Imagine having a toolbox all of your life and never really knowing you had those tools, or better yet, not knowing how to use them. Well, that’s pretty much what everyone’s been doing with their little known toolbox they have been carrying around since day one.
In essence, Lean Six Sigma tools are a common sense approach to everyday issues in businesses. For those with a creative mind, you can apply these tools into other facets of your life — from straightening out your garage or workspace at home, to even planning events.
Issues are issues, no matter where they come up. The proven solutions with Lean Six Sigma tools (when used correctly) will garner proven results.
The 4/50 Rule…Rules
This is loosely based on Pareto’s Rule, which is that 20% of what you do will produce 80% of your results. In business and when dealing with people, you want to take smaller yet significant steps, so the 4/50 rule is 4% of what you do will generate over 50% of your results.
Baby Steps is the Key
So you really don’t have to fix everything to notice a marked improvement, but that 4% better count. You only have to fix a few things to make the 50% improvement in quality and speed, and that will result in an improvement in cost.
- Success is a great morale booster, so for the 4/50 Rule here are some examples of what you can do:
- Focus on one general area such as eliminating delays or deviation (here is a great place to use Lean or Six Sigma tools).
- Have one issue to fix and in a clear concise statement, name the issue and goal you are trying to achieve.
- Use a flowchart, or even better, a value stream map to outline the existing process. This will make it easy to analyze where delays are occurring and thus eliminating them.
- Test out your new process after eliminating the cause of the delays and create a control chart with the new processes. Now, you must monitor and of course sustain.
If you would like more information on our Six Sigma courses or services, please visit www.6sigma.com.
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