Six Sigma and Change

An article on Six Sigma and Process Excellence iQ has a good discussion on the correlation between change and Six Sigma.

Jeff Cole says that change is inevitable and sometimes even necessary. So he shares the following insights on how to deal with change as a Six Sigma practitioner:

• Keep a finger on the pulse of your industry and on Six Sigma.
• Think laterally.
• Innovate and Experiment.

Read more…

Filed under: Project Management, Six Sigma, Tips

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Deploying Six Sigma in an Organization

It’s never useless to review basic Six Sigma deployment processes. Daniel Toriola’s presentation is a good discussion on how to deploy Six Sigma in an organization.

The basics that he cited are:

• plan your strategy
• set the stage
• train the troops
• introduce the role of the Black Belt
• encourage buy-in

Read more…

Filed under: Deployment, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Tips

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4 Ways to Going Lean in the Service Industry

Ryan J. Bell, writing for Technology Toolkit has a good discussion about building a lean organization in the service industry.

He suggests the following ways:

1. Doing It Correctly The First Time – The number one contributor to waste in the service industry is not completing a given task correctly the first time. This is always the first order of things.
   
2. Developing Performance Baselines – To identify process-related waste, the Lean Six Sigma team must first review the organization’s goals and current performance levels.
3. How To Improve Employee Performance – Predictably, the first line of defense is training.
4. Reducing Process Inefficiencies – Eliminating process-related waste is paramount.

Read more about each and the examples for each.

Filed under: Lean, Services, Tips

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The SixSig Roundup

It’s time again for some link-loving and see what other blogs are saying about Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma and other quality improvement processes.

Brain Needed Space puts out ideas in his post that can make you think more about tools and their functions. Read it’s post on a Butter Knife Works, too.

The Cameron-Brooks’ Blog says that communication skills are important for management or leadership posts, especially when you are working on Six Sigma, Lean or other quality projects that involve peer to peer interaction, influencing and persuading higher level personnel and leading change initiatives.

Organizational Change blog talks about how company politics and Six Sigma is America’s new genesis. Six Sigma successes demand certain and persuasible communication at all levels. When government can effectively consult that it is behind that change-over and can consult the matter-of-fact aspects of the change-over, partisans and turf maneuvering can be countered and destroy. Any change-over in an order determination heed some partisans, either contrived or lately from lassitude. Read on…

The Tao of Zen Nihilism blog has an interesting explanation or a logical presentation on the premise that sales do not equate quality.

LSS Academy‘s post on Line Balancing at MacDonald’s makes you think about your processes. Are you adding one more step to improve a process, or is adding one more step to the process is really the solution? Well, we do that here, too, especially in collecting toll fees. The toll management would field workers down the line to collect the fees ahead. It sure wors, but as Ron asked, is it the only way to improve things? For me, bottlenecks in tollgates can be eliminated if the e-pass (electronic pass) is made more affordable and mandatory to all motorists.

Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Quality, Six Sigma, Tips

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Motivational Lean/Six Sigma

When I read the title on Six Sigma Zone, I got interested in what the paper is all about. After all, we need all the motivation that we can get to pursue Lean / Six Sigma.

Rob Bryant, CSC VP of Quality and Lean/Six Sigma Program Lead, shares what he calls motivation Lean Six Sigma.

What is motivation as it pertains to Lean/Six Sigma? It’s passion! It’s management believing its employees can make a difference through processes improvement. It’s picking teams that absolutely want to improve and believe processes can be improved. It’s giving the employees what they need to succeed.

What elements go into a successful Motivational Lean/Six Sigma Program, one that delivers the kind of results described above? The key requirements are as follows:

• A passionate executive sponsor
• An endorsed project charter
• Realistic goals
• Application of Lean first
• A passionate team willing to visualize the steps, count the cost, pay the price and never give up!
• A phased approach
• An effective award program
• Motivated and accountable leadership
• An amnesty program
• Integration of motivational messages into events
• Introduction of team members
• Follow-up meetings
• Sharing of the results of projects and the entire program

Read the paper now.

Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Tips

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4 Factors that Affect the Success of Six Sigma Projects

Steve Minter, writing for IndustryWeek, gives us a good reminder about the factors that affect the success of Six Sigma projects.

Perhaps, you have been into Six Sigma for years, and your projects although ongoing, have somehow reached a plateau. When this happens, it’s time to step back and re-evaluate. Here are the four factors cited by Minter:

1. Leadership – Active and visible support from senior management. “Senior managers must communicate to employees that the purpose of the Six Sigma projects is to make the company more efficient and competitive not to reduce their numbers,” says George Haley, a business professor at the University of New Haven.
2. Strategic alignment – Pick projects that will have the greatest impact on the business. “No matter the size of the company, it needs to improve,” says Ellie Kemp, a Master Black Belt at machine tool manufacturer MAG G&L.
3. The Right Personnel – “Black Belts and Green Belts need not only training in the Six Sigma methodology but also team leadership and communication skills so that they can shepherd these collaborative projects,” Bob Rome
4. Measurement – In developing projects, leaders state the business problem, outline project objectives, list the benefits and any associated hard savings and state how the savings will be calculated.

Read more…

Related posts:
4 Factors Critical to the Success of Six Sigma Projects
3 Reasons for Six Sigma Deployment Determine Its Success or Failure

Filed under: DMAIC, Deployment, Six Sigma, Tips

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Systems Thinking and Six Sigma

I remember in one of the Six Sigma forums that I attended, participants from a big pharmaceutical company threw this question: How do we choose Six Sigma projects? or How do we determine the need for a Six Sigma project?

The question might have come as a surprise to many of us, but thinking about it now, the question makes a lot of sense. Many companies that go into Six Sigma, or want to go into Six Sigma, don’t really know how to go about it. Lucky are those whose management recognizes the need for consultants because they are helped. But for those who discover the methodology along the way, it can be tough.

Going back to the two questions, I think the answer to that would be to go into systems thinking first. An article on iSixSigma has a good discussion on applying systems thinking to the practice of Six Sigma.

Systems thinking takes cause-and-effect thinking to a higher level and encourages the user to see not just the linear causal connections but also the web of causal interconnections that come into play in real systems.

Click HERE to find out how systems thinking can help you to go Six Sigma.

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma References, Tips

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Implementing Lean Six Sigma in Manufacturing

This year and for the succeeding ones, I seem to see a lot of companies that will combine both Lean and Six Sigma. Perhaps, the manufacturing industry will be at the forefront of this.

If you are a manufacturing company thinking of going into Lean Six Sigma, here are some of the ways by which Lean Six Sigma can improve your processes.

• Put much emphasis on gathering genuine data that are relevant to the needs and requirements of your particular Lean Six Sigma improvement initiative.
• Encourage team effort by motivating Lean Six Sigma team members and guide them toward achieving common Lean Six Sigma goals and objectives.
• Adopt the new sequential production techniques instead of the obsolete shop-scheduling-production technique.
• Improve supply chain management and efficiency by building a simple yet effective logistical platform that helps in reducing inventory-carrying costs. This kind of system allows a continuous flow of raw materials and finished goods from point A to point B.
• Lean Six Sigma eliminates the root cause of extended cycle times.
• Design a production model that can be configured as and when needed, depending on the existing demand.
• Lean Six Sigma helps you make timely business decisions such as when to expand or when downsize.

Source: How Lean Six Sigma Can Bring Quality And Efficiency To Firms

Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Tips

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The SixSig Roundup

It’s time for some link-loving and see what other blogs are saying about Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma and other quality improvement processes.

Safety Culture shares an overview of Basic Lean Six Sigma Training Tools And Techniques. The overview is useful and a timely reminder.

Fresh Web Content says that (Six) Sigma data collection requires asking the correct questions. True! And this is achieved through DMAIC.

Over at Healthcare Transformation, Dr. Healthcare shares how QFD contributes to the success of Lean Six Sigma in healthcare. The value of QFD in healthcare is that it has the VOC component in it. Go over and read the discussion. It’s a very useful tip.

Lean Blog reacts to a post that says allowing blog comments is waste or “muda” according to Lean standards. The blog claims that “it’s waste for the blogger to have to deal with the problems that come from comments — spam, insults, and general crap.” Well, it really takes time to go through comments, but then there’s a good plugin for spam comments. For me, reading comments from readers are also sources of new learning.

Lean Six Sigma Academy shares a rather touching story, which was on Evolving Excellence blog. Kevin of Evolving Excellence lost a colleague, which helped him come to the realization that “authentic continuous improvement should be focused on the person.” In other words, any improvement effort should give consideration to the team members and their capacity to do the work, yet still take care of their families.

Good links worthe checking out!

Filed under: Six Sigma References, SixSig, Tips

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Banks Going Lean and Six Sigma

Last week, we read about manufacturing companies going into Six Sigma to keep afloat during economic crisis.

Today, banks, which are probably the hardest hit, are encouraged to adopt Lean and Six Sigma principles to weather the economic storm. Quoted in an article on Bank Systems & Technology, Larry Mead, VP with Guidon Performance Solutions, said that Lean and Six Sigma principles are also applicable to financial institutions and are especially relevant today. He further says:

“Lean focuses on making things flow, like a mortgage loan request. t’s an end-to-end perspective that focuses on eliminating waste and engages the workforce.

The key for banks is to use Lean and Six as the means to reducing service times. They want to take out a lot of the hand-offs and simplify processes to reduce errors. There’s always a danger when a company says they are going to cut costs because they sometimes end up doing things that makes the service suffer. With Lean, you’re reducing cost by helping to smooth your processes.”

Read more…

It’s crunch time, and so banks need all the process improvement methodologies they can use. Lean and Six Sigma can be a great help.

Filed under: Finance, Lean, Six Sigma, Tips

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