Earth Consultants

Applying Lean Six Sigma to the Environment

Use QDIP sheets to identify environmental issues

2 min read

Visual controls are an important part of any process. One of the best examples I have seen was at a supplier I visited a few years ago. I haven’t seen it used many other places, which surprises me, since it is so simple.

It’s called QDIP, which stands for Quality, Delivery, Inventory and Productivity.

As you can see in the image below, each category is represented as a letter, and broken up into 20-30 different sections, that represent days of the month. Each category has defined goals for each day, and if the team meets the goals, they get a green, otherwise it is red. The version I saw also had a plus sign they used for Safety, which made me realize that we need to add an E for Environment.

The manager can quickly walk up to the communications board, and see how well they performed that day for each category. They should recognize the good work on the green colors, and discuss the problems that prevented them from achieving their goals on the red colors. What an easy and simple way to communicate how a process area is performing!

So maybe we should call it QDIPE+. Maybe not…

Anyways, we have recently updated our template to include the Environment category. You can read more about QDIP on this page as well.

QDIP Sheets

Here are a few examples of goals that could be set each day for a team to achieve a green:

  • All electrical devices shut off at end of shift
  • No recyclables in trash
  • 100% Hazardous waste adherence (put away and stored properly)
  • Overhead lights shut off after shift

If you’ve used this format, let us know how it worked out. Do you have anything similar to this you have used, to highlight environmental issues using visual controls?

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