Page 27 - Lean six sigma demystified

6 Lean Six Sigma DemystifieD

Find Your Fix-It Factory

Every company, service or manufacturing, has two “factories:”

1. A “good” factory that creates and delivers your product or service. In a
printing company, this might be the pressroom. In a hospital, this would
be the emergency room, surgical rooms, and nursing units. In an automo-
tive manufacturer, this would be the assembly line.
2. A hidden fix-it factory that cleans up all the mistakes and delays that
occur in the main factory. Some printing companies recycle 250,000 lb
of paper and ink every quarter because of errors. Hospital emergency
rooms all experience repeat visits from the same patient in the same
day. Doctors misdiagnose illnesses 15% of the time according to one
BusinessWeek article. Every automotive manufacturer experiences
recalls over safety and other issues. If your company is a typical com-
pany (and virtually all non–Lean Six Sigma companies are), then the
fix-it factory is costing you $25 to $40 of every $100 you spend.

Your Expenses Potential Savings

$1 million $250,000–$400,000
$10 million $2.5–$4 million
$100 million $25–$40 million
$1 billion $250–$400 million
? still struggling

ever purchased a product only to get home and find out it doesn’t work, and
then have to take it back? You were part of the retailer’s fix-it factory.
ever make a mistake at work and have to work overtime to correct it? You
were part of your company’s fix-it factory.

Double Your Profits

If you’re like most businesses, reducing defects, delays, and costs by 20% would
more than double your profits.