Six Sigma: Proven Tactics for Profitability Across Industry Lines

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Oct. 1, 20043, 2004--Companies save billions of dollars and eliminate ineffective process steps by implementing "customer-centric" Six Sigma insights, according to benchmark studies by research and consulting firm Best Practices, LLC. The program's methodology has emerged in various market sectors, especially in the manufacturing and the financial service industries, where companies employ the Six Sigma philosophy to improve process timelines, cash management and customer satisfaction.

Building Six Sigma Excellence: A Case Study of General Electric, available at http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr447.htm, compiles cost-saving steps from top Six Sigma companies. Building Six Sigma Excellence: A Case Study of General Electric" explores how one manufacturing company reaped the benefits of the Six Sigma program, saving more than $500 million in one year. According to a company executive, "Six Sigma helps us make commercialization a process that we can map, apply tools to and make a fact-based decision process." The executive sees Six Sigma impacting product innovation in three ways:

-- Increases the success rate of new products

-- Shortens cycle-times and gives companies speed-to-market

-- Reduces costs through reduced production time and fewer resources

To download a report summary of "Building Six Sigma Excellence: A Case Study of General Electric," visit http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr447.htm.

Additionally, another of our top-selling reports Lean, Six Sigma & TQM Project Success: Recent Case Studies and Benchmarks, available at: http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr448.htm, offers an outline of companies' recent Lean and Six Sigma projects, complete with actual results and descriptions of lessons learned. The benchmark metrics in Lean, Six Sigma & TQM Project Success: Recent Case Studies and Benchmarks reveal which project approach is best used for the improvement sought and benchmarks typical results. Additionally, the report includes:

-- Defect and cost reduction techniques

-- Typical scope and average duration of improvement project

-- Average annual dollar value contribution expected for the productivity approach

-- Average targeted savings and revenue goal for productivity efforts annually

To download a report summary of "Lean, Six Sigma & TQM Project Success: Recent Case Studies and Benchmarks," visit http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr448.htm .

For more information, contact Steve Walters at (919) 767-9256 or swalters@best-in-class.com.

ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that conducts work based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class companies. For more information about Best Practices, LLC, call (919) 403-0251 or visit the corporate web site at http://www.best-in-class.com/.