Today, an IT department has many reasons for adopting “lean” practices; saving costs is only the most obvious. Other objectives are to reduce time to market, offer more competitive products and services, increase capacity, and simplify solutions. There are a myriad of ways to accomplish this: streamline project-planning practices, use open source applications, opt for solutions that avoid bureaucratic approvals and delays, etc.
Six Sigma : Your Resource for Strategic Management. Meikah Delid. Eversun Software 2006.