Professional Six Sigma Consulting Services

Your Needs: Your Schedule

We offer strategic, tactical and just-in-time process improvement services at your own site.  We believe in personal and sensible support. Presented as fun, interactive workshops, our techniques help your small business or non-profit organization quickly capture your very best business processes.  

Six Sigma is the best method for tailoring simple and fast solutions just for your specific business process improvement program needs. Please, contact us today for a FREE, no-obligation estimate so you can start saving time and money right away.

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Six Sigma Business Process Workshops

Popular Choices

Workshops are facilitated meetings with a specific purpose.  They follow an agenda.  They start with an ice-breaker and end with a summary of accomplishments.  Workshops use effective meeting facilitation tools.  They provide hands-on exposure to various problem solving tools and techniques.  Workshops start and end on time.  All attendees are expected to actively participate.  A successful workshop satisfies its purpose.

The workshops described on this page are designed to teach principles and tools participants can reasonably apply in their workplace on their own with minimal follow-up mentoring.  These new skills lead to continuous process improvement which maximizes the benefits to the business while minimizing the impact to its precious resources. A positive return on your investment.

Cost estimates presented below are based on local travel.  Clients requesting workshops to be held outside the Outer Banks of North Carolina will be charged for reasonable travel time and expenses. 

Workshop #1

Launch a Tailored Business-Wide Six Sigma Program

Description:

In advance of the kick-off workshop we help management determine their primary business needs and goals (such as reducing costs or accelerating a delivery schedule).  The workshop introduces participants to Six Sigma methodology and how it leads to strategic quality improvements.  During the workshop participants learn how the program will work for their business, what their roles are and how they and their company will benefit immediately and in the future.  Using a few process improvement tools they learn during the workshop, participants identify several suitable opportunities to improve or grow the business based on management’s primary business goals.  The top three candidates (based on criticality, “low hanging fruit” or other criteria) are selected and assigned as “projects”: ideally one candidate project per team of 5 employees.  

After the workshop the teams are mentored through to successful completion of their projects (confirm validity of anticipated benefits, expedite data collection/analysis, confirm management buy-in, do improvement, measure results and final write-up).  Completed projects are shared with other teams within the business and publicized/rewarded to motivate continuous improvements.

Objectives:

• Establish a custom Six Sigma program designed just for a specific business
• Complete 3 beneficial (financial and/or non-financial) projects to set the stage for many more
• Business enjoys the benefits of the completed projects: such as reduced waste, increased cash flow, increased sales, lower inventory costs, happier customers, etc.
• Participate in an effective team building exercise that is fun, educational, interactive and a great morale booster 
• Learn new tools participants can use over and over again in the workplace to manage opportunities and problems 

Option #1 Approximate Cost:  $2125

Based on estimated in-session time spent with the client (routine preparation, follow-up, reports, phone and email communication, travel, etc. are factored in so the fee is by the job but costed by the session). 

Anticipated sessions are:

    2 hours consulting with management in advance of the kick-off workshop

    3 hours workshop conduct

    9 hours at an average of 3 hours per project times 3 teams for mentoring thru to project completion

    1 hour out-brief to management of Six Sigma project accomplishments

    Meeting report, recommendations and routine follow-up actions  

Any additional support will be negotiated separately. 

Client provides supplies, refreshments and facilities, parking and transportation, as required, for all workshop participants.

Supplies:

Whiteboard or flipcharts with easel or Post-It type sheets, lots of stickies and markers and note-taking supplies for participants for workshop and follow-up mentoring activities with project teams.

Workshop #2

Problem Analysis: Get to the Root of Your Problem

Description: 

Using a few process improvement tools participants identify the root cause of an existing business issue or problem.  This is the first step in deciding which problem to address and setting the right approach.  The problem may be identified prior to the workshop or during the workshop.

Objectives:

• Discover the real cause of an existing problem
• Make significant progress toward understanding and resolving an existing problem
• Separate a problem that can’t be fixed from one that may be fixable
• Learn how fixing this problem improves other related problems 
• Participate in an effective team building exercise that is fun, educational, interactive and a great morale booster  
• Learn new tools participants can use over and over again in the workplace to get to the heart of actionable problems 

Option #2 Approximate Cost: $875

Based on estimated in-session time spent with the client (routine preparation, follow-up, reports, phone and email communication, travel, etc. are factored in so the overall fee is by the job but costed by the session). 

Anticipated sessions:

    Up to 2 hours consulting with management in advance of the workshop

    3 hours workshop conduct

    Meeting report, recommendations and routinie follow-up actions

Any additional support will be negotiated separately.

Client provides supplies, refreshments and facilities, parking and transportation, as required, for all workshop participants.

Supplies:

Whiteboard or flipcharts with easel or Post-It type sheets, lots of stickies and markers and note-taking supplies for participants.

Workshop #3

Get Organized and Get off the Merry-Go-Round

Description: 

Getting organized is a matter of disciplined decision-making and structured filing.  Everything has a place and everything is in its place - that is the money-saving and time-saving goal.  Immediately businesses will see benefits like less time wasted searching, lower operating costs due to better use of materials and higher employee satisfaction.

Objectives:

• Diagram business flows compared to your room layout or floorplan
• Create a meaningful, custom record-retention policy
• Understand the decision-making process for your business and how it affects your documentation, scheduling, reporting and inventory management
• Learn how to use the "5S" organizational support tool for greater productivity  
• Find ways to save money by recycling

Option #2 Approximate Cost: $875

Based on estimated in-session time spent with the client (routine preparation, follow-up, reports, phone and email communication, travel, etc. are factored in so the overall fee is by the job but costed by the session). 

Anticipated sessions:

    Up to 2 hours consulting with management in advance of the workshop

    3 hours workshop conduct

    Meeting report, recommendations and routine follow-up actions

Any additional support will be negotiated separately.

Client provides supplies, refreshments and facilities, parking and transportation, as required, for all workshop participants.

Supplies:

Whiteboard or flipcharts with easel or Post-It type sheets, lots of stickies and markers and note-taking supplies for participants.

Workshop #4

Reduce Your Operating Costs 30%

Description:

Using a few process improvement tools and hands-on exercises participants learn simple techniques for producing operational procedures.  Participants learn how using procedures that align with the company’s business goals reduces costs and saves time.

Objectives:

Option #3 Approximate Cost: $850

Based on estimated in-session time spent with the client (routine preparation, follow-up, reports, phone and email communication, travel, etc. are factored in so the overall fee is by the job but costed by the session). 

Anticipated sessions:

    Up to 2 hours consulting with management in advance of the workshop

    4 hours workshop conduct

    Meeting report, recommendations and routine follow-up actions

Any additional support will be negotiated separately. 

Client provides supplies, refreshments and facilities, parking and transportation, as required, for all workshop participants.

Supplies:

Whiteboard or flipcharts with easel or Post-It type sheets, lots of stickies and markers and note-taking supplies for participants.

Workshop #5

Proven Problem Solving Model: Projectize and Succeed!

Description: 

Using a few process improvement tools, hands-on exercises and a contrived problem deserving to be fixed, participants learn the basics of how to solve problems using a popular model (based on DMAIC).  This is the heart of Six Sigma methodology.  Examples of this model show up on our television screens in such shows as “Junkyard Wars”, “Iron Chef”, “Curb Appeal”, “Sell this House”, etc.

Objectives:

Option #4 Approximate Cost: $1025

Based on estimated in-session time spent with the client (routine preparation, follow-up, reports, phone and email communication, travel, etc. are factored in so the overall fee is by the job but costed by the session). 

Anticipated sessions:

    Up to 2 hours consulting with management in advance of the workshop

    5 hours workshop conduct

    Meeting report, recommendations and routine follow-up actions

Any additional support will be negotiated separately. 

Client provides supplies, refreshments and facilities, parking and transportation, as required, for all workshop participants.

Supplies:

Whiteboard or flipcharts with easel or Post-It type sheets, lots of stickies and markers and note-taking supplies for participants.

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Proven Techniques Undergird Our Consulting Services

Our business process services are based on an innovative use of proven business productivity tools and principles:

Six Sigma: Includes DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, implement, control) problem solving model, defect reduction, variation identification and control, change agent, build customer loyalty, positive culture change, projectized problem management, empowered personnel, effective team-building, decision-making based on data, SPC (Statistical Process Control) tools, reality tree, cause and effect diagramming, root cause analysis, FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis), productive meeting facilitation and more.

Lean enterprise (or combined with Six Sigma as Lean Sigma): Includes how to reduce costly waste or "muda", goal alignment, value engineering/value stream and more.

Pareto principle: Includes the 80/20 rule as a practical application and methods to separate the vital few from the trivial many.

Theory of Constraints (TOC): Includes how to elevate and manage bottlenecks, innovative management policies, permit early hand-offs, buffer management, critical chain project management and more.

Quality Assurance (QA): Includes compliance, inspections, quality audits, SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) conformance, customer focus, certification programs, ISO 9001-2000 and more.

Reuse: Includes how to generate and use lessons learned/applied, knowledge transfer and more.

Best practices: Includes using proven industry and government standards, data mining, ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), SEI-CMMI (Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integrated), FAA-iCMM (Federal Aviation Administration Integrated Capability Maturity Model) and more.

Strategic planning: Includes aligned future goals/challenges for long term financial and management planning and more.

Creativity engineering: Includes innovation, blue sky thinking, strategic visioning, mind mapping and more.

Time management/schedule planning: Includes operation observation and analysis, sequencing, critical path, MS Project, CCPM (Critical Chain Program Management) and more.

Kaison: Includes methods to assure continuous improvement.

Continuous process improvement and business process engineering: Includes identifying entry and exit criteria, keystone use of IPO (input, process, output), flowcharting, process mapping, swimlanes, gap analysis and more.

Common sense: fair and reasonable behavior based on mature judgement and experience (achieved through much blood, sweat and prayer).

Excerpts from 30 Success Stories

Improved Billing Six Sigma Project

Problem: Billing process had an excessive billing cycle and other administrative issues that delayed payments and ran up costs.

Results: Worked with customer to improve processes internal to contractor and processes internal to customer. Estimated interest savings to contract will be $560K over 3 years.

Tools: Brainstorm, Cause-Effect Diagram, Affinity Diagram, Activity Network Diagram (AND), Logical Process Map, Leverage Assessment, Process Observation, Team Building, and Standard Operating Procedures.

Hardware and Software Invoice Tracking Six Sigma Project

Problem: Need to provide cost effective way for customer to track the costs associated with their requested and funded hardware and software upgrades and operations/maintenance of near-term projects.

Results: Estimated cost avoidance to customer valued at $340.3K over time and improved customer satisfaction.

Tools: Affinity Diagram, Logical Flow Charts, IPO, and Ranking.

Customer Contact Plan Six Sigma Project

Problem: Need to improve contractor’s relationship with its valued customers by improving contractor's customer contact practices in real-time.

Results: Customer contact plan has been implemented by Business Development. Customer said his door is now open to contractor due to his new appreciation for how we value our customers, ala Six Sigma. Improved customer goodwill. Increased likelihood of contractor winning a specific contract. Creation of a standard process that will lead to increased repeatability and reduced error rate.

Tools: Brainstorm, Gap Analysis, Affinity Diagram Nominal Group Technique, and Fishbone Diagram.

Eccl 3:1 "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven."  KJV.