Many of Argo’s engagements utilize a Lean Six Sigma methodology. Both Lean and Six Sigma are leadership approaches and management philosophies, with a set of tactical methods and tools that, as a complete system, reduce waste (non-value added activities and variation).
Lean is imperative in today’s business environment with intense global competition, universally available technology, constant cost pressures, and demanding customers. It is a focused approach for companies to reduce waste, produce more with less, and stay competitive in today’s business environment. Lean creates and sustains:
- Decreased waste, cost, and cycle time
- Increased capacity potential
- Increased quality
- Low absenteeism/voluntary turnover
- Extensive measurements of key, critical processes
- High levels of worker involvement, ownership, and commitment
Six Sigma provides a competitive advantage in today’s business environment. Sigma is a statistical approach to measure the amount of process variation as it relates to customer requirements or specifications. Six Sigma represents a level of variation so low that products and services are 99.9997% defect free. It reduces variation and sustains:
- Decreased waste, rework, and cost
- Increased process predictability and capability
- Increased quality with products and services that last longer and perform better
- High levels of customer satisfaction
Many times Argo will combine Lean and Six Sigma into an integrated approach because of the competitive value and because they complement each other so well. Although both approaches touch on process efficiency and effectiveness, Lean primarily focuses on process efficiency (speed) while Six Sigma primarily focuses on process effectiveness (quality).
