DHL’s Six Sigma Mandate
Posted by: meikah | 3 March 2010 | 8:25 pm
Last year, I shared with you DHL‘s DMAIC initiative and how the company is successfully satisfying customers because of it.
In another article, DHL’s Six Sigma Mandate is described by Jonathon O’Leary, head of First Choice Program in the Asia Pacific as follows:
The First Choice approach comes via the Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control) methodology and the Lean process. While DMAIC arrived at DHL from technology companies such as GE and Motorola, Lean has its origins in manufacturing.
“We started off with support from external consultants and a lot of these external consultants came from GE and Motorola, so it’s kind of the link we have with them,†O’Leary says. “There are also some key people within our organisation that we have from GE and Motorola as well.â€
Motorola is also one of the customers who have responded to DHL’s customer satisfaction survey.
“We’re very open about the initiatives we’re working on,†O’Leary says. “If they say ‘we’ve got a documentation accuracy issue’, say from Shanghai to Brazil, we’ll work on initiatives and we’ll share them with all our documentation because they’re on the same mindset. They’re thinking along the same process lines.â€Â
Filed under: DHL, DMAIC, Services, Six Sigma
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St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Improves Back-office Functions Through Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 18 January 2010 | 8:53 pm
Armed with these principles, the organization is now improving back-office functions using Six Sigma. In an article on Crain’s Detroit Business-Focus, this is how they do it:
- conducted a thorough analysis of work flows in the lab, radiology and central supply
- significant improvement: cut radiology department turnaround time for reports and tests by 50 percent
- used lean principles in designing its new surgical pavilion
Filed under: Healthcare, Services, Six Sigma
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Diebold’s 4PL Model Is Founded on Lean Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 13 January 2010 | 8:20 pm
Diebold, offering a comprehensive line of self-service, security and service solutions, started with a Smart Business 200 program in 2006. With the demands of the market getting more competitive, the company knew that they had to improve the system regularly.
Thus, Diebold embarked on another continuous improvement program. This time they got outside help and brought in a fourth-party logistics provider (4PL), Menlo Logistics, to do a full supply chain assessment. The full story is here.
What is going to be noticeable about Diebold’s continuous improvement effort is that Menlo Logistics is founded on Lean Six Sigma.
“One of Menlo’s strengths is their continuous practice of Lean/Six Sigma methodology,” says Paul Dougherty (strategic procurement manager in Diebold’s global procurement organization). Menlo has hosted several Diebold workshops concentrating on strategy design, value stream mapping, and Kaizen events.
“The same Lean principles applied to core logistics functions have been applied on the manufacturing side of the house as well,” he says.
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Menlo Logistics, Services, Six Sigma
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Lean Culture of E-Z-GO Makes It Best Plant of the Year
Posted by: meikah | 16 December 2009 | 7:47 pm
IndustryWeek names E-Z-GO as one of 2009′s Best Plants of the Year. Some of the reasons that E-Z-GO is named as such are:
- is maintaining a Lean corporate culture
- is relentlessly pursuing continuous improvement
- has progressed toward key company goals
- has motivated achievement of breakthroughs in operating performance and customer satisfaction
- has implemented numerous quality-control processes using Six Sigma methodologies, leading to a plant-wide first-time quality rate of greater than 98 percent
Filed under: Lean, Services, Six Sigma
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4 Ways to Going Lean in the Service Industry
Posted by: meikah | 27 July 2009 | 9:54 pm
Ryan J. Bell, writing for Technology Toolkit has a good discussion about building a lean organization in the service industry.
He suggests the following ways:
- Doing It Correctly The First Time – The number one contributor to waste in the service industry is not completing a given task correctly the first time. This is always the first order of things.
- Developing Performance Baselines – To identify process-related waste, the Lean Six Sigma team must first review the organization’s goals and current performance levels.
- How To Improve Employee Performance – Predictably, the first line of defense is training.
- Reducing Process Inefficiencies – Eliminating process-related waste is paramount.
Filed under: Lean, Services, Tips
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Healthcare News: Preventable Medical Errors Still Kill Thousands, Cost Billions as Employers Foot Bill
Posted by: meikah | 26 May 2009 | 7:46 pm
Errors are the things that Six Sigma tries to reduce or eliminate altogether. However, not all organizations see the value of Six Sigma or the other quality management strategies that can help them go zero defects.
This news on WorkForce Management is quite alarming really. What makes it so, is that the medical errors are preventable, yet because of a lack of effort on the part of management, these errors continue to kill people and hurt the coffers of the employers.
The article features a report on the health system’s efforts to reduce preventable errors. Still according to the report, the country has failed to:
- Reduce medication errors because hospitals have not widely adopted computerized prescribing and dispensing systems; the FDA has not done enough to help consumers and health practitioners avoid medication errors that stem from similar-sounding drug names and labels.
- Establish a national system suitable for reporting and tracking medical errors.
- Empower the Agency for Health Research and Quality to track national progress on patient safety.
- Raise professional standards and accountability of doctors, nurses and hospitals that commit preventable and widespread medical errors.
These preventable errors cost the country $17 billion to $29 billion annually. More than the cost, I think it’s more meaningful to look at it from the service side. These preventable errors kill thousands!
Filed under: Healthcare, Quality, Services
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3 Companies Overcome Waste
Posted by: meikah | 12 May 2009 | 11:48 pm
Here are three case studies of companies that show us show how expert managers get the job done — and what can go wrong when they don’t.
What happened:
Bad weather crippled a major city.
Goal:
Overcome the chaos to keep package deliveries moving.
Outcome:
Success
—
U.S. Forest Service firefighters
What happened:
A 2008 wildfire became uncontrollable.
Goal:
Contain the fire and keep fire crews safe.
Outcome:
Failure — four firefighters injured
—
What happened:
1989 Exxon Valdez oil-spill disaster
Goal:
Minimize fuel spills in the future.
Outcome:
Success
Filed under: Services, Sustainable Business
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Six Sigma Best Practices in the Philippines Benchmarking Forum
Posted by: meikah | 3 May 2009 | 7:53 pm
Last Thursday, April 30, I attended the Six Sigma Best Practices in the Philippines Benchmarking Forum at Dusit Thani Hotel-Manila. The last forum on this subject matter took place a couple of years ago.
The last time, the spotlight was on manufacturing and semiconductor industries. This time around the spotlight was on the service industry.
The speakers were
- Prof. Jose Edgar S. Mutuc, PhD, Center for Lean Systems, De La Salle University-Manila, for the theoretical review and integration
- Mr. Alberto L. Villegas, Jr., Director of Quality Management, IBM Philippines, Inc., sharing the Best Practice in IBM
- Mr. Randy G. Maranan, Vice President for HR & Total Quality, B.P.I., sharing the Best Practice in the banking operations of Bank of Philippine Islands
- Mr. Danilo C. Lachica, President, First Philec Solar Corporation, for the CEO perspective.
The panel of speakers did an excellent presentation, and even the open forum was very dynamic. I didn’t mind at all if we went over the schedule as the exchange was a good learning experience.
So, let me share with you what I learned from these excellent speakers and Six Sigma project champions (my term only for they have really championed their projects and initiatives).
- On the concept of Six Sigma – Your perception of Six Sigma is crucial. Do you view it as a strategy, a methodology, of a philosophy? As a strategy, it’s more passive as you look at it as something that can help you deal with process issues. As a methodology, you get more into action now and prepare steps or the methods toward achieving the solution to your process problem. But if you view Six Sigma as a philosophy, it becomes a way of life, part of the company culture. Thus you think, do, and breathe Six Sigma.
- On applying Six Sigma – Anything that has a process, Six Sigma can be applied to it. But not all processes or issues on processes can be solved by Six Sigma or one quality improvement methodology alone. One has to examine the problem first, analyze, and from the Six Sigma or Quality toolbox, choose the tool that best suits the problem.
- On deploying Six Sigma – A hundred percent support from management, both top and middle level, is very important in the success of Six Sigma deployment or any other quality improvement methodology. Six Sigma deployment should start with investing in training, and I surmise that good consultants is a key to good and successful deployment, too. This is why management support is really needed. I also get the impression that if your management is willing to invest, then it is ready to enjoy the savings.
- On sustaining Six Sigma – It needs a system for continuous training, continuous monitoring, continuous evaluation, and benchmarking with companies in your industry. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, or create a new process. You need only to observe what others are doing best, and benchmark your own processes.
- On saving with Six Sigma – Big savings result from Six Sigma programs. The speakers all attested to that. And this is the part where I really got challenged to embark on lean (first) and Six Sigma (later). Enjoying big savings in these trying times is very very tempting.
- On the ultimate purpose of Six Sigma – To meet the requirements of the customers.
I hope to get results of the email interviews for each speaker in the days to come. So stay tuned! 
Filed under: Best Practices, Deployment, Deployment Champion, Services, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits
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MPS, a Step to Lean Six Sigma Journey
Posted by: meikah | 19 April 2009 | 8:09 pm
MPS or Managed Print Services according to Ken Steward of Change Forge is a management technique that involves three steps:
- Consolidation – consolidate resources to be able to manage them easily
- Standardization – look for that common ground to create a unified procedure across the enterprise
- Governance – hold people accountable for their actions and ensure results
After taking these three steps, you are now ready to embark on your Lean Six Sigma journey. These prepare you for the task of streamlining platform support and production techniques. As Steward said, these are not new concepts and people in management have probably known this, but they just needed to be educated about it more.
Steward was able to roll out Lean Six Sigma after he underwent the three steps of MPS.
Have you tried it?
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Manufacturing, Processes, Productivity, Services
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3 Ways to Going Lean: Doing Transactions Right the First Time
Posted by: meikah | 19 April 2009 | 7:41 pm
How many times have you had to repeat your orders or return products that do not comply with your specifications?
These are just a couple of wastes that you encounter in transactions, especially in first time interactions. What happens when this happen (no pun intended) is that customers get burned so to speak, and will take their business elsewhere.
An article by Sharad Sharma on iSixSigma identifies three ways to go Lean, thereby doing transactions right the first time.
- Tracking First Time Right Encounters – Measure the current level performance and catching the right transaction at the start of it. For example, bank managers may be used to judging their staff by the time it takes them to resolve a customer query. However, staff may not always provide complete information to customers, which can result in repeat complaints. Thus, it is essential to link an employee’s performance or output with the transactions that are completed correctly the first time.
- Improving Performance – Make sure that people understand fully the tasks that they are going to do. Often, mistakes or omissions are made because the people doing the tasks do not understand the procedure at all.
- Cutting out Waste – Know the seven kinds of wastes (defects, overproduction, processing, waiting, inventory, motion, and transportation) understand each, and avoid it at all cost.
Yes, I am an advocate for doing things right at the first time.
