma predominantly depends on the management team inorder to complete the assigned projects in timely manner and to ascertain meeting specific objectives. The Business improvement involves five different stages. Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Six Sigma gives at most importance to detailed results at the bottomline and predict the impact on the Business environment before the Project is approved. The four significant aspects of Six Sigma are customer satisfaction, understanding of the Process, critical decision – making and Business results. Six Sigma is advantageous for companies that rely on bottom-line results and minimizing the number of defects in the Production process. Six Sigma serves as the common technique or mode in order to measure quality gains of different organizations and also to compare one

In today’s world, majority of the enterprises are driven through customers’ need whose primary emphasis is on quality. Hence there is a need for continuous process improvement to satisfy the need of the customers. Lean Manufacturing and Six-sigma approach has been applied in diverse manufacturing processes which in-turn has contributed significantly in achieving continuous improvements. By utilizing these tools, organizations focus on maximizing their bottom-line successes apart from improving their top-line growth. However, many organizations face difficulties while imparting these tools in their sophisticated business models.

In addition to this, Lean Six Sigma mainly focuses on eliminating waste and improving efficiency. It consists of a combination of two strategies namely; Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma. Six Sigma involves the Quality management of product which includes waste reduction, identifying defects if any and also improving the quality. Six Sigma set its stage in the industry by Motorola Corporation in 1980. Furthermore, It gained its popularity in 1990s.

Six sigma is a business process that allows organisations to improve their bottom line dynamically by designing and monitoring everyday business activities in a way that minimizes waste of resources while increasing customer satisfaction (Henderson & Evans, 2000).