Applying Six Sigma to Motion-Control Processes
Posted by: meikah | 22 June 2008 | 9:44 pm
I stumbled upon a good discussion about how to improve quality in motion control prcesses. Motion plays an important role in any organization, but motion control is used in the packaging, printing, textile, semiconductor production, and assembly industries.
Thus, if you’re business is involved in those mentioned above, motion control is important to you, and ensuring quality in these processes is crucial in your operations.
Over at heyicnc, Kevin Frantz, Six Sigma leader at GE Fanuc Automation, shares how Six Sigma can ensure quality in motion-control processes. Mr. Frantz says:
Your first task in applying Six Sigma to a motion-control process is to understand its purpose, which is always to optimize quality and throughput.
Six Sigma is a tool that can unveil subtle problems that plague all processes, silently stealing productivity and quality. Like all processes, motion-control applications are not immune to production downtime and quality control issues. Slow machine set ups, product positioning problems, equipment failures, out-of-spec parts can all contribute to the problem.
You may not know the exact cause, but you can see the negative results: low production counts, lackluster quality, customer rejection, and lost money. Six Sigma could be the solution to those problems.
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Tools/Toolkits, Manufacturing, Processes, Semiconductors, Quality, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Lean Six Sigma: A Catalyst for Change
Posted by: meikah | 23 May 2008 | 3:44 am
Change is good. But sometimes people refuse it because they’ve become complacent. Complacency though is the beginning of downfall.
Anything that means improvement also means change. Yet, for any business to grow, it must embrace change. One catalyst for change is Lean Six Sigma.
An article on iSixSigma discusses how Lean Six Sigma can serve as a change management tool:
Lean Six Sigma drives change in an organization. It inspires people to look at their processes differently – through the data-savvy lens of waste awareness – and to discover, characterize and control their processes. In so doing, this behavior drives process improvements, which often require changes to be communicated, deployed and managed.
But Lean Six Sigma also is, in and of itself, a change management tool that will facilitate the changes that it requires, as well as those of other change initiatives in an organization. As such, even the deployment of Six Sigma enables, rather than impedes, simultaneous change initiatives.
*Photo credit: Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Tools/Toolkits, Lean Six Sigma, Software/Technology
No Comments » |
SixSig Book Feature: Design for Lean Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 7 May 2008 | 7:25 pm
ad-hoc-news reports that Research and Markets has announced the addition of Design for Lean Six Sigma to their offering.
Design for Lean Six Sigma is the only book that employs a “road-map” approach to DFSS, which allows corporate management to understand where they are in the process and to integrate DFSS methodology more fully into their overall business strategy. This is a similar approach to that used by Forrest Breyfogle in his successful book: “Implementing Six Sigma, 2E”.
This approach will allow corporate management to understand where they are in the process and to integrate DFSS methodology more fully into the overall business strategy. Another important aspect of this book is its coverage of DFSS implementation in a broad range of industries including service and manufacturing, plus the use of actual cases throughout. Continue reading…
Filed under: Tools/Toolkits, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma References, DFSS
No Comments » |
SixSig News: The Six Sigma Way Study Guide
Posted by: meikah | 29 January 2008 | 9:06 pm
Finally, I was able to edit the chapters of The Six Sigma Way study guide. I apologize to those who have tried accessing the study guide and found the chapters all messed up.
The Six Sigma Way, authored by Peter S. Pande, Robert P. Neuman, and Roland R. Cavanagh, is a clear, simple implementation guide to use Six Sigma successfully in various situations. Go over the study guide and read the book. You will find more value and lessons from the book.
After reading the chapter guides, check out also the study guide, the Q&A portion of each chapter and find out if you have learned some basic thing or two. As I write, I’m also improving the layout of the Q&A; otherwise it’s good to go.
Here’s some advance info: I’ll be writing another study guide or book review—one or two—this year. So watch out for that, too.
Filed under: Tools/Toolkits, Six Sigma References, Six Sigma, Study Guide
No Comments » |
How Six Sigma Quality and Statistical Tools Work
Posted by: meikah | 7 January 2008 | 9:41 pm
Six Sigma is the kind of methodology that you may or may not implement wholistically. If you think your organization is not ready or won’t really benefit from a full Six Sigma implementation, then you have the option to use its tools to improve your processes.
So how does the quality and statistical tools of Six Sigma work?
Valerie Bolhouse, writing for Vision Systems Design, shares some insights using the Windshield Project as an example.
Click here to read the article.
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
