Value added definition
Non Value added definition
Necessary Non Value added definition
Lean Six Sigma
Lean Sigma is both a cultural change process and a set of powerful tools and techniques that will help any business to improve its efficiency and productivity.
Although Lean Sigma originated in manufacturing environments, the principles can be applied to businesses operating in any sector.
Lean
Lean is a set of principles and tools that focuses on creating value in the eyes of the customer. It's can be applied to all parts and levels of a business, from sales, development, administration, finance as well as manufacturing.
Lean focuses on eliminating the waste that exists in every single process. In order to do this we classify every activity that we do into three types:
Value Added
Activities that a customer would be willing to pay for which transform materials and information into products & services which the customer actually wants.
Non Value-Added
Activities that bring no value and consume resources, but don't directly contribute to the product or service in the customer eyes and are therefore unnecessary and should be eliminates.
Necessary Non Value added
Activities that contribute not value, but for some reason such as a customer requirement or regulation, cannot currently be eliminated.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma was originally developed by Motorola and is a highly disciplined, structured programme focused producing near perfect products and services by improving the accuacy and quality levels of processes.
The basic premise of Six Sigma is that sources of variation can be:
Identified
Qualified
Eliminated or controlled
Lean Sigma
Six Sigma on it's own is very complex and for the vast majority of businesses is not required. But by combining the Lean toolset and the structured approach of Six Sigma, we have produced a very powerful toolkit that allows businesses to improve at a rapid rate. Hence the term Lean Sigma.