Case study

The following is an example case study that will be used throughout the book to demonstrate the effectiveness of Lean Six Sigma for an organization when applied successfully. This scenario should help to elucidate the tools, techniques, and key concepts of Lean Six Sigma, which should help you implement it successfully in your organization.

ABC Inc., an IT services company, has lately realized that it is losing its ground to the competition. Based on industry data and other studies, it found that the customer satisfaction with the support services has been just or below average. The customer satisfaction rating was found to be 70% while the ratings for "average" and "best-in-class" companies were 75% and 83% respectively. They also observed that there is a strong positive correlation between the customer satisfaction rating and new account growth. The average cost per support call of ABC Inc. was also found to be significantly higher at $25 compared to $22 and $18 for average and best-in-class companies. The management team then concluded that a Lean Six Sigma improvement project should be launched to improve the customer satisfaction rating and to reduce the cost per support call. The management strongly feels that this will help them control operational costs as well as achieve higher account growth. A Lean Six Sigma team was constituted to drive this.