Value chain analysis, first developed by Michael Porter in 1985, breaks every business activity into value-adding and wasteful parts. Nestle used it to cut sugar costs by 34 percent while Starbucks eliminated intermediaries to control quality.
Lean eliminates waste through flow and reduced cycle time while Six Sigma, pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola, reduces variation to 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
Building lean processes requires standardized, trackable workflows before optimization begins. The 8 modern wastes, building on Taiichi Ohno's Toyota framework, cost $37,000 per employee annually. Learn how 1% daily improvements create 37x results and build continuous improvement cultures that stick in knowledge work.