Six Sigma Green, Black Belts Help Manufacturer Save Nearly $1.5 Million

Case Study - June 2008

Abstract:The newest component of Crown Equipment Corporation’s quality management program is Six Sigma. While lean is the systematized corporate effort, company managers apply Six Sigma to certain projects as needed and as resources are available. The company now has 18 certified Six Sigma Green Belts and 15 Black Belts in its North American manufacturing facilities. To date, Green Belt efforts have resulted in hard savings of $1.2 million for Crown, and Black Belt efforts have brought $285,000 in hard savings, with more expected as the projects proceed further. While the time requirement for the first 12 Green Belts to undertake training was a whopping 2,400 hours (total for all 12), the company has calculated that it has saved a little more than $500 per hour for each hour spent in training.

Keywords: Case study; Six Sigma; Lean; Business results; Return on investment; Training; Organizational culture