Processes that are transactional, such as order management, quote and order preparation, credit checking, mortgage application processing, project scheduling, medical testing and communication of engineering change notices are dependent on human communication and are typically very poor to begin with. It is not unusual to find 50-30% of the transactions require some kind of rework.

The real benefit of lean Six Sigma is understanding and predicting changes in customer expectations and allowing you to react quickly. A full implementation of lean Six Sigma will drive the business culture to one where everyone understands the demands of the customers, in terms of quality, features, and especially the timeliness of delivery. This understanding leads to being able to plan your capacity for meeting those demands. It is not necessary to be able to respond immediately to a customer demand, but being able to accurately predict delivery of service and communicate that to your customers is the key. Now, the focus becomes internal and management now concentrates on making optimum use of resources to deliver the service or product. The continuing quest is for constant and never ending improvement.