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Lean Six Sigma & Design for Six Sigma

Lean and six sigma are process improvement strategies to reduce waste and increase quality in business processes. In addition to consultation via PMC Way, PMC offers multiple levels of Lean, Six Sigma DMAIC, and DFSS training and certifications.

Lean, is the manufacturing and organizational process that Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers have used to fundamentally change the automotive industry. It is the Toyota Production System (TPS). Lean is best characterized as a systematic approach to the identification and elimination of Waste (MUDA) or Non-value Added activities through continuous improvement.

Six Sigma
Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a business process that allows companies to drastically improve their bottom line by designing and monitoring everyday business activities in ways that minimize variation and resources while increasing customer satisfaction. DMAIC has 5 phases that are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, & Control.

Six Sigma principles apply to any business of any size. It applies to far more than just industrial processes; it applies to engineering, product design, and any commercial process, from processing mortgage applications, to credit card transactions, to customer service call centers. By attacking “variation” during the design of products and services, it’s possible for any organization to achieve unprecedented profitability.

Six Sigma is not about quality in the usual sense; the objectives look beyond to profitability, sustainability, and long-term growth by helping organizations make more money by improving customer value and efficiency. Since there is a direct correlation between quality levels and sigma levels, Six Sigma focuses on customer requirements, reducing waste, defect prevention, cycle time reduction and cost savings by helping organizations produce products and services better, faster, and cheaper. The benefits go straight to the bottom line by identifying and eliminating costs which provide no value to customers (waste costs).

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a systematic approach used for designing new products and/ or processes. DFSS embeds the principles of Six Sigma as early as possible into the design and development process. Traditional Six Sigma is applied to processes and products that are currently in existence. DFSS has 5 phases that are Define, Measure, Analyze, Develop, & Validate.

Unfortunately, the cost to make changes later in the product life cycle steadily increases leading to large losses of return on investment for businesses. Across all industries, only 60% of new products launched are successful while only 45% of all resources allocated to new product development are spent on products that fail to provide an adequate return. Product failures are typically attributed to three areas; market research mistakes, design/ production problems, and bad timing.

Design for Six Sigma

Benefits of PMC's Lean Six Sigma and DFSS services include:

  • Increased productivity
  • Reduced cycle time
  • Reduced inventory
  • Efficient material flow
  • Reduced floor space requirement
  • Improved understanding of customer requirements
  • Agility to respond to changing customer requirements
  • Improved products
  • Reduced changes during production

Typical Lean Manufacturing Methods we use are:
  • Value Stream Mapping
  • Error Proofing (POKA YOKE)
  • KANBAN (Pull systems)
  • Quick Setup (SMED)
  • Standardized Work
  • Supplier Development
  • Workplace Organization and Visual Controls (5S)

Partial List of Lean Manufacturing Tools we use are:

  • Work Measurement/ Takt Time
  • Capacity Analysis
  • Line Balancing
  • Layout Optimization
  • Material Flow Analysis
  • Process Mapping
  • Simulation Modeling & Analysis

Distinctive Six Sigma Methods we use are:

  • DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) - is used for projects aimed at improving an existing business process.

  • DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify) or DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) is used for projects aimed at creating new product or process designs.

Partial List of Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS Tools we use are:

  • 3G/5G
  • 5W1H
  • Process Mapping
  • Root Cause Analysis
  • Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
  • Control Charts
  • Design of Experiments
  • Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
  • Regression Analysis
  • Taguchi Methods
  • Ideal Function or P Diagram
  • QFD (Quality Function Deployment)
  • Virtual Engineering Model
  • Tolerance Analysis
  • Six Hats
  • Brain Writing
  • Pugh Concept
  • One Box Sorting

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