Lean Six Sigma in Production / Operations

Lean Six Sigma in Production / Operations: Why It Matters

Shop-floor profit leaks hide in wait states, defects, and rework. Lean hunts for the waits; Six Sigma hunts for the variation.

Waste purge: A biopharma line found 54 % of its production cycle was pure waste and mapped fixes to remove it. SpringerLink
Scrap plummet: A medical-device plant drove scrap from 70 000 ppm to 10 000 ppm (-86 %) and saved US $174 k in material plus US $205 k labor. Juran Institute
First-pass yield jump: Sheet-metal parts right-first-time rose from 60 % to 87 % in two months; DPMO crashed 87 968 ➜ 15 015. GoLeanSixSigma.com (GLSS)

Lean Tools Every Production Team Can Use

Value-stream map line-to-line — expose idle queues and double handling.
5S workstations — labeled tools, clear floors, instant audits.
Kanban WIP limits — visual caps keep flow steady.
Obeya board — daily display of takt, defects, downtime.

Six Sigma Methods for Production Metrics

Metric	Track	Why It Helps
First-pass yield (FPY)	Good units ÷ total units	Shows hidden rework cost
Scrap rate (ppm)	Defective parts per million	Direct material loss
Cycle time	Minutes from start to pack	Reveals bottlenecks
OEE	Availability × Performance × Quality	One view of true capacity

DMAIC takes each metric from baseline → root cause → pilot → control.

Lean Six Sigma in Production / Operations: Quick Wins and Real Stats

Removing two non-value steps cut 54 % of total cycle.
Standardized glue tips, 5S, and split stations slashed scrap to 10 000 ppm and freed US $413 k.
5S + Kanban boosted first-pass yield 27 points and trimmed order lead time by 10 days.

Lean Six Sigma in Production / Operations: Step-by-Step Start-Up

Pick one pain — FPY or scrap is visible and countable.
Map the flow — every touch, wait, and walk.
Tag each step — value-add, required, waste; delete pure waste.
Baseline numbers — ppm, minutes, $.
Analyze causes — 5 Whys, Pareto, regression.
Pilot fixes — one cell or shift.
Control — SOPs, dashboards, weekly audits.

Wrap-Up

Lean Six Sigma in Production / Operations means fewer defects, faster cycles, and money back to the bottom line. Start with one metric, remove waste, reduce variation, lock the gain, repeat.