Halliburton, the Houston-based Oilfield services provider, has seen increased business activity recently. Some companies, especially during this crisis, may slow down a bit and delay investing. Not, Halliburton. It is going in a different direction by investing in Lean Six Sigma. But the company is not worried. It sees the benefits and savings it will get from such investment.
For one, the company sees the value of improving efficiency to meet ever-increasing customer needs and capitalize on the growing demand.
One supply chain strategy Halliburton implemented to help respond to that demand is its Creativity over Capital strategy, which is really a euphemism for Lean Six Sigma, explains Len Cooper, senior vice president of supply chain at Halliburton. When Halliburton began to implement Lean Six Sigma in 2004, it was experiencing extraordinary growth in the oil and gas sector, essentially doubling the size of its business. “As a result, one of the things we wanted to focus on was speed of delivery, especially cycle time reduction.”
As a first step, Halliburton’s supply chain team began to conduct value stream mapping (a Lean tool) and evaluating productive time vs. non-productive time, and examining where it could reduce non-productive time. That, in turn, would shorten the overall delivery cycle of its products and services.
