The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 30 November 2009 | 7:12 pm
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.
Daily Kaizen shares how their lean journey is progressing. “Over the last year on our Lean journey we have made considerable progress and learned a lot about how to effectively deploy standards and standard work across multiple teams and work sites.” Continue reading…
Discover6Sigma talks about how to handle a large number of ideas through affinity diagram. Continue reading…
Gemba Panta Rei shows us how to adopt Kaizen in our daily worklife. “Instead of making excuses why something can’t be done, think of ways to make it possible.” Continue reading…
Got Boondoggle? talks about how to handle flows in processes. Continue reading…
Lean Blog shows us the good effect of involving employees in the continuous improvement program. Continue reading…
Filed under: Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma
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Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen Can Work Together To Improve Processes
Posted by: meikah | 5 November 2009 | 8:15 pm
If Kaizen and Six Sigma (or Kai Sigma) can work together successfully, then Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen, too.
A Japanese philosophy, Kaizen focuses on continuous improvement in all aspects of life, while Lean Six Sigma is a combination of Lean and Six Sigma incorporating the voice of the customer (VOC).
An article on News Journal Online says that Sea Ray Boats, which experienced low sales in the past, combined Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen to improve efficiency and safety while cutting costs and eliminating wasted time and materials. The programs are still ongoing.
Zack Chehaitli, director of continuous improvement at Sea Ray’s local plant, said the use of the “Kaizen” and “Lean Six Sigma” approaches has saved the company nearly $400,000 so far this year. From 2006 through 2008, the company saved $574,000 to $776,000 a year.
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Kaizen, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations
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Six Sigma and Entrepreneurship
Posted by: meikah | 7 September 2009 | 10:00 pm
Edgar Lizarraga, an entrepreneur in Chino Hills, California, is operating his business using the principles of Six Sigma and Kaizen.
Lizarraga is the man behind the successful Mighty Express, a trackless train ride that runs safely through The Shoppes at Chino Hills every Saturday and Sunday from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. During the week, people can hire the Mighty Express for other local events such as picnics and fundraising activities.
Lizarraga used to work for a “veneer manufacturing company and spent most of his hours making sure that production schedules ran efficiently and on time. He studied management techniques like 6 Sigma and Kaizen, business philosophies focusing on continuous improvement.”
Now, working with his own business, he makes sure that a good system is working to ensure a smooth flow of his Mighty Express.
Read his story HERE.
Filed under: Entertainment, Entrepreneurship, Kaizen, Six Sigma
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 7 June 2009 | 7:15 pm
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.
Lean Manufacturing Blog takes us back to the basics of Six Sigma and asks, “What is Six Sigma?” Basically, the concept of Six Sigma deals with measuring and improving how close we come to delivering on what we planned to do.
Daily Kaizen shares how to create local engagement after top down change. “One of the most challenging problems we are trying to solve is how to balance organizational and customer needs for consistency and performance with the engagement of frontline teams in defining improvement.”
Ron Pereira of LSS Academy shows us how to deal with the seven deadly wastes. View the interesting video now!
Lean Thinker shows us the value of catching an error before it is too late. There are three levels when talking about mistake-proofing: “prevent the error from happening in the first place; detect an error as it is being made and immediately stops the process (and alerts the operator) before a defect is actually produced; detect a defect after it has occured, and stops the process so that the situation can be corrected before any more can be made.”
Over at Spercus, Peter Peterka tells us why Six Sigma will work in service environments. “The core principles of Six Sigma allow it to cost-effectively translate manufacturing-oriented Six Sigma tools into the service delivery process.”
Filed under: Kaizen, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Six Sigma News
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 26 April 2009 | 8:30 pm
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.
Triz Sigma blog gives us some good reminders on how to select Six Sigma projects. “Choosing the right projects is crucial to the credibility of six sigma and its’ ability to live within the bounds of its’ own philosophies by being efficient and cost effective with the resources it employs.”
Daily Kaizen features a guest post from Dr. David McCulloch about Electronic Medical Records: the “drunk man’s keys” of the healthcare reform debate. “… if we simply apply cool technology to make our current irrational, unsafe, and overpriced healthcare system more ‘efficient’ then we will have achieved nothing. If applied to a rational system then electronic medical records could be the key to unlock the door to a warm, inviting medical home, a place where customers would feel safe and well cared for.”
From Evolving Excellence, I pick out the post on Lean is bigger than any of us. “The lean community talks a lot about leadership and culture, and a common trait I have found among the real lean successes is leadership that cares about other people and their communities. That is also true of just about everyone who supports or pushes lean.”
Learn Sigma has a good discussion going if QFD and Kansei Engineering can be integrated. This can “mean a way of identifying product development methods such as QFD etc., which are suitable for transferring Kansei Engineering results into conventional product development.”
Over at Gemba Panta Rei, Jon Miller shares the lessons of the drop, the bucket, and the continuous improvement. The mindset should be that there’s no small thing that can’t affect the big, whole organization.
Filed under: Kaizen, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Processes, Quality
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 6 April 2009 | 10:09 pm
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.
AllSixSigma blogspot features the required components for Six Sigma method. Go over to his blog and read about six key ingredients for transforming from business as usual to a Six Sigma culture.
Healthcare + Design talks about radical service innovation, which is talking about strategies on the frontiers of service design demand, a blend ofcreativity and discipline. Read about the five steps that leverage positive results.
Lean Six Sigma Academy is giving away free 5S overview module. It’s the first module of their 5S Workplace Productivity course that is part of the Gemba Academy School of Lean. Go over to LSSA and get your copy.
I pick out this interesting post on Daily Kaizen because I got a lot of tips for improving productivity in an organization. You have to create time for local improvement. “Without direct participation and ownership from the frontline teams you are making short-term technical fixes, and missing the bigger picture of what is possible if you engage everyone in the improvement process.”
Got Boondoggle? talks about lean synergy. Mike believes in the power of merging two equally effective and efficient initiatives to come up with a good methodology. “Each is worthy on its own however working together the resulting effect is far greater.”
*Edited photo is from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Innovation, Kaizen, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma
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Using Transactional Lean and Six Sigma in Medical Imaging
Posted by: meikah | 24 March 2009 | 8:43 pm
An article on iSixSigma has a good discussion on how to improve further the system of taking, interpreting, and releasing medical imaging records.
University Medical Imaging (UMI) began a process improvement and training program. Located in Brighton, New York, USA, UMI provides outpatient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, urography and general radiologic services.
Through an initial scoping process, report turnaround time surfaced as a key factor affecting delays and satisfaction. A project to address this issue began with the selection of team members and the development of a project charter. Through data, voice of the customer (VOC) information and short brainstorming sessions, the team was able to list, rank and categorize factors that could lead to variation or inefficiencies in the report generation process.
To identify which sub-set of factors would be addressed using Kaizen, a Lean tool, and which would be considered later using Six Sigma, the team created a simple “payoff matrix,” which compared the “benefit to fixing” with “ease of implementation (of a potential solution).” The team focused on eliminating factors that could not be fixed either due to business decisions or insufficient payoff. One factor – “need the previous exam” – was considered to be a significant pain point warranting the use of Kaizen.
Filed under: Healthcare, Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, VOC
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 15 December 2008 | 10:37 pm
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.
Dr. Singh’s Six Sigma Blog shares his insights on Six Sigma in TQM.
Buffalo Geek is curious about Buffalo City’s going into Citistat when Citistat is kind of like Six Sigma, just without the procedural elements and no definitive measurement methodology.
Daily Kaizen shares a wonderful lesson about creating an environment receptive to change. There are a lot of realizations to be had in the post.
In the spirit of Christmas season, Sue Kozlowski of iSixSigma Blogosphere shares A Lean Carol. Sue works on Charles Dickens “Ghost Story of Christmas.” Do you have management ghosts? Learn from this post.
Filed under: Kaizen, Lean Six Sigma, Quality, Six Sigma
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Then Comes Kai Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 26 November 2008 | 8:51 pm
I knew it wouldn’t be long before Kaizen and Six Sigma would be combined.
Kaizen, from two Japanese words, Kai (change) and Zen (to become good), implies continuous improvement. It is grounded on the basic elements namely teamwork, personal discipline, improved morale, quality circles, and suggestions for improvement. The ultimate goal is to get rid of waste (Muda), and inefficiency.
Six Sigma, on the other hand, is a set of quality management methods and statistical tools whose ultimate goal is to improve processes and eliminate defects or waste.
The marriage of the two is therefore inevitable. True enough, there is now Kai Sigma. Catalyst Consulting coined the term and was talking about how they’ve combined Six Sigma and Kaizen in the 4th Annual Lean Six Sigma & Process Improvement Summit.
The approach Kai Sigma is a name that reflects the link to continuous improvement (Kaizen) with the use of DMAIC (the improvement method commonly used in Six Sigma).
Related posts:
Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen for Forest Management
Kaizen with Six Sigma
Filed under: Kaizen, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations
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Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen for Forest Management
Posted by: meikah | 18 June 2008 | 8:52 pm
We have been experiencing unusual weather patterns lately. Rains during the summer, humid and hot dry climate where there should be wet or cool climate. When it rains, too, it really pours, thus flooding of great magnitude occur.
Many conclude that this altered weather patterns are caused by the degradation of our environment. Despite the efforts and renewed awareness, we continue to suffer from a damaged environment.
Perhaps, this reality must have inspired Forestry companies and the Natural Resources Department in New Brunswick to finally sit down and plan a forest management initiative. Many cities have embarked on the same or similar activities, but what’s interesting about this one is that the team will combine Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen and incorporate it into the forest management program.
Calling the program as LeanSigma Kaizen, the team hopes to achieve the following:
- launch the event at a reduced cost
- add value to their departments
- review the existing Frown Lands and Forest Act
- bring the red tape initiative to a new level
- implement an effective forest management event
Related Stories:
Lean Kaizen
Kaizen with Six Sigma
Source:
iSixSigma News
