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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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.
Filed under: Innovation, Six Sigma, Six Sigma News, Six Sigma References
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10 Accelerators of Six Sigma Results
Posted by: meikah | 20 January 2011 | 12:02 am
Through Six Sigma IQ/Process Excellence Network, I got hold of Terence Burton’s article entitled The Ten Accelerators of Lean Six Sigma Results. They are:
Strategic Leadership and VisionAccelerator 1: Reset deployment leadership, strategy, and visionDeployment PlanningAccelerator 2: Develop a robust deployment planAccelerator 3: Provide customized education and developmentAccelerator 4: Communicate, communicate, communicateAccelerator 5: Launch with the best in mindExecutionAcclerator 6: Provide strong extensive mentoring supportAccelerator 7: DMAIC the deployment process regularlyAccelerator 8: Accelerate individual project pathsAccelerator 9: Complete the C in DMAICAccelerator 10: Practice concurrent continuous deployment
Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma References
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Six Sigma Implementation Process
Posted by: meikah | 10 November 2010 | 8:47 pm
Filed under: Deployment, Six Sigma, Six Sigma References
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Six Sigma Reference Feature: A Primer on Design of Experiments (DOE)
Posted by: meikah | 8 November 2010 | 8:47 pm
Six Sigma, or its DMAIC tool, is closely connected with DOE, design of experiments. In general usage, a design of experiment is any information-gathering exercises where variation is present. This system finds cause-and-effect relationships, an information you need to manage process inputs and optimize the output.
An article on iSixSigma discusses a primer of Design of Experiments. The article starts the discussion with a definition of terms to an example, and to the process.
Read: Design of Experiments – A Primer
Filed under: DMAIC, DOE, Six Sigma, Six Sigma References, iSixSigma
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Podcast: How Lean Six Sigma Gets Organization to Listen to its Customers
Posted by: meikah | 22 October 2010 | 1:34 am
SixSigmaiQ puts out this podcast featuring David Haigh.
About the Podcast
David Haigh, Process Excellence Manager at Johnson & Johnson, speaks about how Lean Six Sigma can get your organization to listen to its customer and separate work from waste. In addition, Haigh shares some of his dashboards knowledge that he will be presenting at the upcoming IQPC 6th Annual Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement Summit in Toronto, Canada, from February 22-24, 2010.
Filed under: Events/Announcements, IQPC, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Podcast, Six Sigma References, Six Sigma iQ
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How to Choose and Begin a Six Sigma Project
Posted by: meikah | 29 March 2010 | 11:02 pm
In several Six Sigma workshops that I’ve been to, the most common question that participants ask during the open forum is how to begin a Six Sigma project.
Not many actually know how to begin despite the available mountain of info about DMAIC, statistical tools, among other things. So, I’m sharing here a first of a series of how-to’s. I stumbled upon this article on eHow.com. The article cites six ways to begin a Six Sigma project:
- Train the team. Train executives, champions, black belts and green belts. Training takes up to four months as a black belt and employees will often need to leave their daily duties.
- Define an opportunity. Decide what is most important for the customer. Collect any background information pertaining to the process.
- Collect data to measure the performance of the process. Use parameters set when the opportunity was defined.
- Use statistical tools to analyze the data. Use the procedures learned during Six Sigma training.
- Implement solutions. Use what was learned from data analysis. All levels of the team need to support the solutions and believe in them.
- Check the improvements. Don’t take anything for granted. Don’t get frustrated because progress is slow.
But the crucial part actually before beginning a Six Sigma project is choosing a project. This is often asked, too: how do we choose a project?
For that, I suggest the following:
- Evaluate your existing processes. Find out which of the process works, which slows down the whole system, or which process is repetitive. Those that don’t work is a good candidate for a Six Sigma project.
- Do a value stream mapping. The basic idea behind Value Stream Mapping is this: if the underlying process is right, the outcome will be reliable. To get the process right, you have to understand the sequence of activities that provide value to your customers. In other words, it tells you if you are reaching your customer and are satisfying them. After all, it’s the customer who is in the best position to tell you if you are successful or not in your business.
Filed under: Deployment, Six Sigma, Six Sigma References
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Six Sigma Review: A Fresh View of Six Sigma Data and Tools
Posted by: meikah | 2 December 2009 | 9:34 pm
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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Six Sigma Forum: The Next Step to Transformation
Posted by: meikah | 28 September 2009 | 9:17 pm
Through this Leadership Circle, ISSSP and Software AG will provide a forum where senior leaders in Six Sigma, Lean, and Process, and IT can discuss transformation, along with critical issues and opportunities that face deployments today. Specifically, we will:
- Discuss and share ideas for leveraging the tools, techniques and methodologies of these disciplines for greater synergy
- Explore with peers and industry leaders how might craft a programmatic approach
- Discover best practices, anecdotes, and examples for achieving this leverage;
- Network with a special interest group
- Take away practical ideas that you can implement immediately
Filed under: IT, Lean, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma References
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Orica and Lean Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 18 August 2009 | 8:54 pm
Orica launched Lean Six Sigma and applied it to acquisition integration. Here’s a short presentation of how Lean Six Sigma supplied the focus, structure, and discipline to deliver the promised benefits of acquired businesses.
View it here.
Source:
Six Sigma Zone
