Lean six sigma principles could possibly be used to minimize waste in just about any environment. From your standpoint of lean principles waste can be considered the loss of man hours on a particular project. So, don't even think eliminating waste is just taking out trash; it's eliminating stuff that cost money and expend time. There's a basic pattern to stick to in order to use six sigma principles when you get rid of waste and that pattern is usually known as an OODA loop. OODA spells out the steps you undergo along the way of eliminating waste, the first O stands for observe, the second O represents Orient, the D represents Decide, and the A stands for Act.
During the observe stage you happen to be simply making notes of what sort of process is currently being carried out. During the next stage, orient, you're not only taking notes of the way a process is done you might be investigating how the process can be changed from the way it is currently being carried out, often termed "root cause". Then, through the decide stage you might be investigating ways to begin changing the way the process is done and looking to eliminate any identified waste, non-value added tasks, from the process. Finally, after eliminating all the non-value added tasks inside the process, you act by introducing the new process and training those performing the task in the new process.
This is probably the simplest break down of what occurs when using the six sigma lean process to get rid of waste, but it is clear and straight forward. Within the individual steps you can find dozens of other tools that may be utilized during the improvement process. As an example, when first observing the method or gathering info on the current process you'll probably chart out exactly what happens in the process with decision points indicated by the letters "Y" or "N." What this will is asks the question, "is it required to do this before we could do that?"
Then as you proceed to the orient stage where you may be using tools, for example fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, or another statistical product you can come up with to find out the strength of the process. As you do this you will begin identifying the possible real cause of any discrepancies are hang-ups in the operation.
Once you have discovered root factors behind the waste you are hoping to eliminate then you turn to the decision stage and brainstorm with ideas that may eliminate your problems. Finally, you are done at the act stage plus you've successfully eliminated waste via six sigma principles.
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