Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/239245
time for a lean diet continues tiveness of their Kentucky water heater plant to Lean practices that cut cycle time by 50%, eliminated 20% of spare parts and reduced equipment investment by 30%. Allied Signal reports cost savings exceeding $800 million since 1995, and the U.S. Army has implemented Lean/Six Sigma techniques to achieve $2 billion in savings. Mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar reduced its total global greenhouse gas emissions by 36% through Lean projects. What is Lean? Lean is a collection of tools and methods designed to eliminate waste, reduce delays, improve performance and reduce costs. Lean focuses on eliminating non-value added activities; as opposed to more traditional improvement ef- Figure 1. 58 The PCB Magazine • January 2014 forts which focus on reducing the time in value-added steps. I would argue that Lean is not a flavor-of-the-month initiative; rather, when implemented properly, it should achieve sustainable business improvements based on verifiable financial results. Elimination of the Seven Deadly Wastes is the focus of Lean principles. The Seven Deadly Wastes: over production, inventory, defects, transportation, waiting, over processing, and motion. All seven of these wastes relate directly to wasting dollars, and in case you don't know this, it's always about the dollars. What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is the problem solving methodology called DMAIC (define, measure, analyze,