Lean Six Sigma: Exploring Amazon Dash

When you’re running low,  just push a button and a new product will be delivered to your door! Sounds like something snatched right from the space age Jetsons cartoons. Can you imagine, when you start running low on a product in your home, you can simply push a button and have it delivered and paid for, without ever leaving your home? That is the vision and mission of Amazon Dash.

Stocking up with Amazon Dash

Amazon Dash is a consumer goods ordering service which uses a proprietary device for ordering goods over the internet. It consists of multiple components that uses a scanning device to inventory consumer goods around the house, integrating with AmazonFresh. The button itself is a small tray-like consumer electronic device that can be placed around the house and programmed to order a consumer good, such as disinfectant wipes or paper towels. The replenishment service allows manufacturers to add a physical button or auto-detection capability to their devices to reorder supplies from Amazon when necessary.

Amazon and Lean Six Sigma

If you look at the Amazon Dash system, it mirrors the principles and practices of Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Specifically, compare the process with a pattern production replenishment pull system, such as Kanban. Material is consumed, and a signal is sent to the production area to replace the item, with the same quality and type as the material that was consumed. Amazon has developed a process, based on Lean Six Sigma methodologies, which has tremendous opportunities for other industries and operations across many business segments. Future applications of this Amazon process will closely be evaluated by other industries. It clearly demonstrates how innovative thinking works hand in hand with Lean Six Sigma methodologies.

Watch this quick video on Amazon Dash.