Abstract

Lean 6 Sigma is widely used in industry to reduce the amount of Non Value Added waste to increase efficiency, quality and reduce costs. These wastes defined by Shingo include excess inventory, transportation, defects, over production, waiting time, processing times, and motion of employees. Lean 6 Sigma (LSS) can also inherently be environmentally friendly, but not always, as it is currently widely implemented without considering the environment and the negative impact it can have. However with issues such as climate change becoming more in the public eye with CO2 levels at their highest in 650,000 years, businesses and the general public face increasing taxes and legislation in this area. This could provide the catalyst for implementing LSS whilst considering the environment; however no structured approach on “how to do this” appears to exist. An integrated approach to reducing business waste and “saving the planet” could be very sought after by many types of industry sector. This approach could applied to Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SME’s) to large Global organisations and within many functions (finance, production, quality, planning, marketing, R&D, Service etc) of an organisation