Strategic Solutions and Associates, LLC is a project management-consulting firm dedicated to developing, evaluating and implementing superior quality process designs, measurement systems and resource materials for businesses through support services designed to deliver sustainable solutions that work. 

Strategic Solutions and Associates, LLC strives to maximize the business impact by eliminating waste through the application and incorporation of Lean Six Sigma principals – proven methods that yield substantial results.

LEAN

Lean is what your company needs to achieve to perform above the competition.  It’s not just doing more with less, it’s providing more value to your customers at less costs to you.  Lean means eliminating non- value added steps in every process.  Identify the sources of waste by mapping the value stream.  Make a list, check it twice and start the map from the customer’s perspective.  The customer defines the value.   

Lean tools can help organizations shape strategic plans that yield win-win outcomes for the customer and the organization.  A noted motivational speaker, Zig Zigler, once said, “You can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want”.  In other words, organizations can get anything they want if they help their customers get what they want.   This concept is the “golden thread” that runs through the mission, vision and strategic goals of every top performing organization.

Lean is more than a methodology it’s a way of life.  The organizational culture should reflect lean thinking.  Everyone is a member of the “Lean Team”.  These easy to use tools incorporated into the day-to-day operations yield significant sustainable results. 

SIX SIGMA

Six Sigma is the roadmap to successfully monitoring, managing, and controlling key business processes.  It is the best quality tool in the business and used by organizations worldwide.

Six Sigma uses a 5-step methodology known as DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

Define – Identify problems that significantly affect the bottom line.  State the business case in financial terms.  Set the boundaries of the scope and identify the stakeholders.

Measure – Measure on purpose.  Measure the activities that are key drivers for the desired outcomes.  Create a performance measurement system with success indicators and process owners.

Analyze – Analyze the data collected in the Measure step.  Look for types and sources of variation.  Look for patterns in the data that might lead to root causes.  Be sure to validate the data.  Garbage data can over-state or under-state the problem.

Improve – Create an action plan. This is the pivotal step in the six sigma process.  Commit to allocating adequate resources to the plan.  Implement the improvements. 

Control – Maintain the improvements with tools that monitor variation.  Make necessary adjustments.  Post the performance metrics for everyone to see.