What is Lean Six Sigma

Introduction: What's In This For You

"There's money out there to be saved that you would not dream of when you start this," says Todd Graham. "That's the part I've really enjoyed—saving money for the plant."

Todd is an 18-year veteran of Johns Manville (JM), the only place he's worked since high school except for a brief stint as an auto mechanic. His career as a production/machine operator was going along smoothly until the late 1990s, when JM implemented what it called "variation reduction teams."

Though he had only a high school degree and a few college credits, Todd had always been interested in process improvement, so he applied to join a team and was accepted. Team members were pulled off their regular jobs, given some statistical training, ...