Professional Documents
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combines two of today’s most popular performance improvement methodologies: Lean methods and
the Six Sigma approach. The objective of these approaches is to eliminate nine kinds of wastes
(classified as defects, overproduction, transportation, waiting, inventory, motion, overprocessing,
underutilized employees, and behavior waste) and provide goods and services at a rate of 3.4 defects
per million opportunities (DPMO).
The real value of LSS starts to show when it is integrated with the organization’s strategic plan,
helping to implement that plan with a focus on the end-use customers. In order to achieve the true
benefits of LSS, projects will cross organizational boundaries and be focused on business processes.
Sustained strategic results can be achieved when this is done. When applied to a business process, the
benefits obtained move the organization toward world-class performance in that business process.
Business excellence in an organization encompasses the areas of strategic focus or intent, customer
loyalty/advocacy, employee delight, and seamless process integration. All the business excellence
models like Malcolm Baldrige, EFQM, etc., have these areas incorporated in their models in different
ways.
1. Overproduction
2. Excess inventory
3. Defects
4. Extra processing
5. Waiting
6. Motion
7. Transportation
8. Underutilized people
9. Employee behavior
Waste 7: Transportation
Transportation waste is any activity that requires transporting parts and materials around the facility.
Unlike motion waste that typically involves only people, transportation waste is usually reserved for
action involving equipment to move materials or parts.* This equipment comes in many forms, such
as carts, rolling racks, forklifts, golf carts, and bicycles, to name a few.
What Causes Transportation Waste?
Transportation waste can be caused by a number of factors. The major causes are:
Poor purchasing practices
Large batch sizes and storage areas
The waste of underutilized employees often occurs when we fail to recognize and harness
people’s mental, creative, innovative, and physical skills or abilities.
Waste 9: Behavior
Behavior waste is any waste that results from human interactions. It is present to some extent in all
organizations. It can be minimal in truly LSS organizations; however, it can be pervasive and
devastating in traditional organizations. Behavior waste naturally flows from an individual’s or a
company’s inherent beliefs. “The concept of waste has not yet been effectively extended to the self-
defeating behaviors of individuals and groups of people in the workplace.”
Product quality: Product quality is a measure of your good product divided by actual (total) output.
The result is your good product output.
Quality = Good products/Actual output
OEE (%) = Availability × Performance × Quality