Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

Q: Does your company work on projects outside the local Chicago area?
A: Yes. we have completed client projects throughout the continental U.S., Canada, Europe and China.

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Q: Do you work on large projects?
A: Yes. Although we are a small firm we have entered into partnerships with veteran consultants to give us the bandwidth to handle large projects associated with Fortune 1000 companies.

Q: How much does ISO 9000 registration cost?
A: ISO 9000 registration is not cheap. Adding the costs of retaining consultants, generating all manuals and documentation, engaging auditors to conduct required audits, and the salaries of internal staff to organize and implement the project, the average cost of registration is about $250,000 and usually takes at least a year. Obviously there is quite a range in these costs, spanning from approximately $60,000 for smaller companies (annual sales of $10.0 million or less) to more than $600,000 for operations with annual revenues in excess of $1.0 billion.

Q: How long does it take to implement ISO 9000?
A: An ISO 9000 implementation project will typically take about 12 months, but will range from 9 to 18 months. Factors that impact the timeline include: size and complexity of the organization, the amount of existing documentation available for use, amount of resources available for the project, and ISO 9000 expertise available.

Q: What's the difference between Lean and Six Sigma?
A: The focus of Lean is to identify and eliminate waste through rapid implementation of change to create flow at the pull of the customer. Through several iterations, significant and immediate improvement is achieved. Lean relies on the knowledge and skills of the employees of an organization and encourages them to actively particpate and seek out improvements that contribute to reducing waste.

Six Sigma focuses on reducing defects (3.4 defects/million opportunities) through the establishment of predictable processes with as little variation within those processes as possible. Six Sigma uses well trained and skilled staff, master black belts, black belts, and green belts to uncover sources of defects and identify how a given process should operate to reach its maximum potential.

Both methodologies are used to improve process performance - Lean improves process speed by reducing waste and Six Sigma improves process quality by reducing variation.