Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma and TDABC share the same DNA: process mapping and time data. But the improvement methods stop at efficiency. TDABC connects that efficiency to profitability, across every dimension of the business.
They all depend on the same thing: mapping processes and activities in detail and capturing real time and statistical data. It is the shared foundation. The difference is in what each one does next.
Eliminates waste, improves flow and runs Kaizen events for continuous improvement. It identifies the minutes that can be taken out of a process.
Reduces variation with DMAIC and statistical process control. It makes the output predictable and measures process capability with data.
Uses time equations and the capacity cost rate to price every minute. It converts the improvement into cost and into profit, dimension by dimension.
Shared foundation. All three start by understanding the process at the activity level. That is why TDABC fits so naturally into an existing Lean or Six Sigma programme: it works on the same map.
The process improves, cycle time drops, variation falls. And then the saving never shows up in the P&L. Here is why.
The saving is logged as a soft or avoided cost and never reaches the P&L. Cost avoidance does not impact cash flow or the financial statements.
Freed capacity that is not removed or redeployed produces no real saving. The time saved is still paid for if the person or the machine sits idle.
Research on Lean Six Sigma ROI is clear: projects fail not because the analysis is wrong, but because they lack a quantifiable financial business case that ties the improvement to profit.
This is the gap TDABC closes. Lean shows the minutes. TDABC prices them and tells you whether they became profit, and where.
TDABC uses two parameters: the capacity cost rate and the time equations. When a Kaizen or Six Sigma project changes a process, you change the time equation, and TDABC recomputes the cost instantly.
Each activity has a time equation. When Lean removes steps or Six Sigma reduces variation, that equation changes. TDABC multiplies the new time by the capacity cost rate and returns the new cost, without rebuilding the model.
Because it starts from practical capacity, TDABC shows the time that was freed. That number is the decision: remove the resource or redeploy it. While it sits idle, the improvement is not profit.
The activity cost of the affected products drops. And TDABC shows the 120 minutes freed, which must now be removed or redeployed for the saving to be real. Lean finds the minutes. TDABC prices them and tells you whether they became profit.
This is the real differentiator. With TDABC in CostCTRL, you see the same improvement cascade up the levels. A Lean dashboard or a Six Sigma project charter cannot show this.
A TDABC model of the target process, with the before and after state of the improvement.
The time equations your team owns, ready for the next Kaizen.
The freed-capacity number and a clear remove-or-redeploy decision.
The profit impact mapped across transaction, product, customer and company.
CostCTRL to keep it live, so every future Kaizen is instantly priced.
Independent, fixed-scope. Six to ten weeks for a first process or value stream. We do not sell improvement software. We give you the profit number your Lean or Six Sigma programme did not yet have.
No deck, no follow-up sequence. A senior partner. Thirty minutes. Free. NDA on request.