10 Ways to Turn So-So Six Sigma Projects Into Great Initiatives
Posted by: meikah | 9 November 2008 | 11:43 pm
Larry Holpp writing for iSixSigma shares ten ways to boost up a pretty good Six Sigma program.
- Rally the Senior Team - Hold a working session with the business leader and their direct reports.
- Hold Kaizen Days - Use these times to achieve quick wins, but also to solicit ideas from everyone.
- Deploy an Electronic Project Tracking System - Encourage Champions, Black Belts and Green Belts to use a simple tracking system that creates both structure and discipline, as well as visibility for the effort.
- Assign Ownership of Key Metrics - Select metrics that will deliver important information about the one- to two-year-out future state, and begin building the infrastructure to capture those metrics.
- Encourage Support for the Black Belt and Green Belt Roles - Reexamine their roles, their support structures, their training, and their recognition.
- Enhance Coaching - Provide the tools and the responsibility to a team of more advanced Black Belts for it to take a more active role in coaching newer, less seasoned peers in their initial project work.
- Hold a Yearly Process Improvement Road Show - Showcase and reward best practices and projects.
- Evaluate and Assess Six Sigma Training - Take a hard look at both content and delivery… Always renew training content with real examples of successes and presentations by Belts who have worked on projects and can share hard-won lessons as well as great results.
- Embed Change - Evaluate how well projects have driven change in the organization.
- Survey the Customers - Think of customers not only as external, but also as peers.
Filed under: Deployment, Project Management, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Six Sigma Means Preventing Variation
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2008 | 11:43 pm
The statistical arm of Six Sigma uses the term Sigma, which is used to represent a measure of variation of a statistical population.
The term “six sigma process” comes from the notion that if one has six standard deviations between the mean of a process and the nearest specification limit, there will be practically no items that fail to meet the specifications.
It is thus important that your processes do not have too much variations. So, do you want to hear a variation story?
Ron Pereira of Lean Six Sigma Academy has a good one. Check out his two posts:
A Variation Story and Million Dollars Saved in 60 Minutes.
Filed under: Statistics, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Ames Corporations Uses Six Sigma to Do Business
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2008 | 11:05 pm
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.
Filed under: Tools/Toolkits, Manufacturing, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Six Sigma Experts Recognize United Airline’s Improved Customer Relations
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2008 | 9:27 pm
A panel of Six Sigma experts recently recognized the improved customer relations of United Airlines. The company received the Global Six Sigma and Business Improvement Award for “Best Project in Achievement, Marketing, or Customer Experience.”
United Airlines got the award for the new processes the company has put in place to improve the timeliness and quality of its responses to customer inquiries, compliments, and concerns.
A United team made business and process enhancements at United’s Customer Contact Center to improve response time and ensure customers were receiving accurate and relevant answers to their concerns. Following the implementation, 99.9% of customer emails were responded to within 3 days.
Way to go, United Airlines!
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Marketing, Six Sigma, Airlines, Customer Service, United Airlines
No Comments » |
Lean Six Sigma in Hospital Emergency Rooms
Posted by: meikah | 4 November 2008 | 9:03 pm
One of the biggest challenges facing personnel in hospital emergency rooms is waiting time. Often, they find themselves having to deal with wait time for bed availability, long waiting times for specialized tests and radiological services, and even high numbers of non-emergency patients.
Six Sigma’s DMAICÂ and Lean can help hospitals attend to this problem, reduce wait time, and even totally eradicate it.
An article on RedOrbit shares three steps:
- Define the problem - that is wait time and the high number of non-emergency patients
- Develop a solution - in an emergency room situation, this can include adding beds by expanding the department or decreasing the size of current rooms; outsourcing certain testing and radiology services; and/or adding an ‘express care’ program to deal with non-emergency patients
- Form a plan for improving the process, measuring improvements to the process, and reducing deviations from the goal - many hospitals have found that Lean Six Sigma practices are a particularly effective way of identifying and dealing with the challenges and problems inherent to health care
In the end, it is not only the processes that are improved, but the hospital having gotten rid of wastes (wait times) can reduce costs and earn savings.
Filed under: Services, Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, DMAIC, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Infosys Attributes Success to Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 4 November 2008 | 8:48 pm
In the recently concluded Third Annual Global Lean, Six Sigma and Business Improvement Summit, Infosys BPO got the ‘Best Achievement of Organizational Business Improvement in Transactional Services’ award.
The criteria for the awards included Strategic Relevance, Value Generation, Innovation, Implementation and Customer Benefit.
Infosys was awarded for its commitment to the deployment of business improvement excellence and customer centric transformation displayed by its senior leaders.
And a lot of the company’s success is due to its commitment to Six Sigma.
“The award is a validation of Infosys BPO’s continued focus on operational excellence and the sustained efforts from the quality and business transformation team in the organisation,” Infosys BPO CEO and MD Amitabh Chaudhry said in a statement.
Sources:
Six Sigma Zone News
The Hindu News Update
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Software/Technology, Call Center/BPO, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Tenneco Inc. Will Step Up Six Sigma Initiatives
Posted by: meikah | 2 November 2008 | 9:36 pm
As Tenneco Inc. weathers the economic storm, the company will close five manufacturing plants, leaving out 1,100 jobs, and will go restructuring.
In the process of their restructuring the company will also “reduce capital spending, step up Six Sigma and lean manufacturing initiatives, reduce IT spending and cut aftermarket marketing and sales expenses.” Continue reading…
What are your thoughts on this?
Filed under: Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Tenneco Inc.
No Comments » |
Top 10 Best Places to Work for Six Sigma Professionals
Posted by: meikah | 2 November 2008 | 7:54 pm
iSixSigma finally has the results of their survey on which are the best places to work for Six Sigma professionals.
The following is iSixSigma’s list of companies in alphabetical order:
- Chevron Corp. - With their slogan, “Human Energy,” the company sure deserves to be on this list.
- EMC Corp. - Helps companies imagine, discover, create, and build relationships by being able to manage their data well.
- Masco Builder Cabinet Group - Driven by a focus on excellence in people, products, service, and partnering relationships.
- McKesson Corp. - Combines innovation, technology and process knowledge, strong relationships and a business approach based on ICARE shared principles to give customers and partners the power to succeed.
- NewPage Corp. - We take it as a promise and a challenge to prove ourselves everyday, to continually raise the standards we set for ourselves and to keep our unfailing commitment to customers by being the best provider of coated paper in North America.
- Rio Tinto Alcan - We have incorporated environmental, social and economic considerations into all of our business systems and processes.
- Textron Inc. - By placing customers first in everything we do, Textron continues to grow as an industry leader with strong brands.
- Volt Information Sciences Inc. - Our commitment to excellence is based wholly on our commitment to you.
- Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. - Has set high priorities on technology development and application in several key areas that increase efficiency for our customers.
- Xerox Corp. - Innovation is their key business.
Read the mechanics and criteria.
I also read that of the categories/criteria, the most weight was given to job satisfaction, as that is what employees said was the most important factor to them when it comes to a working environment.
Yeah, I look for that one, too. I particularly put emphasis on the employee’s ability to have dignity of their work.
I have featured some of the companies. Check out the links below.
Related posts:
DFSS Improves Processes at Masco BCG
Six Sigma at McKesson Corp.
Lean Six Sigma Works at NewPageÂ
Textron CEO Lewis Campbell Talks About Six Sigma
Xerox Driving Efficiency Through Lean Six Sigma-based Document Management System
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma
No Comments » |
Webinar: Lean and Six Sigma in Our Turbulent Economy
Posted by: meikah | 28 October 2008 | 9:47 pm
IndustryWeek invites you to the Live Internet Broadcast titled Lean and Six Sigma in Our Turbulent Economy.
Sponsored by SAP and itelligence
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 2:00 p.m. EST (GMT -05:00, New York)
Estimated Length: 1 hour
Leading organizations “knuckle down” and use this time to search for and eliminate the hidden, non-people wastes in their processes. They take a more aggressive approach with their Lean/Six Sigma deployment because they see it as the key enabler to reduce costs, improve competitiveness, or accelerate growth. Regardless of your industry, an effective Lean/Six Sigma deployment requires that executives go on the defense and offense concurrently, and seize the day from their competition. You need to deploy the right improvement methodologies (e.g., Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, enabling IT) and resources to the highest impact opportunities now.
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Six Sigma References, Six Sigma, Webinar
No Comments » |
PowerSteering Webcast: ‘Lean Six Sigma Meets IT’
Posted by: meikah | 26 October 2008 | 7:50 pm
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 seriesThe 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.
Don’t miss it!
Source:
iSixSigma
