Lean and Six Sigma Project Ideas

The following is a list of Lean and Six Sigma projects to consider, based on your industry or department. Actual case studies we worked on are also available.

Finding a project to complete your Lean and/or Six Sigma certification is a major challenge for those who take training, so hopefully this list will give you ideas to consider.

In general, consider process areas that come to mind when you think about these questions:

Take the longest to complete?
Have the most complaints?
Require the most employees to support?
Seem inconsistent month to month?
Have the most mistakes?
Have costly mistakes?
Seem the most hectic?
Have the highest risk (keep you up at night)?
Have legal risk or potential reputation damage?
Have “heroes saving the day” to meet deadlines?

Here are some video examples: Lean in Nonprofits, Lean in Manufacturing, Government and Healthcare

Have too many projects to decide? Consider using a Project Prioritization Matrix to rank each project against many criteria.

Want help achieving a Green or Black Belt certification? Consider our virtual coaching and certification program!

Personal Life

Losing weight or improving heart rate
Improving fitness routine/workouts (miles walked/run, weights lifted, workouts per week, basketball free throws made, golfing accuracy or distance, stretching/meditation routine, stress mitigation, resting heart rate, etc)
Reducing debt, bills and expenses
Reducing time to complete chores (make dinner, mow lawn, vacuum, do dishes, get ready for work, laundry, etc)
Reduce electricity or fuel usage
Reduce risks in your home (natural disaster preparation, equipment maintenance, falls/accidents, late payments on credit cards, etc)
Improve inventory management food and other consumables (bread, paper towels, toilet paper, fruits and vegetables, etc)
Reduce space needed for storage, clothing, textbooks, papers and other unused items
Improve average sleep hours per night or quality of sleep (sleep score)
Reduce your implicit biases
Check out our FREE “Lean at Home” online course for ways to improve your personal life!

Finance and Accounting

Reduce the cycle time to close the books
Improve the variation in forecast accuracy for sales or budgets
Reduce the time to generate recurring (weekly or monthly) reports
Reduce inventory levels while avoiding delivery risks
Improve processing timing or accuracy of payments to vendors/suppliers
Reduction of Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
Reduce payroll process cycle time or accuracy
Improve payment/collection processes
Reduce electronic financial transaction and processing costs
Reduce the cycle time of reconciliation
Reduce the procure to pay cycle
Standardize the accrual and deferral processes
Reduce time to process invoices
Reduce purchase order creation cycle time
Increase first-time approval rate of expense reports for employees

Human Resources

Reduce the turn around time to hire an employee
Evaluate and improve gender pay equality
Reduce the time to process an insurance claim
Improve employee on-boarding and orientation processes
Reduce expenditures for recruiting firms
Improve hit-rate for successful hiring
Reduce Attrition
Improve timeliness and the value of employee performance reviews
Reduce absenteeism
Improve new hire training efficiency
Improve employee satisfaction from survey results
Identify and correct retention issues
Increase employee engagement

Sales

Improve cross-sell opportunities
Better predict future sales by month
Reduce time to respond to customer inquiries
Increase % of sales from new customers
Increase % of bids/proposals won
Reduce time required to enter sales orders
Reduce errors and rework associated with sales orders
Reduce customer credit worthiness cycle time
Reduce the number of “bad deals” that are processed
Improve the cycle time of the entire sales order to cash process
Increase repeat orders/customers
Help technical sales associates use data to improve their sales success
Reduce time to setup new customers in the system
Improve customer experience ratings and survey results (Net Promoter Score)
Improve service sales (cellular service provider top-up system)

Shipping, Receiving, and Warehouse

Improve on-time delivery of products to customers
Reduce number of finished goods inventory without impacting deliveries (oil drilling fluids)
Reduce processing time from items received until available for production team
Reduce time to retrieve parts when requested or triggered
Setup pull system with factory
Reduce transportation costs (reduce carrier rate per mile)
Improve on-time delivery of goods to our facility from vendors
Improve documentation accuracy
Reduce time to unload trucks and shipments
Reduce maintenance time and labor (truck maintenance)
Improve inventory control/rotation
Improve and minimize inspection processes
Reduce floor space requirements for warehouse

Information Technology (IT) and Software Development

Reduce network/server/application/website downtime
Improve process of logging-in to network from remote locations
Improve system reliability/uptime
Reduce time to release new software/app features and functionality
Increase speed of webpage loading/processing
Standardize computer loads for configuration and support productivity improvement
Reduce number of software licenses based on usage
Improve project request turnaround
Improve quote accuracy for projects
Reduce time to respond to help desk requests
Reduce hardware inventory
Reduce number of security alerts/alarms/false alarms/violations
Reduce risk of access to system from non-authorized employees
Improve data governance, data security, source control processes against best practices/guidelines
Reduce amount of resources, hours, or time delays for performing inspection/quality reviews in the process

Event Planning

Reduce time to respond to clients quote requests or inquiries
Improve budget forecasting and visibility for clients
Reduce potential issues with customers arriving at events, seating charts and parking

Online Retailer / e-Commerce

Reduce shopping cart abandonment rate to increase monthly revenue
Reduce number of stock outs on high volume products
Optimize ad spending based on messaging, images and headlines

Product/Service Design

Reduce time required to design a product or service
Reduce errors in design or find them earlier in development
Reduce estimated production cycle times
Improve predictions of capability and risk of new products and services
Reduce testing and inspection time
Reduce software bugs in programming code
Reduce risk of errors and defects in new products and services

Banking

Streamlining the loan approval process to reduce the time taken from application submission to final approval
Improving the accuracy of information entered during the account opening process
Decreasing ATM Downtime
Strengthening the security measures of online banking platforms to prevent fraud and unauthorized access
Improving New Customer Onboarding Process
Optimizing Credit Card Approval Process
Minimizing errors in check processing to improve accuracy and reduce the need for manual intervention
Streamlining Mortgage Application Processing Time
Reducing risk scores for personal loans

Call Center

Increase/decrease (depending on your business needs) average talk time
Reduce abandoned calls
Reduce time to answer and handle phone calls
Increase employee knowledge to reduce response time
Reduce number of times customer are put on hold
Reduce calls that are dropped
Reduce time to respond to issues and queries
Increase customer satisfaction scores (survey results)

Healthcare

Decrease occurrence or risk of adverse events
Reduce variation between blood test results between community labs
Decrease near miss incidents
Decrease patient falls or risk level
Reduce variation in surgical completion times
Increase patient compliance to taking medication
Reduce time in Emergency Department until first contact with nurse
Reduce medication errors
Shift patient test results closer to nominal/target values
Reduce number of patient dosage changes
Reduce overtime staffing hours
Improve alignment of patient demand with staffing schedule
Reduce cost of linen cleaning or loss of linens

Manufacturing

Improve test yields
Reduce testing time based on sampling and defects
Reduce batch sizes
Standardize instructions for performing tasks
Reduce overtime %
Increase worker quality performance
Reduce time to complete key tasks
Increase capacity at process bottlenecks (steel hardware)
Reduce setup time during equipment changeover
Improve communication between shifts
Reduce lead time from work order start to finish (Aluminum Casting)
Reduce risk of supplier late deliveries or quality issues
Reduce time to respond to problems
Reduce variation in manufacturing processes (steel wire capability and cost reduction)
Reduce amount of resources, hours, or time delays for performing inspection/quality reviews in the process

Sports

Evaluate and analyze best marketing approaches
Reduce fan complaints
Increase average sales per attendee
Reduce concession stand line times
Reduce time for fans to enter venue
Reduce time to park vehicles in parking lot
Reduce traffic delays leaving venue
Reduce waiting time for restrooms
Reduce risk of litigation with fans, staff and players
Determine which combination of player lineups get the best results
Improve player performance (accuracy/consistency) on skills tests (4-yard dash, vertical jump, agility drill, throwing accuracy, etc)
Reduce weight (more exercise or less calorie intake)
Improve scouting or recruiting process based on historical data and outcomes (like the movie, Moneyball)
Reduce waste (motion, waiting, transportation, overprocessing, etc) during practice time

Grocery/Supermarket

Improve customer satisfaction scores or flow of customer journey through store
Reduce checkout waiting times for customers
Reduce number of stock outs on shelves
Reduce waiting time for prepared food
Reduce time for customers searching for items (better signage, floor markings, etc)
Reduce time for customers to make buying decisions (better labels, color coding, etc)
Reduce number of lost shopping baskets
Increase number of customer bringing their own bags or reusable containers
Increase sales of local/regional baked goods
Reduce stock theft and losses (shrink)
Reduce wasted food from prepared foods
Reduce duplication of time refilling excess stock
Reduce time to manage/handle loose stock (items out of place)
Improve space utilization to maximize customer options
Lean Roster for Team Management
Improve organization and safety of back dock
Reduce handling and flow of products into store and onto shelf
Optimize use and management of equipment and assets

Nonprofits (Lean nonprofit examples video)

Reduce time to train volunteers
Reduce time to receive donations
Reduce time to reply to donors
Reduce risk of issues at fundraising event
Reduce time to check-in attendees at fundraising event
Increase volunteer experience and satisfaction
Reduce setup time for volunteer events
Analyze opportunity to increase staffing to increase sales
Optimize email marketing content to maximize donations

Environment

Reduce electricity costs or carbon emissions
Reduce tonnage to the landfill
Increase recycling rates
Reduce paper consumption
Increase amount of compost
Reduce natural gas consumption
Increase production of refurbished/recycled goods
Reduce water consumption
Reduce hazardous waste going down the drain and permitting costs
Reduce amount of wasted food at events and meetings
Read more environmental case studies at LeanSixSigmaEnvironment.org

Corporate Responsibility, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Increase employee volunteering in community
Reduce gender and racial pay gaps when corrected for experience and education
Increase racial and gender representation in upper management
Align community and company racial and gender differences
Increase employee and company donations and fundraising to local nonprofits
Reduce employee harassment and inequity complaints
Increase employee retention across racial and gender differences
Increase use of minority and women-owned businesses in supply chain
Increase number of diverse candidate applications to job postings

Education

Reduce time to setup volunteer events
Improving student test scores
Improving teacher effectiveness or student feedback scores
Improve graduation rates
Reduce college dropout rates
Reduce time to register students for classes
Reduce inefficiencies and extra workload for teachers
Reducing financial budgets
Reducing time to hire or onboard new teachers and staff
Reduce paperwork for student housing applications
Processing time for issuing parking permits
Reducing complexity (errors and delays) of expense report reimbursement

Government

Office

Improve time and accuracy of conference room scheduling
Reduce office supply expenses and inventory accuracy
Reduce time to setup all-hands employee meetings
Reduce time to replace printer cartridges or toner in printer/copier machine
Increase adoption or utilization % of new software, apps or programs (suppliers, employees, customers)
Increase utilization % or floor space of office space, cubicles, and meeting rooms
Reduce delays and handoffs between departments and teams
Improve the reading comprehension and grammar scores of process documentation for audits, SOPs and procedures

Still not sure? I can help you determinine what project you could work. Simply book time on my calendar for a free 15-minute consultation to help you select a project to work on, either at work, at home or with a local club or nonprofit organization. You can also email us with your questions!

Want to learn more about Lean and Six Sigma tools, and apply them to an improvement projects? Check out these low-cost online courses and certification programs