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Continuous Improvement · Six Sigma & Lean

Six Sigma & Lean Continuous Improvement

Master Black Belt-led Six Sigma and Lean deployment that cuts cost, waste and variation — with the data to prove it, not just activity.

Wales & the South West — Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Bristol the Midlands — Birmingham, Coventry, the automotive manufacturing belt London & the South East — London, Essex, Kent the North of England — Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield
What Six Sigma & Lean bring

Improvement led by data, not opinion

Six Sigma and Lean are complementary approaches to reducing cost, waste and variation: Lean strips out non-value-adding activity through tools like 5S and value stream mapping, while Six Sigma's DMAIC framework (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control) uses data and statistical process control to find and permanently fix the causes of variation and defects.

This service is led by a Six Sigma Master Black Belt — the highest level of Six Sigma qualification, focused on leading complex projects and coaching Black Belts and Green Belts — applied to real automotive and manufacturing environments, not a classroom exercise.

Who it's for

Who this service is for

Manufacturers with high scrap or defect cost

You know cost, waste or variation is a problem but need a structured, data-led way to fix it.

  • DMAIC project scoping & delivery
  • Process capability & SPC
  • Root-cause elimination of variation

Businesses building improvement culture

You want your own people trained and capable of running improvement projects, not permanently dependent on consultants.

  • 5S & Lean deployment
  • Belt training & coaching
  • Kaizen event facilitation
What's included

What's included

DMAIC projects

Structured, data-led improvement projects scoped around your highest-cost problems.

5S & Lean deployment

Workplace organisation and waste elimination that sticks, not a one-off tidy-up.

Process capability & SPC

Control charts and capability studies (Cp/Cpk, Pp/Ppk) that show whether a process can actually meet specification.

Value stream mapping

Mapping the current and future state of a process to identify where waste and delay really sit.

Belt training & coaching

Green Belt and Yellow Belt training via our training programme, with live coaching on real projects.

Kaizen events

Focused, time-boxed improvement events targeting a specific process or problem.

Our process

How a DMAIC project runs

1

Define & measure

We scope the problem, agree the business case and baseline current performance with real data.

2

Analyse

We identify the root causes of variation, waste or defects using statistical and Lean tools.

3

Improve

We design, trial and implement improvements targeted at the confirmed root causes.

4

Control & sustain

We put controls in place — SPC, standard work, training — so the improvement sticks after we leave.

Why Control Edge

Why work with Control Edge on continuous improvement

Common questions

Six Sigma & Lean questions, answered

What is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt?

It's the highest level of Six Sigma qualification, awarded to practitioners with extensive experience leading complex improvement projects and training and mentoring Black Belts and Green Belts across an organisation.

Do we need to be ISO or IATF certified first?

No — Six Sigma and Lean can be applied to any process, certified or not. That said, if you do hold ISO 9001 or IATF 16949, improvement projects and SPC data can feed directly into your existing management system.

How is this different from the automotive core tools?

The core tools (APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA, SPC) are specific to automotive product launch and control. Six Sigma and Lean are broader improvement methodologies that can be applied to any process, in or out of automotive — though SPC is shared between the two.

How long does a typical project take?

A focused DMAIC project usually runs 8 to 16 weeks depending on complexity and data availability; a Kaizen event can be as short as a few days.

What does this service cost?

We quote a fixed price per project or a retainer for ongoing improvement support, agreed after a free scoping call based on the scale of savings targeted.

Related services

Explore related services

Most of our clients need more than one of these — here's what tends to go together.

Know where your cost and waste is, but not how to fix it?

Tell us about the process or problem and we'll scope a project with a clear business case.

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