Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Philippines Corp.’s Lean Six Sigma Journey

In the 2nd Lean Six Sigma Conference 2012, Dr. Chandramogan Anamirtham, president and general manager of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Philippines Corp., shared how his company embarked on a Lean Six Sigma Journey.

Dr. Chandramogan showed us a video with a message that innovation starts with you. You don’t need to wait for other people to work or begin. Begin a task yourself. Create that breakthrough.

Their journey started with Dr. Chandra’s model for manufacturing excellence:

Q uality – Quality of People, Process, Product

U nit Cost – Value, Cost Consciousness

A ko – (In English, Me) means Accountability

L ean Six Sigma – Structured approach to improvement

I nnovation – Breakthrough, Patent

T eamwork – Inter-department, across sites

Y ield – Productivity, Output/Input

Product – Process – People

Lessons from Hitachi’s quality journey:

• Invest in people
• Invest in training
• Create change
• Embrace that change until that change becomes a way of life
• Nurture that culture by giving people the opportunity to grow in your company

Filed under: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Philippines Corp., Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma

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Six Sigma on Making Denims

I have always been a jeans person. My casual, run-errands attire is jeans and white tee. Thus it really matters to me that the jeans would fit me well and am comfortable wearing it. There are those that really fit to a T. In my case, it’s often the Guess jeans. I didn’t need to alter anything. I buy and wear them.

Like any apparel, it’s important that jeans come in good quality, that it comes in good denim.  It’s interesting to know that there are denim manufacturing companies that are making sure we get good quality.

I stumbled upon an article on The Monitor that says that South Texas College (STC) will train more than 300 Santana Textiles employees on ways to improve the denim’s quality, lower production costs and eliminate waste.

STC will train the employees in lean manufacturing, supply chain management and Six Sigma. It was cited that Santana CEO J. Michael Aiken sees the need for these strategies adopted by Motorola, Toyota and other successful manufacturers. The goal is for his company to reverse the trend of textile manufacturing heading overseas.

Read the full story here.

Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Manufacturing, Six Sigma

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Workshop with Dr. Umit Ozen: Business Process Mapping

Participants of the Managing Risk and Performance Through Business Process Management workshop were lucky to have Dr. Umit Ozen as the lead trainer.

He is an expert in Lean Production, Six Sigma, Process Management, Strategic Planning, Balance Scorecard, among other things. He has more than 18 years of experience in the fields of management strategies, so you can just imagine the depth of his knowledge, both theoretical and practical. You can be assured that when you are in the presence of trainers with this caliber, you will take home a lot of insights.

It was my first time to attend a workshop, and I promise myself that I will be taking workshops from now on. It’s interactive and more educational than attending a conference.

With Dr. Ozen, he was very generous with his ideas, and he’s the kind of trainer that is motivational and approachable. He went around, hopped on every table to see what each one of us was doing, and he would correct, suggest, and show us how to improve our output.

The first workshop we had, the activity was creating a business process map. He made us watch a video showing how to make a cup of delicious Turkish coffee. It looked so easy, but when the process mapping came, we didn’t really have an easy time.

Here’s my group doing the process map before presenting it to the group:

Reviewing our process map

Wrapping up our process map

Presenting our process map

Here’s the PLDT group, our seatmate, making their process map as well.

A process is easy to talk about, and in fact some are under the impression that it’s easy to do things, you just do it. But when you go to writing down and describing what you are do, it’s a different story. I admit, I was stumped for a time there, which means, I really need more training. {LOL}

Here are some tips in creating a process map:

Before drawing a process -

• Identify your process goals
• Determine your process starts and stop points
• List down your resources
• Identify your inputs and outputs
• Identify your customers and suppliers
• Identify your owner/responsible/practitioners
• Establish your procedures and forms
• Determine your performance indicators and targets
• Classify your sub-processes/activities carefully

It’s also important to know the process attributes:

• repetitive
• definable
• controllable
• manageable
• measurable
• continually improvable (PDCA)
• able to create added value

The  key to creating a process map is teamwork. It is evident in the pictures above. The team huddled together and discuss how each member understands the process, after which the team draws the map. It is important that everyone understands the process before making the map. Of course, the process map is not carved in stone. When necessary, the process map can be updated and improved.

Another value of writing down your process map is that you will discover steps that are unnecessary, and thus you streamline. Then you can begin to go lean.

The prize of making the process map is a cup of Turkish cup!

We didn’t get to taste the brewed one though. But Dr. Ozen brought in some instant 3-in-1 Turkish coffee. It was very rich and it tastes like rice coffee. Every sip, you get to taste some granules. It was yummy!

You may also want to read about what I learned during the workshop here. I suggest you look out for next year’s workshop session.

My BIG challenge now is to apply this to my workplace.

Filed under: Balanced Scorecard, Business Process Mapping, Dr. Umit Ozen, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, ProcessModel, Six Sigma, Team Dynamics, Tools/Toolkits, Training

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Quality Quiz from PQ Systems e-Line

PQ Systems through it’s Quality eline newsletter brings us another quality quiz by Professor Leary.

For this month’s quiz, and a chance to win a copy of Quality Gamebox, submit your response by April 27 to be entered in the drawing.

Take the quiz:

Reed N. Wright, the third-generation president of Wright’s Write Right Manufacturing, has become aware of the rejections of products in the final inspection, reported by manager Justin Tyme and inspector Adair Yu. After devoting some thought to the issue, Wright has determined that the source of the problem lies with the middle managers, who, he has decided, are actually incompetent. He bases this determination on hours of thinking about possible contributors to the problem, knowing that the “buck stops” in his office, and he is the one who must find a solution.

Continue on with the quiz…

Winners of last month’s quiz and a copy of Quality Gamebox:
Anne Brittain (Palmetto Health Alliance)
Sharon Genest (Saskatoon Health Region)
Kim Pedersen (Aquaknect Flexibles Pty Ltd)
Kevin Tinson (Lonza Biologics plc)
Alan Swain (Exacto, Inc.)

Congratulations!

Filed under: PQ Systems eLine, Quality Quiz, Six Sigma

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Business Process Management: The Heart of Continuous Improvement

I was so excited after attending to the Managing Risk and Performance Through Business Process Management because I felt like I found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Really, I learned that

• we achieve good results if we go through a process
• a process is a related, structured, measured, designed, linked, and systematic set of activities toward a goal
• assign process owners, who will perform according to their role in the overall scheme of things
• by going through a process, we produce valuable outputs for customers

Thus it is important that an organization begins operations by creating a process chart because

• process flows through functions
• when functions are clearly defined, roles are better understood; thus interactions among each role becomes clearer
• process owners are responsible for the execution of the process, and therefore are accountable for it
• managing processes involve mapping of the processes from the beginning to the end—from executing to the managing and analyzing

Success = People + Process + Product

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you do not know what you are doing. 94% of the troubles belongs to the system (common causes) and only 6% are special causes.” {Dr. W. Edwards Deming}

Definitely, business process management is the heart of continuous improvement.

Filed under: Lean, Lean Maintenance, Process Maps, Processes, Six Sigma

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Update on Six Sigma in the Philippines – Part 1

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:

1. A statistical measurement
2. A business strategy
3. 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

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:

Image from architeria.com

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.

Continue reading…

Filed under: Healthcare, Quality, Six Sigma

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The SixSig Roundup

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

Fierra De Manila brings you the Six Sigma Conference 2011 in Manila on August 4-5, 2011 at Hotel Intercontinental Manila.

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

“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).

Read more…

Filed under: Dow Chemical Co., Six Sigma, Six Sigma Conferences, Six Sigma News

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