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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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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Compensation for Black Belts

If you are an organization that are developing Black Belts and doesn’t have an idea about the compensation, here’s a good article for you.

Read: Six Sigma Black Belts – Salary and Compensation

Filed under: Black Belt, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Professionals, Six Sigma Training

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“How do you measure a year in the life… with Six Sigma?”

Here’s an interesting account from Tiffany Westendorf about how it is to be a Six Sigma practitioner and practically live a Six Sigma life.

Read her story here.

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Professionals, Six Sigma Team

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Six Sigma Review: A Fresh View of Six Sigma Data and Tools

David Hallowell, writing for iSixSigma, encourages Six Sigma practitioners to create a fresh view of Six Sigma data and tools.

David says that this fresh view will help practitioners get a broader understanding of Six Sigma and how it can be applied to processes, especially when you are dealing with new situations.

Read: Creating a Fresh View of Six Sigma Data and Tools

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Jobs, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals, Six Sigma References

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Spotlight on Six Sigma Professionals

Two Six Sigma professionals this week vow to continue doing their work applying their Lean/Six Sigma expertise.

Katina Kravik is the new CEO of Northwire. She says, “We will continue to invest heavily in our valued employees in the areas of professional development, including Design for Six Sigma, project management and lean manufacturing. These platforms will enable us to add more value to our customers, and innovate a wider and deeper breadth of product offerings with increased velocity.” [Source]

Vikas Bhalla is the new Head of Outsourcing at ExlService Holdings, Inc. (EXL). As Head of Outsourcing, Vikas will lead outsourcing operations for all EXL delivery centers globally. Vikas is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has been with EXL for the last eight years. [Source]

Filed under: Six Sigma Jobs, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals

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PowerSteering Software Customers Cited for Outstanding Six Sigma Achievements

Three PowerSteering customers were recognized at The 2009 Global Six Sigma & Business Improvement Awards.

• Thomas F Farrell II of Dominion was named the Six Sigma & Business Improvement CEO of the Year.
• Colonel Robert C Morris Jr. of the US Army received the Six Sigma & Business Improvement Deployment Leader of the Year Award.
• The US Army’s Distributed Learning Directorate was a Joint Winner of The Platinum Award for Process Excellence Project.

Other PowerSteering customers, including Merck, Raytheon, and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, were named as finalists in several award categories.

Congratulations!

Source

Filed under: PowerSteering, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Awards, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals

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iSixSigma’s Top 10 Best Places to Work for Six Sigma Professionals

Again, this year, iSixSigma comes up with the Top 10 Best Places to Work for Six Sigma Professionals (2009). According to Jessica Harper, editor in chief of iSixSigma, “these companies establish an environment that Six Sigma professionals want to work in – and will excel in.”

Here’s the list in alphabetical order:

• Cardinal Health Inc.
• Computacenter AG & Co. oHG
• Ecolab Inc.
• McKesson Corp.
• Merck & Co. Inc.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Piramal Healthcare Ltd.
• Starwood Hotels, North America Operation
• Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.
• Xerox Corp.

Compare it with last year’s list (2008), McKesson Corp. and Xerox Corporation again made it on this years’ list. The companies will be awarded and recognized next year at the iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards, Feb. 3, 2010 at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, South Beach, Miami, Fla., USA.

Read here how the companies were chosen.

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Jobs, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma Professionals, iSixSigma

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Does Being a Six Sigma Certified Save You Your Job?

Layoffs seem to be the trend these days. I can’t say I blame all the companies who had to let go of their employees. I know many of them had thought long and hard before laying off people. Times are just hard and they have no choice but to streamline or cease business.

Over at SixSigmatuts, it appears that certified Six Sigma practitioners have a lower rate of being laid off than those who are not. A study can attest to this. Here are the results:

• There is a statistically significant lower layoff rate between those that are training in the Six Sigma methodology and those who have not.
• People who have not been trained and certified in Six Sigma are twice as likely to lose their job than certified Green Belts.

Read more…

Well, if this were true, and you are a certified Six Sigma practitioner then you’re among the lucky ones.

Filed under: Certification, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Jobs, Six Sigma Professionals

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Schwarze Industries Take on a Six Sigma Black Belt for President

ForConstructionPros.com reports that Schwarze Industries has a new president, Bob Faulhaber. What interested SixSig in this announcement is Faulhaber’s background on Six Sigma:

He is Toyota Production System trained, a Six Sigma Black Belt, and has over 30 years of manufacturing experience serving a variety of industries, including automotive, fire and rescue vehicles, telecommunications and industrial controls.

Read more…

With this in his sleeve, I’m sure Faulhaber will bring in new good opportunities to Schwarze.

*Photo credit

Filed under: Black Belt, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Jobs, Six Sigma Professionals

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