Constraints Management and Lean and Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 12 May 2008 | 8:47 pm
Whoa, there’s no end to these quality management concepts and methodologies! This only shows that competition is stiff and business is doing good that companies continuously find ways to enjoy benefits and savings. 
Over at Supply Chain Management Review, there is a good discussion on how constraints management enhances Lean and Six Sigma. Inspired by the Eli Golratt’s Theory of Constraints, the article describes constraints management as:
Constraints management looks at the business as chains of dependent events and focuses improvement efforts on the weak links in the chains. On the face of it, the inclusion of yet another sophisticated business process might seem to lead to excessive complexity. But in practice, this new layered approach actually can simplify management’s job by providing a focusing mechanism for improvement initiatives.
Check out the article: How Constraints Management Enhances Lean and Six Sigma
Filed under: Lean, Six Sigma, Eli Goldratt, Theory of Constraints
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Six Sigma and Lean
Posted by: meikah | 12 May 2008 | 7:17 pm
Many companies have deployed Six Sigma alone, others only Lean. Few braver ones venture into having both Six Sigma and Lean. All of them have claimed great benefits and savings.
I guess that is because every company must learn and decide which methodology is best for them, and suited to their kind of operations.
There is also another side of the spectrum, which claims that they stick to Six Sigma because Lean would require them to dismiss some of their people. In fact, many employees also have claimed to be displaced because their companies went lean.
This is not the case, however, with Hoffman. When they experienced a slump in 2001, they turned to Lean and Six Sigma to keep the company profitable and able to continue doing business. In so doing, they enjoyed great benefits and savings, and didn’t have to fire a single person.
President Del Nickel had committed the company to the philosophy and worked to ingrain it thoroughly into its culture that the results became significant enough to make a difference.
He began by initiating a number of small projects that would pay big dividends and by keeping the employees apprised of the situation. Seeing how these projects were making a difference, the employees rallied behind Nickel. “You hear horror stories about resistance to change among the workforce,” says Michele Massimino, a Six Sigma Black Belt and director of Lean Enterprise. “It didn’t happen here.”
Besides the series of successes and the continual stream of communication, there is another important reason that the employees supported the effort. “We’ve never fired somebody because of a Lean event,” notes Massimino. “We’ve always reassigned them.”
Source:
Six Sigma Zone News
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Manufacturing, Six Sigma Organizations, Deployment, Lean, Six Sigma
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Six Sigma Movements
Posted by: meikah | 7 May 2008 | 8:21 pm
iSixSigma highlights a few Six Sigma movements in the past couple of weeks.
StreetInsider announces that Russell W. Duke, Ph.D. will join Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., as an executive consultant. Sunquest is a market leader in laboratory information systems, and Duke will fill in the role that will enable him to contribute towards developing and driving the company’s Lean Lab and Outreach strategies.
Over at eMediaWire, Change Management Consulting, Inc. (CMC), a privately-owned management consulting and training firm appoints Brad Thorne as Vice President and Global Lean Six Sigma Practice Head.
The EarthTimes also announces the promotion of Kerry Fordyce to the position of Vice President of Manufacturing at Arrow Industrial Ltd. Arrow Industrial’s President, Bob Geoffroy, said, “Kerry is a strong business manager who can use his experience with lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, statistical process control, finance, leadership and safety to help us continue providing products and services that meet or exceed the expectations of our customers.”
*Photo from Insyte-Consulting
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, iSixSigma, Lean, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Jobs
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Taking Six Sigma Higher: Leadership Leader
Posted by: meikah | 29 April 2008 | 8:34 pm
At ManageSmarter Training Soapbox, I found LeadershipSigma. It says there that the new enterprise imperative is leadership quality from bottom to top. This kind of leadership style engages everybody to participate in the goings-on of the company. I agree! The people in the floorshop or in the frontline are the best ones to assess the organization. They are the direct contact of co-employees and customers.
This is not to say however that anyone in the organization can make decisions and carry them out himself. A leadership from top to bottom still recognizes the organizational structure but taking into consideration the observations, suggestions, recommendations of everyone in the company. There is open consultation and transparent movements.
That is the LeadershipSigma mindset. Taking into account the concepts and tools of Six Sigma and Lean, the LeadershipSigma mindset:
…encourages leadership capability and a leadership culture throughout the organization.
This means leadership no longer can be the private preserve of top executives once they have advanced significantly in their career. Nor is it sufficient to reactively develop business leaders by simply mapping their growth and development to a formalized competency framework. The dynamic complexity of the 21st century demands a proactive process that builds leadership talent everywhere and all the time. Cultivating a whole-firm leadership mind-set energizes the workplace; increases employee engagement; and enables the organization to flex, adapt, and innovate in the global marketplace.
What is your leadership style? Are you:
- Relationship Builder - Leaders build strong relationships with peers, colleagues, leaders, and associates internal and external to the enterprise.
- Communicator - Leaders influence and persuade by employing all communication means and media with presence, skill, and confidence.
- Innovator - Leaders challenge the status quo and create new opportunities for individual, team, and enterprise performance and results.
- Global Citizen - Leaders operate in seamless, borderless execution, working effectively with diverse colleagues and multiple cultures.
- Mentor/Coach - Leaders are dedicated to building the next generation of talent, making themselves redundant by ensuring and securing the leadership pipeline.
Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Lean, Six Sigma, LeadershipSigma
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 13 March 2008 | 9:23 pm
It’s that time again when SixSig goes ’round the cyberhighway and gather news about Six Sigma and other quality management methodologies.
For this week, learn from the following blogs, bloggers, and news agencies:
Jeff Dalton of Ask the CMMI Appraiser blog answers your question about incorporating Six Sigma and CMMI. He says, “Six Sigma is a set of methods for gathering, analyzing, and acting on information derived from statistal analysis of performance data. The CMMI is a process model. The two CAN co-exist with one another.”
Ron Pereira of Lean Six Sigma Academy, is in Japan observing how the Japanese do things and achieve results. He was sharing what he observed and learned from a company called HOKS. Among the revelations are: the company implements 3S instead of 5S, had 62,000 Kaizen activities, management’s focus in results, and its struggle with employees who also didn’t welcome change. From Ron’s account on information overload, I can see that HOKS makes for an interesting study.
Mike Wroblewski of Got Boondoggle? also shared his experience with HOKS. Mike focused on the 3S and how it is achieving significant results for the company. From management to employees, everyone comes in for work earlier than scheduled to do the 3S. Like, Mike, I like this slogan, too: “If I change, our company will change!” Great words of wisdom on organizational change, indeed!
Stephen Gill of The Performance Improvement blog shares about how the health systems need a strategy to carry out their processes well. One particular critical process is dispensing medicines. He gives Duke University Hospital as an example of a company that implements Six Sigma to control quality and reduce errors.
Check these great blogs now!
Filed under: Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Deployment, Healthcare, Ron Pereira, Kaizen, Mike Wroblewski, Lean
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Six Sigma Reference: The Simply Lean Pocket Guide
Posted by: meikah | 11 March 2008 | 8:51 pm
The Simply Lean Pocket Guide is the integration of Lean and the PDCA methodology. The interactive Tinker Town case study allows you to take problem solving with a Lean twist to your next performance level.
The most basic premise of Lean is to simply and effectively problem solve. The Simply Lean Pocket Guide is a step-by-step approach to the implementation of process improvements using the PDCA model along with a Lean twist.
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma References, Lean
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SixSig makes it to Process Geek’s new O! Blog List!
Posted by: meikah | 26 February 2008 | 8:41 pm
Thanks to Troy Worman again for including SixSig on his new O! Blog List!
I’m especially happy because the blogs on my blogroll made it to the list, too, through SixSig.
Congrats everyone!
Here’s a blog, I’d like to add to this new O! Blog list: Lean Healthcare Exchange.
Check it out!
Filed under: Healthcare, Lean
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Lean Six Sigma Helps Get Rid of TIM WOOD
Posted by: meikah | 3 February 2008 | 9:03 pm
Tim Wood who?
Exactly my question when I read Jim Thomas’s article over at Optometric Management. Jim was talking about going lean, and using Lean Six Sigma, in particular, to get rid of wastes. Wastes mean extra time, effort and most of all cost. The waste is TIM WOOD.
Transportation - the movement of products or information from one place to another adds time to activities.
Inventory - the products or parts you keep in your storage room waiting to be processed, assembled, or delivered.
Motion - poor ergonomics can lead to extra movement, as well as contribute to strain and muscle pain.
Waiting - or delays
Over-processing - rechecking of work done by other employees or teammates or vendors.
Over-production - extra copies of documents, over supply of office materials, parts, or raw materials.
Defects/Rework - defective products that need rework or overhaul.
I’m sure you already know about these kinds of waste, but sometimes an acronym can help us remember them better; much like the mnemonics used by high school students to help them memorize key concepts.
So how’s TIM WOOD in your organization?
Related story:
ITtoolbox ResearchWhite Paper, 5 Ways ERP can help you implement Lean
*Photo from MorgueFile
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Lean
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 24 January 2008 | 10:32 pm
The link roundup is back and I’m giving it another name, The SixSig Roundup. Why the new name? I will now be linking to other equally relevant quality news aside from Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma.
So, join me as I go ’round the blogosphere!
In my previous post, I shared the interview of Executive Suite with Textron CEO Lewis Campbell. Michael Marx of SixSigmaCompanies.com also shared the interview in his blog. He put emphasis on doing better or continuous improvement.
Recently, we have been hearing about layoffs left and right. In situations like these, who can we blame? Curious Cat Management reacts to Lean Insider’s question: Do Lean Companies Create Fewer Jobs? Same with John of Curious Cat, I’m on Deming’s side when he says: improve quality, lower costs, gain market share, provide more and more jobs…
Just when we think that a lean company is almost achieving perfection, Boeing’s lean supply chain stumbles. Gemba Research Blog takes a look at the situation in Boeing and recommends not copying Boeing’s 787 supply chain strategy. As the blog talks about supply chain and parts, and inventory, I am reminded by The Goal.
Filed under: Six Sigma References, iSixSigma, Lean, John Hunter, Six Sigma
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6 Steps to Thinking Lean (Six Sigma)
Posted by: meikah | 10 January 2008 | 8:19 pm
Having lived all my life here in the Philippines, I thought I had adjusted and accepted the long lines or the arduous process by which most agencies accomplish things here.
But doing things that way is very counterproductive. It’s a waste of time! And so I long for shorter, faster way of doing things. If it can be done, why not do it?
This is why I am leaning towards learning the lean thinking. In Japan, where the Lean concept is developed, the term is muda, a philosophy that aims to eliminate waste mainly by shortening processes.
If we apply it to the supply chain, Lean is about shortening the time between the customer order and shipment. An iSixSigma article shares the six steps that can help incorporate Lean into a company’s operating philosophy. These steps are based on a customer-focused view.
These steps in Lean thinking can be best evaluated at the producer end by verifying and reviewing each step one at a time.
- Value
- Value Stream
- Flow
- Pull
- Perfection
- Replication
Incorporate these steps to Six Sigma tools, then you have a powerful methodology: Lean Six Sigma.
Source:
Promax Consulting News
