|
Lean Sigma
In 2009 Steel Supply and Engineering launched a Lean Sigma Leadership initiative. Company President Jeff Dean is driving the organizational efforts to improve the processes and systems that deliver customer value. According to Sean Dwyer, Vice President of Human Resources,”Lean Sigma provides a proven framework for developing our leaders and continuous improvement capability. Lean Manufacturing’s focus on the elimination of waste, combined with Six Sigma’s focus on the systemic reduction of process variation, give us the tools we need to lead our industry in quality and deliver performance.” According to Dean, "For years, we have been great at serving our customers with quality products and responsive service. As we continue to grow our business, Lean Sigma will help us create a culture that remains dedicated to serving customers with excellence.”
...
The Four Goals of Lean Production:
One: Improve quality:
In order to stay competitive in today’s marketplace, a company must understand its customers' wants and needs and design processes to meet their expectations and requirements.
Two: Eliminate waste:
Waste is any activity that consumes time, resources, or space but does not add any value to the product or service. There are seven types of waste:
- Overproduction (occurs when production should have stopped)
- Waiting (periods of inactivity)
- Transport (unnecessary movement of materials)
- Extra Processing (rework and reprocessing)
- Inventory (excess inventory not directly required for current orders)
- Motion (extra steps taken by employees due to inefficient layout)
- Defects (do not conform to specifications or expectations)
Three: Reduce time:
Reducing the time it takes to finish an activity from start to finish is one of the most effective ways to eliminate waste and lower costs.
Four: Reduce total costs:
To minimize cost, a company must produce only to customer demand. Overproduction increases a company’s inventory costs due to storage needs.
Six Sigma leverages the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) process to identify and implement breakthrough improvements to business processes. Six Sigma compliments the company's Lean production philosophy with focused improvement efforts.
The early results delivered by company's operational leaders show great promise. With effort and discipline the company will acheive its ambitious goals for world-class levels of productivity and customer service.
|
