Hospital CEOs Improve Health Service Through Lean and Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 10 September 2009 | 8:48 pm
In the face of U.S. President Barack Obama‘s proposed health care reform, CEOs take it as a time to improve their services. The task may be daunting and costly, but the CEOs believe that they can do it with the help of Toyota Productions System, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma.
An article on USA Today reports:
Criticism came from almost every corner leading up to Obama’s speech before Congress on Wednesday night, yet many hospital CEOs aren’t complaining, at least not publicly. They say that the hospitals they run are rife with inefficiency and that they are optimistic that the $155 billion in savings is do-able with the help of business disciplines, such as the Toyota Production System, lean manufacturing and Six Sigma.
Via: iSixSigma News
Filed under: Healthcare, Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma
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Lean Accounting at Watlow Electric
Posted by: meikah | 23 August 2009 | 8:01 pm
From the word, Lean, we can assume that Lean Accounting is putting lean iniatiatives to accounting tasks or better yet, incorporating lean principles with accounting principles.
An article on IndustryWeek online discusses how Lean Accounting is making a big difference in the operations of Watlow Electric. The company calls it value stream management.
Some of which are:
- A simpler accounting methodology
- Business units have been identifying their value streams and posting simplified operational and financial data for each value stream on a weekly basis.
- Even though right now the economy is down, Watlow-Hannibal is growing the business because people understand the costs better.
Ed Grinde, business unit controller for Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co.’s Hannibal, Mo. operations, suggests nine ways to implement Lean Accounting or value stream mapping.
- Get the support from upper management.
- Make everyone understand that lean is a growth strategy-not a cost-cutting strategy.
- Identify properly the value streams.
- Don’t try to attain perfection before setting up your value streams.
- Keep metrics and methods simple and manual in the beginning.
- Do not set hard goals.
- Value stream leaders need autonomy to be “little general managers.”
- Put as much of your costs as possible directly into the value streams.
- Use the five principles of lean as your criteria to make decisions.
Filed under: Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company
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Upcoming Lean, Six Sigma Conferences on GoingToMeet.com
Posted by: meikah | 2 July 2009 | 8:23 pm
GoingToMeet.com, the most comprehensive online directory of conferences around the world, has listed a good number of Lean and Six Sigma conferences in the coming months.
Check out the list below.
- Lean Six Sigma Certification Programs Hyderabad from CSI and KINDUZ
Hyderabad Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India 500007
Jul 18, 2009 – Jul 26, 200 - Lean Six Sigma Green Belt to Black Belt Upgrade (July 2009)
New York, New York United States
Jul 20, 2009 – Jul 24, 2009 - 8th Lean Six Sigma for Pharmaceutical, Biotech & Medical Device Excellence
Los Angeles, California United States
Jul 27, 2009 – Jul 29, 2009 - Lean Six Sigma Green Belt to Black Belt Upgrade (August 2009)
New York, New York United States
Aug 10, 2009 – Aug 14, 2009 - WCBF’s 4th Annual Lean & Six Sigma in Service & Transactional Environments Conference
Chicago, Illinois United States
Aug 18, 2009 – Aug 20, 2009 - WCBF’s New to Six Sigma
Chicago, Illinois United States
Aug 31, 2009 – Sep 02, 2009
For more conferences, visit and subscribe to GoingToMeet.com.
Filed under: Events/Announcements, Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Six Sigma News
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GE Pushes for Lean Manufacturing
Posted by: meikah | 24 May 2009 | 8:45 pm
Quality people are now looking at Lean manufacturing as one of the strategies that can help manufacturers ride the current storm.
An article on Charleston Business Journal says that American manufacturers can compete with cheaper and sometimes faster foreign companies.
Dan McDonnell, manager of GE’s lean initiative in the company’s transportation division, says, ““We absolutely can compete. It doesn’t matter that they have an unfair advantage. I really believe that lean is North America’s bridge to the future.
As an example of the value of lean manufacturing, McDonnell showed a piston pin created for locomotives built by GE’s transportation division.
Producing the pin before lean manufacturing costs the company $107 per pin. The best quote for the same pin from China was $59. After implementing “kaizen†— a waste-reduction, continuous improvement philosophy that’s the foundation for lean manufacturing — GE produced the pin for $69.
Filed under: GE, Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations
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Peavey Electronics Corporation Embarks on a Lean Journey
Posted by: meikah | 12 April 2009 | 7:48 pm
Peavey Electronics, manufacturer of musical equipment, gear, and accessories among others, is going into Lean Manufacturing.
The goal: to maximize efficiency among its 33 facilities and strengthen the organization’s position in the global marketplace.
According to Courtland Gray, Chief Operating Officer of Peavey Electronics:
“By embracing Lean practices, we can better understand the flow of production from plant to plant and come up with more efficient ways of doing business. Our goals are to apply skills efficiently, deploy freed resources where needed, and ultimately become more competitive. Peavey is committing to making a significant upward stride in performance in a short period of time, and that will benefit our customers, employees and community.”
It’s good to know that companies such as Peavey believes in lean principles. Indeed, lean and other quality initiatives can be applied to any kind of business whose aim is to improve its processes for a more efficient business model.
Filed under: Electronics, General, Lean Manufacturing, Manufacturing, Peavey Electronics, Processes
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Lean Principles Help Mitigate Layoffs
Posted by: meikah | 29 March 2009 | 8:57 pm
Supply Chain Digest Online, via iSixSigma’s News, carries some news on lean manufacturing mitigating impact of recession on job loss.
Here are the reasons cited:
- some factories have become so Lean, there simply aren’t many positions that can be eliminated and keep the operations going, even at reduced volume
- the investment in Lean training and techniques in the workforce can make the long-term cost of layoffs very high for some companies
- companies have invested in Lean training for employees that the skills acquired are difficult to let go
This makes a lot of sense. If you’re organization is already streamlined and no wastes (in terms of redundant positions) can be found, then there’s no reason for any layoffs. So in a way, you are already saving a lot even before a crisis hits.
Filed under: Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma
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Fort Dodge, Iowa Aims to be a Lean Government
Posted by: meikah | 26 February 2009 | 9:34 pm
The Messenger reports that the City of Fort Dodge, Iowa will be adapting Toyota’s Lean Manufacturing principles. The city will aim to be a lean government in the coming months or so.
City Manager David Fierke described lean government as the ”logical next step of what we’ve been doing all along.” He added that adopting lean government is necessary as well as logical. ”If we stay with the status quo, we’re going to get to the point where we’re in a financial crisis,” he said.
He is likewise recommending that the council hire PDG of Story City to help implement lean government practices. The company would be paid $5,400 a month for the first year of its services, $3,750 a month for the second year and $2,500 a month for the third year.
I like the way Mayor Fierke views lean, that it is something that will make his government improve and become better. Fort Dodge joins the many other cities such as whose government are realizing the benefit of going into Lean and Six Sigma.
Related posts:
Clarence, NY Tries out Lean Six Sigma
Tyler City, Texas to Look at Lean Six Sigma Principles
Vernon County Tries Out Six Sigma
Rhode Island Government Goes Into Six Sigma
Putting Lean Six Sigma in the Bureaucracy
Six Sigma To Save Taxpayers’ Money in Erie County
Hattiesburg, Missouri Adopts Lean Six Sigma
Lean Government Day in Iowa
Filed under: Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Public Sector, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations
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Applying Lean Principles To Green Business
Posted by: meikah | 24 February 2009 | 9:46 pm
While sustainable business proves to be quite expensive, many advocates are still at it. Now, there is a growing interest in applying lean principles to green business.
Foremost reason of which, perhaps, is that lean would speed up any green initiative, which would mean less cost but with significant results in terms of efficient processes.
An article on ReliablePlant discusses how lean manufacturing principles can help deliver green results. The article also cites a few examples of organizations that uses Six Sigma and other continuous quality improvements to be sustainable:
- From 2005 – 2007, General Electric reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 metric tons and saved $70 million in energy costs.
- A Baxter International facility combined Six Sigma and energy-efficiency efforts to save $300,000 in energy costs in one year.
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America has reduced average facility energy consumption per vehicle by 30 percent since 2000.
Filed under: Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Sustainable Business
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Lean, Six Sigma, and SCOR to Improve Competitiveness
Posted by: meikah | 4 February 2009 | 9:50 pm
Competitiveness is best measured during trying times. So is your business ready for it. To be ready, you need to know these three things:
- SCOR is a cross-industry model designed to analyze a supply chain and identify improvement opportunities in both Material flow and Work & Information flow.
- Lean Manufacturing focuses on reducing cycle time and increasing process speed. Its goal is the removal of non-value-added process steps or time traps from the process.
- Six Sigma is a statistical quality goal that represents the achievement of a quality level equal to no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
Dan Swartwood of PRAGMATEK Consulting Group puts out a white paper on how to use Lean, Six Sigma and SCOR to improve competitiveness.
Filed under: Lean Manufacturing, SCOR, Six Sigma
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Six Sigma at Baldor Electric Company
Posted by: meikah | 6 January 2009 | 8:55 pm
Baldor Electric Company, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient electric motors, recently got the IWs Best Plants Award 2008 for its plant in Ashville.
The recognized achievements include predictive maintenance programme that increased machine uptime to 97.8% while reducing maintenance repair cost by 35% over six years; recipient of the Baldor President’s Award for outstanding safety achievement in 2007 and 2008; fifth consecutive annual award in 2007 for Outstanding Work In Accident Prevention from the North Carolina Department of Labour. Continue reading…
The company is able to achieve these because of its Lean and Six Sigma programs. Lean systems within its factory and Six Sigma methodology to its suppliers. As such, Baldor is able to:
- sustain a culture of ongoing improvement through employee involvement
- maintain improvements in the production processes by gleaning employee-generated ideas
- incorporate loading and unloading automation in the manufacturing cells to prevent operator fatigue and excessive worker travel.
- target its key suppliers to help them implement Six Sigma leaning strategies
