Update on Six Sigma in the Philippines – Part 1
Posted by: meikah | 28 September 2011 | 12:06 am
Last August, I attended the Six Sigma Conference 2011 at Hotel Intercontinental Manila. It has been a while since the last Six Sigma Best Practices that I attended way back in 2009.
True enough, I learned a lot of new things about Six Sigma, process improvement strategies that many Philippine-based companies have been using.
The key speaker of that conference was none other than the premier Six Sigma practitioner in the Philippines: Dan Lachica, President and CEO of First Philec Solar Corporation.
According to Lachica, Six Sigma is three things:
- A statistical measurement
- A business strategy
- A philosophy
And then he went on to offer a simplified definition of DMAIC, a breakthrough strategy:
Define – Define the project GOAL & customer (internal & external) deliverables.
Measure – Establish a deeper understanding of the problem by searching for the potential root causes.
Analyze – Analyze and determine the root causes of the problem.
Improve – Implement the best parameter settings that will solve the problem and lead to improvement.
Control – Implement control system to sustain the improvement.
Dan Lachica also believes that to achieve operational excellence, a company has to create and nurture a Six Sigma culture. And Six Sigma alone cannot do the trick. With the present challenges in the business and economy, one needs a collaboration of all relevant strategies and work them out efficiently together.
Thus, he develops the Lachica Model:
Integrate Lean, Lean Sigma, Six Sigma, BPM/MBNQA/PQA, ISO, and TQM
Filed under: DMAIC, Dan Lachica, First Philec Solar Corporation, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Conferences, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals, Six Sigma References
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Saving with TEa and Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 19 July 2011 | 3:25 am
At work, I have been trying to measure income against savings for the past months now. I’m having a hard time doing the budget actually, especially when requests for technology upgrade come up all the time.
The challenge is how to invest wisely in the business yet realize some savings. The article goes:
I got an idea from an article on Westgard QC. The article talks about the impact of redesigning quality control based on Six Sigma concept. This was applied to several hospitals in the Netherlands. In hospital laboratories, the challenge is how to perform better with less budget.
The laboratory at one of the Utrecht locations only has a limited functionality for STAT requests. At the other Utrecht location all “basic” tests are performed. The (main) location in Nieuwegein offers a wide range of tests, including special techniques. In 2009 the department of clinical chemistry received 472618 requests representing over 3.000.000 test orders.
My responsibilities at Sint Antonius include the system of IQC, training the staff in Six Sigma, system evaluations and method validations and developing an advanced process control system in accordance with the ISO 15189. The laboratory organisation is accredited since 1998.
Hospital laboratories are urged to perform better with less budget. In general there is always a strong need to keep the expenses as low as possible while maintaining the level of quality of the measurement procedures. We have been able to reduce the costs of failure and at the same time maintain the level of quality by designing our IQC-procedures using TEa and Six Sigma.
Filed under: Healthcare, Quality, Six Sigma
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The SixSig Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 11 July 2011 | 2:26 am
Almost a year after my last roundup, I’m bringing back again the link-loving and see what other blogs are saying about Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma and other quality improvement processes.
Let’s start with Mark Graban of Lean Blog, who compiled Dilbert’s strips that touch on Six Sigma or Lean. The strips are amusing and at the same they make you think hard about quality strategies. Check out A Collection of Dilbert Cartoons on #Lean and/or #SixSigma!
Over at Huntington Post, Aaron Hurst shares an interview with Ellen Lambert. the Executive Vice President of the Merck Company Foundation. Ms. Lambert talked about how they are using Six Sigma at Merck to make their processes more efficient and effective. Check out The Positive Side of Negative Space: An Interview With Merck’s Ellen Lambert!
Motley Fool reports that 3M used to lead in the area of innovation. In the recent years, however, 3M appears to have lost its innovation magic when it launched Six Sigma. Perhaps, many of you will disagree but this observation seems to be valid. Check out The Innovation Magic is Gone at 3M!
At PharmaExecBlog, there is an article there that is a good follow up on the case of 3M. Kevin Duffin, senior fellow, translational sciences at Eli Lilly – and a Six Sigma practitioner was asked during the Drug Information Association panel if Six Sigma indeed stifles innovation. Some believe so, others don’t. Weight it out for yourself by checking out DIA: Does Six Sigma Stifle R&D Innovation?
An article on Vision Systems Design, even automated systems to improve inspection processes need Six Sigma. How? Find out at how software seeks to minimize false positives in machine-vision inspection systems.
Filed under: 3M, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Pharmaceuticals, Quality, Six Sigma, Six Sigma News, Software/Technology
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Six Sigma Conference 2011 in Manila
Posted by: meikah | 21 June 2011 | 1:19 am
Fierra De Manila brings you the Six Sigma Conference 2011 in Manila on August 4-5, 2011 at Hotel Intercontinental Manila.
- Creating a Six Sigma Culture Through Operational Excellence
- The Holy Grail of Six Sigma, Lean, and BPM
- Metrics for Successful Six Sigma Projects
- Using Six Sigma Approach for Fixing Performance Issues in Balanced Scorecard Model
- Unlocking Six Sigma for Managing Process Variation
- Six Sigma Project Presentation in Financial/Banking Sector
- Six Sigma Project Presentation in BPO Sector
- A Case Presentation of Continuous Improvement (CI) Implementation Program
- Panel Discussion
- Guidelines and Criteria in the Selection of Potential Six Sigma Projects
- Starting Your Six Sigma Projects the Right Way 92-2751
Find out more and register now!
Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Conferences, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals, Six Sigma Team, Six Sigma Training
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Dow Chemical Company Shares Six Sigma in Kuwait
Posted by: meikah | 15 June 2011 | 9:19 pm
“The conference was a great forum for Dow to share its Six Sigma journey, and it was a great learning opportunity for companies considering starting their own journeys. The overwhelming theme of leveraging Six Sigma’s values of continuous improvement and innovation are ideally suited to address the significant needs of businesses in Kuwait and the GCC”, said Kevin McCarron, Six Sigma Leader from Diamond Value Chain Consulting (DVCC).
Filed under: Dow Chemical Co., Six Sigma, Six Sigma Conferences, Six Sigma News
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Webinar: The New Rules of Lean Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 4 May 2011 | 7:08 pm
In this Webinar you will learn how to:
- Avoid the common pitfalls of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) initiatives and ensure all aspects of your organisation’s behaviour and culture are carefully considered
- Combine LSS tools and techniques with a blend of programme and change management techniques
- Implement training and capability development to ensure the development of a continuous process improvement culture
- Get started with a range of options from a pilot improvement project to an organisation wide process transformation programme.
- Plus, hear how one financial services organisation benefited firsthand from the “game changing” results of this powerful approach.
This webinar presents an alternative cost and service improvement option using a LSS approach for Financial Service processes.
Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Webinar
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Husqvarna Goes Lean Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 14 April 2011 | 9:33 pm
In recent years, Husqvana had to deal with increased demand for thier products. So to increase production capacity, this is what the company did:
According to David Rucker, the Beatrice production line features multiple equipment models, each requiring unique assembly methods and different amounts of dedicated assembly time from the operators. Using Lean principles to balance production flow, Rucker’s team created a more visual and flexible assembly line, delivering only the next two hours’ worth of raw materials. Rucker is president of Rucker & Associates whose team specializes in finding industrial and operational efficiencies.
Filed under: Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma
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Upcoming Lean and Six Sigma Training
Posted by: meikah | 30 March 2011 | 7:30 pm
Stat A Matrix Institute is coming up with Lean and Six Sigma Training in the coming months.
Lean Practitioners Certification • LPM • 5 Days
Chicago, IL
May 16–20, 2011
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification • GL1 • Three 5-Day
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification • BL1 • Five 5-Day Sessions
For additional courses, dates, and locations, visit www.statamatrix.org or call 800.472.6477
You may also want to visit GoingToMeet.com for other conferences.
Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Training
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Six Sigma Students Helping Companies Boost Performance
Posted by: meikah | 28 March 2011 | 4:17 am
I saw this article on University of Buffalo News Center, and I got interested in this new development. Six Sigma students enrolled at the University at Buffalo can now help companies with their continuous improvement effort.
These students are enrolled in the Six Sigma Black Belt Student Certification program. They can be hosted by a company and they will make that company a case study.
I think this is a good move for students as well as for the companies, a win-win situation. The students get exposed to how things work at the shop floor so to speak and apply the theories they learned from the classroom. The companies, on the other hand, now have the option to host these students or get Six Sigma consultants, whichever works for the company.
Here’s how the program works:
Companies of any size and type may sponsor one or more students. Students pursue a two-semester project targeted at achieving process excellence by eliminating variation. They are supported by a UB Master Black Belt mentor with varied and extensive industry experience, who works with company officials to identify a project that has defined outcomes and achievable results.
Filed under: Education, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Team, Six Sigma Training
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Six Sigma Reference Feature: 10 Rules for Six Sigma Innovation
Posted by: meikah | 26 January 2011 | 9:50 pm
Let me share with you an article by Hisham Sabry titled “Ten Rules for Six Sigma Innovation” on PEX.
I agree with him that during difficult times, we need to innovate to survive, but we don’t really need to reinvent the wheel. Learning from Best Practices is a good thing. My attention was caught by his 1st rule:
- “Somewhere, someone else had the same problem and has come up with a solution for it.” Do not waste your time in reinventing the wheel. The probability that the problem you are trying to solve was solved in another organization is more than 99%. Search for similar projects on line and ask other professionals, this will minimize the time you need to come up with a solution on your own. Even if you can’t find a ready made solution, you will have something to customize to fit what you have.
