Quality Improvement Implementation

The Army Business Transformation Knowledge Center defines Lean Six Sigma as a methodology for business improvement that will improve customer satisfaction, quality, cost, process speed, and invested capital while maximizing shareholder value (2008). Lean Six Sigma has been used at organizations such as GE Capital, Ford Motor, and Motorola. These organizations are just three of the many companies that use Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma is a smarter way of doing business. It takes the processes that a company uses and breaks them down to make them more efficient, reduce cycle times, and improve that way transactions are done in order to increase market share.

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of the Lean program and Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a program that recognizes opportunities, eliminates defects as defined by customers, requires data driven decisions, uses a comprehensive set of quality tools, provides cultural infrastructure, recognized that quality is hindered by variation, and promises positive results if implemented correctly (Army Business Transformation Knowledge Center, 2008). The Lean program focuses on maximizing processes, provides tools, centers on value added activities, and provides a means for quantifying and eliminating cost (Army Business Transformation Knowledge Center, 2008). The two systems work together to and create a much more cohesive program than they do by themselves.

The Lean Six Sigma program has five steps: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. The first step is to define or decide what needs to be accomplished. The measuring stage takes the problem and locates source of the problem. The analyze stage of the program is that stage used to identify ways of streamlining the process. The fourth stage, Improve, is the stage used to find better ways for the process. The last stage is control; this stage is the stage of keeping the problem from happening again.

The Lean Six Sigma program is a program that ADT should use in its business practices. The program is a data driven program. It allows the company to track and improve the processes. The program is transferable to all parts of the company. The program allows the organization to take the savings that are made from streamlining the process and reinvesting them in the company in order to increase shareholder market. The program is easy to track financially and has a good proven track record.

When implementing this program the employees should be trained in the process. By training all the employees in the program, the organization is making the employee a more valuable