Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard

These two tools can drive business to achieve the Right things, and doing them Right, at the Right time.

Find out how.

Filed under: Balanced Scorecard, Lean Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

FMEA Improves Giving of Medication Doses

The Six Sigma Tool, FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is helping the Children’s Hospital of Illinois improve their healthcare services.

Kathy Francis, RN and InformMed pac2 technology inventor, says, “Wrong dose errors account for 41% of fatal medication errors, yet 10-20% of all doses are calculated at the point of care. By helping nurses to accurately calculate dose volumes, recognize unsafe doses, and recall clinically important drug information, the pac2 helps protect nurses and patients from tragic results.”

The analysis showed that an 88% reduction in total potential risk of medication error could be realized when the pac2 was used in the Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). According to Dr. Adalberto Torres, Jr., Medical Director for the Children’s Hospital PICU, the study’s reduced error rates offer valuable insight into the potential of the InformMed pac2 system in an emergent care setting. The Children’s Hospital cares for more children in Illinois than any hospital outside of Chicago, and was recently recognized as having the #1 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the world.

Read more…

Filed under: FMEA, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Six Sigma and Pricing

In these difficult times, pricing may also be a challenging endeavor. How much discounts are you willing to give, or how much cheaper are you selling away your products and services?

Over at Salebarn blog, Mark Bruns outlines how Six Sigma can help companies in their pricing operations. Through the DMAIC, companies are able to come up with an optimized and coordinated pricing strategy.

The five stages of Six Sigma pricing are taken from the Six Sigma toolkit, but they are specifically adapted for pricing processes:

Define the pricing-related “defect” in operational-, transaction-, or contract-specific pricing processes and the extent of the defect.

Measure the extent of the defect along with parameters of the pricing processes as well as the invoice, say by analyzing past invoices.

Analyze the data collected in Measure to infer how the size or incidence of defects varies with different aspects of the pricing processes as well as brainstorm on the other causes of defects related to the existing process.

Improve the process by making process change recommendations along with quantitative estimates of how much improvement in related prices or other metrics would take place following implementation of these changes.

Control the proposed process. For example, recommend controls to ensure that people are following the agreed-upon modifications and that the estimated benefits are achieved.

Read more…

*Photo from Stock.Xchng

Filed under: Processes, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

2 Comments |

Six Sigma Product Development Models

Product development here refers to drug development in pharmaceuticals. The characteristics of the process are:

• it is a single event unique to itself
• highly cross-functional, which needs communication, coordination
• decision making is complicated
• bring products to the market quickly

HERE is the process of drug development. And to improve the process and ensure a successful development, many pharmaceuticals go into Six Sigma.

Six Sigma models concentrate on eliminating potential sources of variation in processes. On the shop floor, Six Sigma follows what is known as the DMAIC roadmap (Define Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control). Moving Six Sigma into the product development phase would employ a version of DMAIC tailored according to the type of development structure being used and the product being developed. When Six Sigma moves to the product development phase of a product’s lifecycle it is termed Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). Three different versions of DFSS have been developed: DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify), IDOV (Identify, Design, Optimize and Verify), and DCOV (Design, Characterize, Optimize and Verify). The DMADV model has been very successfully deployed in the medical device industry, while DCOV, with its characterization phase is more suitable to in the drug development process.

Click on the image for a bigger version.

Read more…

Related post:
Lean Six Sigma to Product Development

*Image credit

Filed under: DFSS, DMAIC, Deployment, Pharmaceuticals, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Looking Into Six Sigma’s DMAIC

This is the first time that I read about DMAIC’s use as only for reactive solutions. Because all along I though that DMAIC is a tool to use for any problem or solution be it reactive or proactive.

I think the view of DMAIC as only for reactive solutions stems from the fact that you do DMAIC when there is already a problem at hand. But then again, am thinking that whatever solutions you come up after the DMAIC will help you become proactive. That is where the Control part comes in. You sustain the initiative and makes sure similar problems won’t crop up in the future.

In any case, iSixSigma Software has a good discussion going about the future of DMAIC, and that because of its flexibility it will still be useful in the future. The article presents a background of DMAIC, its use/function, and its flexibility to be incorporated with other tools.

Read the article: With Flexibility, DMAIC Has Long Future Ahead

Filed under: DFLSS, DMAIC, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Six Sigma on Foil Stamping and Printing

Taylor Corporation, the parent company of over 100 printing operations (including Carlson Craft, Fine Impressions, Schmidt Printing), uses Six Sigma to reduce setup time and costs on 33 Kluge presses in operation at one of its stationery units.

The company and its subsidiaries produce a broad array of products, so they really  need a good system to do all the work. Good thing, they found the answer with Six Sigma.

Using the Six Sigma tool, DOE, the Lean Six Sigma project team proposed building a measurement system to evaluate printing quality.

A manager of the printing company developed an objective measurement system that used a scale from 1 to 5 to rate print samples on four quality characteristics, each representing a different potential problem: bottoming out die, cutting through, spotting and foil marks.

Five product samples were created to demonstrate and rate each characteristic. Prints generated during the experiment were visually compared to assign a rating. A Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) study was conducted to verify the functionality of the new measurement system. Gage R&R is a statistical tool used to measure the amount of variation in a measurement system arising from the measurement device and the people taking the measurement.

Continue reading…

*Photo credit

Filed under: DOE, Deployment, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Ames Corporations Uses Six Sigma to Do Business

ThomasNet reports:

Ames Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high-quality elastomeric molded components, dispensed gaskets and protective coatings, develops prototype products to satisfy the most demanding customer applications.

To meet customer requirements, Ames applies the company’s considerable engineering and elastomer processing expertise (including Six Sigma techniques) to identify performance improvement and cost reduction opportunities.

A recent example of this is the company’s development of Dent Resistant Coating (DRC) Technology for fuser rollers for the printer and copier market. Ames’ ability to take materials and process developments from one product development effort to another is a key ingredient in Ames becoming a provider of elastomeric design solutions to an ever-growing list of markets and customers.

Read more…

Filed under: Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

PowerSteering Webcast: ‘Lean Six Sigma Meets IT’

PowerSteering Software, the leading provider of on-demand Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions for managing Lean Six Sigma, IT, New Product Development, and other enterprise programs, will host a complimentary webcast.

“Lean Six Sigma Meets IT”
Thursday, November 6 at 1:00 p.m. (EDT)
Featured Speaker: Dan Miklovic, V.P. of Research for Gartner Inc., and is part of the ongoing PowerSteering Practical Insights Thought Leadership webcast series

The session will describe how Lean Six Sigma has become a truly enterprise initiative that transcends the entire organization. CIOs and Deployment Leaders alike can gain valuable insights about Lean Six Sigma’s expansion into IT, the natural intersection of Lean and IT, and why the two are so complementary.

Register now!

Don’t miss it!

Source:
iSixSigma

Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, PowerSteering, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Six Sigma Templates You Can Download

I got this from BirghtHub and I’m sharing it with you.

1. Fishbone Diagrams
2. PICK Charts
3. SIPOC Diagrams

Read more…

For each tool, there are corresponding software templates that will make your Six Sigma deployment easier and faster.

Check them out now!

Filed under: Deployment, Software/Technology, Tools/Toolkits

No Comments » |

Deploying Six Sigma Without Enough Data

Six Sigma, is often said, a data-driven methodology. It works with data in hand and use that data to find out if the processes are performing within the standard norm or has deviated from the norm.

This presupposes that we can only deploy Six Sigma projects if we have data already available. However, there’s a new finding that Six Sigma tools still fit in projects that lack data: we go into Lean Six Sigma.

The Lean Six Sigma process provides an excellent framework for projects. Some specific benefits:

• It provides a structured roadmap to eliminate the two-step process most organizations use, which consists of problem and solution. Six Sigma forces practitioners to define, plan, analyze, develop solutions, pilot changes and sustain results. This drives project management thinking.
• Many of the tools characterized by Six Sigma are just as valuable in any project. For example, the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is useful in several ways in most projects:

1. To characterize the current, as-is process
2. To predict issues in the proposed process prior to implementation
3. To characterize the final process that is put in place

• Measurement systems are normally created that can be used by management on the project involved as well as other organizational needs.

And read how DMAIC phases can benefit practitioners even in the absence of data.

Source:
iSixSigma Software

Filed under: DMAIC, Deployment, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Tools/Toolkits

3 Comments |