Six Sigma in Action 六西格玛实例-来自美国商务周刊.ppt

1、Six Sigma in Action,By Brian Burnsed From: Sept. 2009 Business Week,Six Sigma Goes Shopping Six Sigma, a wildly popular cost-cutting tool for manufacturers in the 1990s, has resurfaced this decade in a new arenaretail. Some of the countrys largest retailers and grocers have implemented Six Sigma pro

2、grams over the last few years and shed millions in superfluous costs. BusinessWeek asked Six Sigma consultant SSA&Co. to share some of the most innovative and cost-effective uses of Six Sigma that theyve encountered in the retail realm.,Icing on the Cake PROBLEM: A major U.S. retailer examined 300 o

3、f its stores and found that 96% of cakes made in the stores had anywhere from 1 to 32 ounces of extra icing.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The most significant reason for over-icing was that cake decorators had no means of weighing the cake. To solve the problem, the company instituted digital scales in every

4、bakery department, reducing excessive icing by more than 80%.,Loss of Milk PROBLEM: A major U.S. retailer was experiencing excessive loss of milk in a group of 300 stores.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The problem stemmed from low quality caps on one-gallon milk containers. The defective caps were causing cont

5、ainers to burst open or leak in dairy cases. The company worked with the dairy bottling company to fix the issue, and consequently reduced milk loss by 55%. TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $2 million,Too Much Garbage PROBLEM: A major retailer found that waste volume and costs were too high.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS:

6、 Expired perishables accounted for 67% of all waste weight, while potential recyclables, including cardboard and plastics, accounted for a full 23% of all weight. After the discovery, compactor waste was reduced by more than 10 million pounds, the companys stores increased their cardboard recycling

7、by approximately 2 million pounds, and food donations increased by 4 million pounds annually. TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $2 million,Excessive Labor Costs PROBLEM: Labor costs were much higher than anticipated for a major retailer.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The problem stemmed from employees clocking in and out

8、of shifts 10-15 minutes before and after their scheduled time. In response, the company instituted a change to the time clock system to keep associates from clocking in or out more than 3 minutes before or after their scheduled shift. These improvements resulted in a 5% reduction in labor costs. TOT

9、AL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $21 million,Excessive Bag Usage PROBLEM: A major U.S. retailer wished to reduce excessive plastic bag consumption.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The issue was driven by store personnel not using the correct type of bags based on the product purchased and not placing enough products in each b

10、ag. To address the excessive bag consumption, the company implemented a training program. As a result, total bag utilization was reduced by 8%, or more than 14 million bags per year.TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $230,000,Running out of Stock PROBLEM: A retailer found that some of its stores were running out

11、 of stock far too often.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: Workers were rushed and ill-informed when they placed orders with suppliers. In response, the retailer modified the order/delivery schedule and began providing store personnel with critical ordering information, such as sale price, to help store employees

12、better estimate product needs. The project reduced the number of products that ran out of stock by 23%.TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $7.4 million,Deli Meat Loss PROBLEM: A retailer was losing its lunch-meat inventory far too quickly.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: Workers were throwing away too many scraps and were put

13、ting excessive amounts of meat on catered deli trays. The company instituted new procedures for slicing down end pieces of deli meat and implemented a catering reference guide to help control meat portions on deli trays. As a result, the amount of deli meat wasted was reduced by 32%, or 376,000 poun

14、ds annually.TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $1.2 million.,Coupon Abuse PROBLEM: A retailer discovered that gross margins in one of their departments were much lower than expected.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: Coupon abuse was the culprit. It was discovered that customers could use as many coupons as they wanted on a si

15、ngle item in a transaction. In response, the retailer instituted stricter limits on coupons at the register, which resulted in a 45% reduction in coupon abuse.TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $1.1 million,Printing and Shipping PROBLEM: A group of 400 stores was experiencing excessive printing and shipping cost

16、s.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The retailer discovered that the company was printing and shipping merchandising documents to vendors even though the documents were available online. When the company learned of this, it immediately cut off printing and shipping of these materials and notified all vendors that

17、 the documents could be obtained online.TOTAL ANNUAL BENEFIT: $720,000,Store Signage PROBLEM: Store personnel in a group of stores provided feedback to executive leadership that they were receiving excessive store signage.SIX SIGMA ANALYSIS: The retailer was printing and distributing identical store-sign kits to an entire