Lean Six Sigma Deployment & Capability Building

Company: Alimex
Role: Lean Six Sigma Champion / Black Belt
Context: Post-merger stabilisation and performance recovery
Scope: Enterprise-wide Lean Six Sigma deployment (3 waves)

Context

Following the post-merger integration and ERP-enabled organisational transformation, Alimex entered a period of operational instability:

Quality issues increased
Delivery delays emerged
New organisational responsibilities were not yet fully embedded
Problems were addressed locally, but recurred systematically

The organisation did not lack commitment or technical competence.
What it lacked was a shared, disciplined way to identify, prioritise, and solve problems with measurable business impact.

The Decision

Rather than reacting to issues one by one, leadership decided to launch a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) initiative to:

Stabilise operations after re-organisation
Build internal problem-solving capability
Link improvement work directly to business results

Lean Six Sigma was positioned not as a training programme, but as an operating system for improvement.

Governance & Mandate

A formal Steering Committee was established, consisting of:

Group CEO
Group CFO
Alimex General Manager
Myself

I was appointed Lean Six Sigma Champion, with responsibility to:

Own and prioritise the problem and opportunity pipeline
Review and nominate belt candidates
Assign projects aligned with business priorities
Review progress, rigor, and impact
Ensure savings and results were validated, not assumed

This governance ensured focus, credibility, and sustained leadership attention.

Deployment Approach

Three-wave rollout

Lean Six Sigma was deployed in three structured waves, each combining training and execution:

Clear linkage between business priorities and project selection
Each belt candidate worked on a real operational problem, not a classroom exercise
Regular steering reviews ensured pace, discipline, and outcome focus

Capability building

25 Green Belts trained across three waves
Candidates selected based on:
- Role relevance
- Ownership potential
- Ability to influence outcomes
Each Green Belt delivered a scoped project with measurable impact

In parallel, I completed Black Belt training, enabling me to:

Coach Green Belts
Challenge problem framing and solution bias
Apply statistical and system-level rigor
Personally address the most chronic business problems

Black Belt Projects – Addressing the Most Chronic Problems

Alongside leading the enterprise deployment, I personally led three Black Belt-level projects targeting the organisation’s most persistent and business-critical issues.

These were problems that had resisted prior attempts and required deep root-cause analysis, cross-functional alignment, and structural fixes.

1. Aluminium Stock-Out Elimination

Problem
Frequent aluminium stock-outs disrupted production, caused expediting costs, and undermined planning credibility.

Approach

Analysed demand variability, supplier lead times, and inventory policies
Identified mismatch between planning logic and real consumption behaviour
Redefined reorder parameters based on variability rather than averages
Aligned procurement, planning, and warehouse execution

Impact

Stock-outs reduced by more than 80%
Production stability significantly improved
Emergency purchasing and firefighting largely eliminated

2. Delivery Delay Reduction to the Swedish Market

Problem
Deliveries to the Swedish market were consistently late, damaging customer trust and commercial performance.

Approach

Mapped the end-to-end order-to-delivery flow for the Swedish market
Identified delay drivers across planning, production sequencing, and logistics
Clarified ownership and removed local optimisation
Introduced flow-based performance tracking

Impact

On-time delivery improved from ~30% to ~90%
Delivery variability drastically reduced
Clear accountability established for market-specific performance

3. Days-in-Stock Optimisation

Problem
Inventory levels were high, tying up capital while still failing to prevent shortages in critical areas.

Approach

Segmented inventory by demand behaviour and risk
Distinguished structural stock from buffering stock
Optimised inventory policies without compromising service level
Linked inventory decisions to actual flow and variability

Impact

Days in Inventory reduced from ~120 days to ~75 days
Significant working-capital improvement
Better balance between availability and cost

Results & Impact

Hard outcomes

More than €1M in validated savings in the first year
Reduction in quality issues and delivery delays
Improved operational stability following re-organisation

Structural outcomes

Internal problem-solving capability embedded across the organisation
Clear governance for continuous improvement
Managers equipped to address root causes, not symptoms
Lean Six Sigma established as a credible management system, not a side initiative

Key Insight

Post-reorganisation challenges are rarely solved by structure or systems alone.
They are solved when people are equipped to see problems clearly, test hypotheses, and act with discipline.

By deploying Lean Six Sigma with strong governance and real business ownership, Alimex moved from reactive firefighting to systematic, sustainable improvement.

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