The offensive driver takes control of the road without regard to those surrounding them and forces those vehicles to adhere to their demands. Usually it is the offensive driver who causes mistakes to be made, that lead to accidents.

On the other hand, the defensive driver keeps monitoring the situation, anticipating dangerous conditions and quickly responds to mistakes made by others avoiding accidents.

For the defensive driver, the Six Sigma 5 Whys could symbolically be called a way of life that’s programmed into their mindset, used as a precautionary tale before getting on the road. For the offensive driver, it is used to gain insight as to what caused the accident. Most people conduct their business offensively; that’s why the Six Sigma 5 whys is a great tool.

Let’s take a look at Six Sigma 5 Whys in the following infographic.

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Don’t just manufacture your product — improve the quality of your product as well as the quality of the way you manufacture. Let’s take a look at this infographic — it provides the definition of valuable to all Six Sigma students. It is self-explanatory, easy to grasp, and if followed correctly, will help your business run efficiently and effectively.

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Here is a challenge: get educated on Six Sigma, and make plans on how you are going to improve your business. That way, when things are up and running full speed ahead you will be ready to take your business to another level.

Visit our site and register for one of our virtual classes in our virtual classrooms, or take one of our self-paced online courses! It is the smartest, most business-savvy decision you will ever make. 

For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services please visit 6sigma.com. 

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We can apply this principle to work situations as well. This infographic shows just how to do a root cause analysis step-by-step. It is an easy way to get rid of a stubborn problem once and for all!

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Let’s outline the 7 Wastes of Lean as depicted in our infographic:

Transport: Remember transporting an item or materials doesn’t in itself add value to our product. Having everything in one building or location would lower costs of fuel and possibly staffing and waiting, which increases production cost and time.

Motion: This is excess motion, whether it is bending down to pick something up or moving from one place to another. Or maybe it is the need of another machine to take the item from one place to another, all of which is considered waste. It could be the cause of an accident happening, or a staff member hurting their back picking something up. A well-organized workspace is where minimal movement is necessary and everything you need is close by.

Inventory: It is everyone’s desire to have enough materials on hand just in case. Having a stock isn’t always a good thing. This is inventory that you do not need. It takes up storage; capital is tied up in that excess inventory, all of which increases production costs and doesn’t add any value. Plus, this inventory does get old just sitting there.

Overproduction: Yes, it is nice to be ready if a customer needs your product, but producing more than you need is again a waste. What happens if the anticipated need of extra product isn’t needed? Now you have wasted manpower, as well as costs of extra materials.

Defects: Errors in products from the design (or just about any reason) must be replaced. Anything that is not what the customer’s requirement is must be handled as a mistake. So everything in a product is a waste if it doesn’t meet the requirement of the customer. This includes labor, paperwork, replacement of the product or possible future loss of customers.

Over-Processing: Processing or doing anything that is not necessary. This can include painting something that no one will see, or adding a component that the customer doesn’t require.

Waiting: Anytime you have to stop production because of the previous step not being ready, that previous task has to be done more efficiently so waiting is not an issue.

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Or perhaps you could just improve an existing product or service? In this infographic, we outline how some Fortune 500 companies make that decision through the use of tools such as DMAIC and DMADV. 

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Looking for something you can’t find is frustrating, and wastes time. This alone can weigh down morale. We outline the 5S Tool in the following infographic, which improves efficiency for any organization. By simply keeping the workspace neatly organized, free of clutter, where you can visually see exactly what need in the order of importance, you will save time, revenue and uplift the morale of the entire team. The genius is in its simplicity. 

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