How GE Uses Six Sigma to Drive Security ROI
Posted by: meikah | 24 June 2007 | 9:49 pm
That’s the title of the article on CIO. Francis X. Taylor, General Electric’s (GE) chief security officer, explains how to apply process imrovement methods to manage security risks.
Taylor was speaking before an audience of security executives at the CSO Perspectives in March. Here are excerpts of insights from him.
A methodology like Six Sigma requires a change in how you think about your organization and how it works. It requires shifting loyalties from how your organization operates to how those operations affect customers—the people and organizations who determine the value of what you produce. Performing well in this task adds value to your organization, can help security executives anticipate risks and identify resources to mitigate them, and it enables your leadership to pursue new opportunities for growth.
Taylor then presented process gains in policy violations at , background checks, and security alarms. He improved these processes These are real-life experiences when he was still working at the State Department.
The processes are improved through analysis and knowing what each process involves. The lesson learned is that one only needs to know the processes, gather relevant data, and work toward making the processes work more efficiently. Read more…
Source:
CIO, a Six Sigma Zone featured link
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, CIO, Data Analysis, Deployment, GE, Public Sector, Six Sigma Zone
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Innovation of the Week: LightSpeed from GE Medical Systems
Posted by: meikah | 4 May 2007 | 12:56 am
As a Six Sigma organization, trust GE and its subsidiaries to come up with innovative products.
LightSpeed is a CT scanner that captures multiple images of a patient’s anatomy simultaneously, at a speed six times faster than traditional “single-slice” scanners. It doubles doctor productivity, and enables doctors to more accurately diagnose and treat patients and to make decisions with greater confidence in life-or-death situations. Orders for the system came in at a rate six times faster than any product GE Medical Systems introduced.
And in the true spirit of continuous improvement, GE Medical Systems came up with the LightSpeed VCT XT.
LightSpeed VCT XT is a whole body CT system that excels at cardiac and vascular imaging:
- Up to 70% lower dose without any loss in image quality with SnapShot Pulse.
- Cardiac workflow also improved via a reduction of images to review, process and archive.
- Innovative 80mm of coverage for improved neuro CTA and perfusion with Volume Shuttle.
- All enabled by 40mm V-Res detector and powerful Performix Pro tube/generator.
Sources:
iSixSigma, “ISSSP Session: Innovation and Six Sigma Go Hand in Hand”
GE Healthcare, “New! LightSpeed VCT XT”
Filed under: GE, Healthcare, Innovation Update, Manufacturing
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GE Money and Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 16 April 2007 | 9:38 pm
General Electric, with Jack Welch, and Lean/Six Sigma make a perfect pair as the former strives for perfection and continuous self-improvement, and the latter showing the way how to achieve just that.
The partnership of Lean/Six Sigma, or LSS, and GE has been so good that it is only natural that GE Money, the consumer and small business financial services unit of GE, will also adopt LSS.
CFO.com highlights the benefits of LSS to GE Money, which used it for financial-services operation, such as loan or credit-card application processing. In just three years since GE Money adopted LSS workouts, it was able to do the following:
- In a GE operation in Thailand, where after an LSS workout session, the company was able to cut the processing time for auto loans by 40 percent.
- Reduce the number of fields on an application form for credit cards to make it quicker for the applicant, and work to reduce its application process from 30 days to 2 days.
- Shuffle desks around in the underwriting unit so that there are fewer handoffs.
- More importantly, through LSS workouts, they are able to compile a big dashboard that shows which processes were unnecessary, thereby reducing wastes.
Source:
CFO.com, Six Sigma in Shenzhen
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Deployment, Finance, GE, GE Money, Lean Six Sigma, Processes, Services, Six Sigma Organizations, Team Dynamics
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Innovation of the Week: GE’s Innovation Case Study
Posted by: meikah | 23 March 2007 | 4:07 am
In its bid to be continuously improving its processes, GE asked for ideas from students.
GE Healthcare turned to the undergraduate students of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, one of the world’s top design schools, and bid for the development of a product that addresses both ergonomics and emotions.
BusinessWeek Online: Inside Innovation features a synopsis of the the study:
THE RESEARCH
Art Center fielded three teams of eight students. GE Healthcare asked them to address the challenge of expanding health care into rural Africa in 2016. The teams were composed of students majoring in design, transportation, and the environment. All spent the fall semester on the project, and on Dec. 7, Art Center’s “Super Thursday,” they joined other students sponsored by BMW, Honda (HMC ), and Nestlé (NSRGY ) to present their designs.THE PROTOTYPES
An ultrasound device would wrap like a blanket around a woman’s belly. The design would reduce the training required for technicians. Current machines depend on a skilled technician to guide a probe over the abdomen. The multiple imaging sensors woven into the blanket mean it would simply have to be correctly placed, a big advantage in countries where technicians are in short supply.A noninvasive malaria scanner would detect disease by looking through the skin of a patient’s hand. Malaria is currently diagnosed with a needle prick and a blood test. That scares some patients away and can delay treatment until results come back from labs. The scanner would be painted in earthy African colors.
