In service or transactional
services, the yardstick for competitiveness is
price, quality and customer's delivery fulfillment. Lean improving the
speed of customer fulfillment and reducing process wastes
along the supply chain while Six Sigma improving the consistency of
service delivery performance and quality. Altogether both
tools bring down the cost of service and in the meantime
delight the customers and maintain long-term loyalty.

Transactional Is A Process
Service organizations have
historically been slow to adopt improvement methods that begin
in manufacturing. There is a question many managers are asking
the Lean and Six Sigma methods' applicability and
effectiveness?
"Service operations are
different with manufacturing in which lean and six sigma tools
have been applied extensively, and how these Lean and Six
Sigma methodologies can solve our "unique" environment ?"
The answer to above question is
that no
different between service and manufacturing operations, both
are boil down to a series of process steps to convert
inputs into outputs. Only "it does not apply to us" mindset hinders the buy-in of no different between service and manufacturing. Literally speaking,
manufacturing companies are also "service" oriented businesses
towards its internal and external customers.
What Lean Six Sigma
(Transactional) Can do for Service Organizations?
"The lack of
initial Six Sigma emphasis in the non-manufacturing areas
was a mistake that cost Motorola at least 5 billion over a
four-year period."
~
Former Motorola CEO, Bob Galvin
~ |
Below are quality issue related
findings from a survey on financial service executives,
- A lack of consistency in
process and procedures
- Low levels of customer
satisfaction
- Organizational roadblocks
to quality
- A growing gap between
marketing and operations
Lean |
Six Sigma |
Improve speed to market |
Translate strategy into action |
Develop zero waste and value added process flow |
Develop a strong process orientation |
Manage resources based on demand |
Manage and make decisions based on fact |
Deliver Just-In-Time service at the right time and
right price |
Gain customer's loyalty and increase top & bottom
lines |
Avoid backlog buildup and obsolete issues |
Avoid headcount down sizing measures |
|