Combine Speed With Problem Solving

Using lean manufacturing will give your company a competitive advantage. When you turn to lean you are able to learn how to improve your organization. Lean will focus on understanding how to streamline processes but it really works on being able to create a continuous improvement method that will assist in giving you a chance to offer higher quality products to your customers. Lean manufacturing is popular for how it can give your organization a way to improve it's speed and efficiency. Not only is it a great system for manufacturing, it can be implemented just about anywhere. It's a system that is universal thanks in part to all of the tools that it has. Thousands of companies are using lean manufacturing due to how successful it is and the outcomes that it can provide.

Six Sigma is another method that is quite effective and one that is also being utilized by many organizations. Using Six Sigma will enable your organization to find ways to improve but it also enables you to save money as you work on the elimination of waste. Finding ways in which you can eliminate waste will allow you to have a successful plant. You will not need to deal with issues pertaining to excessive raw materials that cannot be recycled or used in some way. You also won't see your staff members standing around trying to look for things that they can do with their spare time. Everyone will have a clear understanding of their job duties and roles and they will always have something that they can focus on.

Both systems are effective and you often have companies torn over the decision of which one they need to choose. Thankfully there is now Lean Six Sigma. This was developed over time by companies that are like yours and may be on the fence about which program is best. With lean six sigma you will have a series of tools and other things that you are able to choose from which will allow you to reduce wastes while also increasing the efficiency of your organization. Here are just a few of the tools that you will be looking at when you are considering Lean Six Sigma:
- 5S method
- SMED
- Quality control processing
- Value stream mapping
- Kanban
- DMAIC
- DMADV

Each company that uses Lean Six Sigma must be able to understand how differently the tools need to be implemented. It works well at some plants where others will fail. You need to be able to focus on the system as a whole and as a process that takes time. It is vital that you are patient with the implementation and follow through as some organizations need to wait a year for any results to be seen. Patience and sticking to the program will be able to help you in dealing with the ups and downs of the program. You are responsible for the way that your employees react to the program and how they perceive it. You need to be the leader that is believing in the program if you want to see your employees get on board with it and to completely support it for the future of the company.

If you have tried either program in the past and they failed, it is due to your own fault. You need to consider hiring a consultant to come in help to train you and to help your staff as well. It's not a system that is hard, it is just the mindset change that people often get hung up on and they cannot overcome it.