Job Seekers Enroll in Lean Six Sigma Training
Posted by: meikah | 8 November 2010 | 9:16 pm
The recession in the U.S. leaves many workers unemployed. Mary Wolf-Francis, business liaison for Workforce Division of the city of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department, calls these workers as the “unlikely unemployed” because they are people who have advanced degrees and have decades of high-level experience.
So what city administrators of Phoenix City did was to use a portion of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds to help these out-of-work professionals. They worked in partnership with the Global Outreach and Extended Education (GOEE) office of Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. The out-of-work professionals were given trainings in Lean Six Sigma. The training composed of 2 sessions of a two-week Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program and 1 session of a four-week Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program.
The administrators believe that these trainings will arm the workers with the right skills to join the American workforce.
Filed under: Economy, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Belt, Six Sigma Training
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 27 July 2010 | 12:43 am
It’s time again for some link-loving and see what other blogs are saying about Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma and other quality improvement processes.
Forrest Breyfogle of Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard says that for lessons on recovery, U.S. can look to the north on their healthy policies and performance measurements. The post is particularly referring to Canada and how the country is doing amidst the crisis.
Over at Call IT Anything, Dale Sanders advises to don’t be strangled by process-improvement Black Belts. “Try though we may fix the problems of healthcare IT with rigorous process– most recently ITIL– we’re only putting lipstick on a pig…”
The Best Mobile Phone blog shares some tips and technology for Six Sigma mobile workforces. “Some organizations that have tried to use Six Sigma in field sales have used information technology solutions too soon. There is a wrong perception that Six Sigma will interfere with the productivity of the sales staff or take up time that they would rather spend with customers.”
Food Standard blog asks, can a fast food chain benefit from Lean Six Sigma? The post has good points about food, waste and Lean Six Sigma.
Lean Six Sigma for Law Enforcement blog talks about MBWA, or Management by Walking Around. It’s an interesting management style and the blog itself is a revelation. Check it out!
Filed under: Economy, Food, IT, Law/Legal Service, Lean Six Sigma, Mobile Workforce, Six Sigma
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Innovation of the Week: US Innovation, Recession’s Last Victim
Posted by: meikah | 17 December 2009 | 7:32 pm
For this week’s edition of innovation update, I’m sharing with you how the recession has affected many companies, especially American companies.
According to CNNMoney:
U.S. innovation slowed this year for the first time in 13 years as the recession cut into budgets, and costs to protect inventions rose.
The number of patent filings in the United States fell 2.3% in 2009 to 485,500 from 496,886 last year, according to a preliminary estimate by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That makes 2009 the first year since 1996 in which businesses and inventors filed fewer patents year over year.
Filed under: Economy, Innovation, Innovation Update, Six Sigma
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Six Sigma Companies News: GM Struggles to Shed a Legendary Bureaucracy
Posted by: meikah | 22 November 2009 | 9:51 pm
Here’s another edition of Six Sigma Companies News.
Because of the crisis, many big American companies are either closing down or applying for a stimulus package or emergency bailout. You wouldn’t think this could happen to these companies actually.
One of them is G.M. After it received the government’s emergency bailout, G.M. had to reevaluate its operations. And according to the latest news, it’s streamlining.
New York Times reports:
When G.M. collapsed last year and turned to the government for an emergency bailout, its century-old way of conducting business was laid bare, with all its flaws in plain sight. Decisions were made, if at all, at a glacial pace, bogged down by endless committees, reports and reviews that astonished members of President Obama’s auto task force.
Filed under: Economy, GM, Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Six Sigma News, Six Sigma Organizations
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Six Sigma Economics, Anyone?
Posted by: meikah | 7 May 2009 | 11:22 pm
Over at Product Design & Development is an interesting take on Six Sigma economics. This means the stock performance of Six Sigma companies.
Here are the figures:
- Aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin (LMT) is up more than 20 points.
- Although still trading below $6/share, Ford’s (F) stock value has doubled.
- Toyota (TMC) has rebounded more than $22/share.
- Automotive supplier Federal Mogul (FDML) has gone from a value of $2.71 to $10.66.
- Industrial distributor Grainger (GWW) is up better than 18 points.
- Ingersoll-Rand (IR) has seen improvements of more than $10/share.
- Radio Shack (RSH) has nearly doubled its stock value.
- Apple (APPL) has seen gains of more than $40/share.
- IBM is up nearly $18.
- Even the medical segment, which has been somewhat flat, has seen a collective improvement of 46 points. Also, the recent Institute of Supply Management report released last Friday showed that while manufacturing is still in decline (as represented by numbers below 50), improvements are being seen.
- The Purchasing Manager’s Index improved from 36.3 to 40.1 in April. This still indicates decline, but at a slower pace than a month previous.
- Similarly, new orders went from 41.2 to 47.2.
- Employment improved from 28.1 to 34.4.
- Inventories shrank from 54 to 49.5 – a positive sign that will eventually lead to replenishment needs.
- Order backlogs increased from 35.5 to 40.5.
Filed under: Economy, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations
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Manufacturers Cope By Going Into Lean, Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 9 October 2008 | 7:40 pm
Over at ThomasNet, a recent survey gives us an idea of how manufacturers cope during this economic downturn. As Philippine Senator Mar Roxas said, this is a major tsunami.
Well, on my way to work today, I heard on the radio that because of the economic turbulence in the U.S., about 400,000 workers in the Philippines might be affected. These workers work for the contact centers.
In the manufacturing side, I asked Wizheart about its implication. And he said that manufacturing companies, or any other company for that matter, live and breathe on credit. With financial institutions going bankrupt affecting local stocks, local banks would have stricter guidelines on credit or credit lines, or they might not grant loans to companies. Companies wouldn’t have the means to buy the raw materials. For manufacturing companies that are exporting to the U.S., such as semicon, they would find themselves without market.
Going back to that survey on ThomasNet, manufacturing companies are:
responding to the economic downturn by looking to streamline business, manufacturing and supply chain operations.
To handle the downward spiraling economy and to increase business efficiency, 63 percent of respondents have already adopted, or are examining, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and other methodologies for improving supply chain management.
Filed under: Economy, Finance, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TQM
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Six Sigma and Economic Myths
Posted by: meikah | 11 September 2007 | 10:38 pm
Over at PQ Systems eLine, David Schwinn talks about economic myths, being the truly global concern these days, and Six Sigma, and how to build on them.
Assuming the economic myth is, in fact, predominant in our organizations, Betty Sue Flowers (writer of “The American Dream and the Economic Myth”) has identified potential opportunities for building on that myth as we deepen our dream or enlarge our mission. Her opportunities provide some ideas for deepening the dream of your Six Sigma effort, as well. I’ve summarized them below:
- “The economic myth supports a systems view of the world.” Our Six Sigma effort should consider mission, vision, values, products, services, structure, and throughput, decision-making, and learning processes. It should also remember that in a global economy, everyone’s in the game and that “It’s the connections, stupid.”
- The economic myth is just a myth. It is only one way of looking at a very complex world. It can and, in fact, has changed and evolved over time as have the other myths we hold to be true.
So if we want to improve our Six Sigma efforts we might try making them:
- More personal by, for example, finding out what the folks who have to make it happen care about;
- More immediate, with both short term and long term participative goals, feedback, and learning systems;
- Larger and deeper, by examining and illuminating what our larger Six Sigma missions are, beyond making more money.
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
