Quality Training in China
Posted by: meikah | 13 November 2007 | 8:44 pm
A couple of months back, I wrote about China’s need for quality training as what Japan did to bounce back. China apparenthly heard my plea and that of the others. 
Over at ASQ last month, it reported that sources from the Ministry of Commerce divulged that the government of China has sponsored 14 training courses for toy makers on product quality and safety since August. The article goes:
From Oct. 11 to 12, the ministry and the general administration jointly held two training courses in Dongguan and Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong Province, as the Chinese government’s latest efforts to improve toy makers’ quality awareness.
During the two courses, experts in toy tests and certification and professionals from world famous toy providers, including Mattel from the United States, explained licensing systems relating to the quality of toy exports, test laws and policies, and related rules and criteria for toys in major European and American markets. They also taught the more than 1,000 trainees for the two courses to avoid using excess lead in toys and designing defects in small spare parts.
The sources said similar training courses would be provided for better quality of exports. Related teaching materials will be available on one of the websites of the Ministry of Commerce, the sources added.
Watch out, world, China is definitely here!
*Photo from MorgueFile
Filed under: ASQ, Manufacturing, Quality, Services, Zero Defects
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DFSS and Brand Strategy
Posted by: meikah | 13 November 2007 | 3:33 am
Over at CustServ, I wrote about striking a balance between brand experience and customer experience. Today, I found another interesting article on iSixSigma. It talks about incorporating Design for Six Sigma to building brand strategy.
The premise is that while companies work hard to make brand strategies more than just empty promises, they often find themselves stuck in the execution phase.
This is where Six Sigma comes in. The methodology is often viewed, and rightly so, as a versatile, effective framework for connecting executive goals (business strategy), marketing communication (brand promise) and management (operational activities). Here’s an example of a bank working on its brand using Six Sigma.
Consider the case of the business bank that wanted to increase its share in a regional market. The bank used the DMADV roadmap of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and adapted it for brand strategy (Table 1). By applying DMADV, the organization realized that to advance from the business strategy to marketplace results, it was necessary to first understand the brand, define the brand promise and identify specific actions required to deliver on it (Define, Measure, Analyze). Finally, the organization needed to make sure that the defined brand promise actually was fulfilled (Design, Verify).
Source:
iSixSigma, Promises of Brand Strategy and Design for Six Sigma
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Brand Strategy, DFSS, Finance, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Tools/Toolkits, iSixSigma
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Empowering Employees Through Lean Six Sigma Training
Posted by: meikah | 11 November 2007 | 9:36 pm
Lean Six Sigma is not only used to remove barriers to smooth operations, or to reduce processes, but it can also be used to involve employees and empower them.
Fort Leavenworth did exactly this. When they started their Lean Six Sigma training, they used Lean Six Sigma to encourage their employees to share their ideas on how to improve processes.
This is because Leavenworth management believes that it is the employees who are the frontliners of a business, and thus know better as to how to serve customers or clients.
At first, Garrison employees were hesitant to put out their ideas for fear that they could be fired for them or that their suggestions would be ignored. They were wrong. In fact, many of them got rewards for good ideas, which were actually put into use.
Here are some of the brilliant ideas from employees:
- getting a trainer to Fort Leavenworth instead of taking employees to train somewhere
- streamline passport approval
- express check-in at the lodging facility
- use fewer hours to light the airfield
- improve the profitability of the Havana Beach Club
- streamline the process for getting safety glasses
- reduce overtime worked by civil servant officers
Source:
The Fort Leavenworth Lamp Online, an iSixSigma featured link
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Human Resource, Lean Six Sigma, Military, Services, Six Sigma Organizations, US Army
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Six Sigma in your Donuts
Posted by: meikah | 11 November 2007 | 8:46 pm
Perhaps, next to hamburger, you often find donuts in people’s daily food fare. Thus, running a donut business is serious business.
Maidstone Bakeries know this too well. They produce more than 60 million donuts per week, and to ensure quality in their products and services, they feel they must go Six Sigma.
Dyadem, a leading provider of Quality Lifecycle Management and Risk Lifecycle Management solutions, will help Maidstone Bakeries, a joint venture between IAWS Group and Tim Hortons, achieve their goals.
According to Brett Kyle, Continuous Improvement training manager at Maidstone and Six Sigma master black belt:
“Six Sigma is a standard, disciplined methodology and Dyadem’s FMEA Pro-7 gave us an easy and painless way to take this approach, helping us solve problems using data rather than gut feel. Since the implementation, we’ve significantly reduced costs and clearly shifted to the next level of quality. FMEA-Pro showed us new ways to solve old problems, by helping us find the roots and develop new procedures to address them. The results were very often surprising.”
Source:
reliableplant.com, an iSixSigma featured link
*Photo from brantfordbrant.com
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Dyadem, Food, Maidstone Bakeries, ProcessModel, Six Sigma, iSixSigma
2 Comments |
Innovation of the Week: Solar-powered Airplanes
Posted by: meikah | 9 November 2007 | 1:59 am
Having solar-powered planes flying over us is a big step toward cleaning up our Mother Earth. The sooner we get to fly these planes, the better.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Corporate Communications website reports:
The prototype of a solar energy-powered plane has been designed and should make its first piloted flight late next year, the Swiss project leaders say.
The reduced-size model, which has a 61m wingspan, is now being built in northern Switzerland to test the technology involved in the full-size Solar Impulse aircraft.
If the first flight is successful, the 1.5-tonne plane will make a 36-hour flight through the night in 2009, piloted by round-the-world ballooning pioneer Bertrand Piccard.
Filed under: Aviation, Innovation Update, Travel
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When is Six Sigma Six Sigma?
Posted by: meikah | 8 November 2007 | 10:35 pm
I’ve just finished reading an article on ICMI titled “What Does Six Sigma Really Mean for Call Centers?”
Peter Bloom, president of Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC), one of the few organizations that offers call center Six Sigma training and certification, says,“Most call centers are operating between 1 and 1.5 Sigma, and those that have adopted the Six Sigma methodology are striving to develop from 1 to 1. 5, 1.5 to 2 and 2.5 to 3 Sigma. There is no company in the call center space or in the service space that is really working toward achieving processes with a Six Sigma outcome, and that’s because we don’t have to be that good. We’re not building rocket ships where peoples’ lives are at stake, so you don’t have to have that level of performance.”
Rather what call centers do is adhere to the principles of the Six Sigma methodology, that is using metrics to measure and drive performance, the companies are able to focus on continuous improvement, very process-oriented, and very focused on the customer requirements.
That’s what Ilene Lustigman, Director of Customer Service, NCCI, is also doing for her company, which right now is benefitting the company a lot. They follow the DMAIC and incorporate it to their QMS methodology. So it’s not entirely Six Sigma, but their quality management system is DMAIC dominated.
So let me go back to my original question: When is Six Sigma Six Sigma?
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Call Center/BPO, DMAIC, Deployment, Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Software/Technology
1 Comment |
Lean Six Sigma Roundup
Posted by: meikah | 7 November 2007 | 10:08 pm
It has been a while since I last went around the blogosphere. Today, I’m sharing with you good lean six sigma links. Read on…
Mike of Got Boondoggle? describes the lean journey as taking two steps forward and one step backward. It’s true! Isn’t it that you need to step back to assess a situation in order for you to move forward? And I agree with Mike when he says, “I must admit, part of the allure of the lean journey for me is the challenge. It’s not about the challenge to master the lean tools. It’s not even about the challenge to eliminate waste. For me, the challenge is helping create a learning culture that drives continuous improvement forever, even as we go two steps forward and one step back.” Very well said!
Ron of Lean Six Sigma Academy describes two types of Kaizen: Point Kaizen that looks at only a part and the System Kaizen at the whole. There are good and bad points of each but it’s sure better to have a wholistic view first then break the operation down into more manageable parts. Work gets done faster and better that way.
Over at Lean Blog, Mark shares a link whose writer shares his experience with seeing lean manufacturing in action. The writer claims that seeing lean (literally, as in posters on “lean corners,” 6S, and Kanbans) live is a beautiful thing. Mark’s thinking, on the other hand, makes sense: we should not make platitudes but be champions of action, and always safe action at that.
Let me end this roundup with a news about Transplace, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, that embarked on a lean Six Sigma program. The goal of the company is to bring quality service to its customers, and what better way than going Lean Six Sigma. Read more…
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Mark Graban, Mike Wroblewski, Ron Pereira, Six Sigma, Six Sigma References, Transplace
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Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority Champions Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2007 | 11:17 pm
In my last post, I shared some figures that may be needing Six Sigma. Well, I’m happy to know that an airport authority is actually into Six Sigma.
Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority adopts Six Sigma to improve operations and better serve customers that take the Nashville International Airport BNA. According to its website:
MNNA has incorporated the Six Sigma process improvement methodology as the cornerstone of its continuous improvement activities. Rapid Action and Breakthrough “Teams” of employees are created during “Waves” of improvement activity. A typical improvement wave for the MNAA will last 3-4 months and involve 30-40 employees. Each team will address a core process for the MNAA aimed at improving the overall value delivered to the stakeholder community.
The implementation of Six Sigma is focused on MNAA employees driving improvements with support from Six Sigma experts (black and green belts). This focus will help make continuous improvement an opportunity and reality for all employees of MNAA; building a culture of continuous improvement and business excellence. Examples of process improvements initiated to date include: maintenance work order flow, valet parking, tenant implementations, and contract compliance.
This information is already an added point to decrease further any airport or airline accidents.
*Photo credit: shanaberger.com
Filed under: Aviation, Six Sigma Organizations, Travel
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Alarming Figures that will Need Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2007 | 10:13 pm
An article on New York Times about a month ago boasted of a 65% decrease in fatal airplane crashes. It’s deemed as the golden age of safety, the safest period, in the safest mode, in the history of the world.
Should we be happy about this? Look at the following figures:
- In 1996, two (2) infamous crashes that together killed 375 people.
- The rate dropped by about 65% to 1 fatal accident in about 4.5M departures, from 1 in nearly 2M in 1997.
- Around the world, there have been 7 crashes this year that killed more than 20 people each.
- The Flight Safety Foundation recently calculated that if the 1996 accident rate had remained the same in 2006, there would have been 30 major accidents last year. Instead, there were 11.
There are however sustained efforts to address the problem.
- improving equipment, like cockpit instruments that help planes steer clear of mountains when visibility is poor, and reliable jet engines
- conducting “unstabilized approaches,” meaning pilots had to fiddle with flaps, throttle and other controls just before landing
- developing better guidance for pilots to follow flight paths precisely and stay farther away from mountains in the area
- better signs on taxiways to prevent planes from moving into the path of other aircraft
Policy initiatives:
- acquire new planes
- more “safety summits”
- a national commission on aviation safety and security led by VP Al Gore in 1997
The trend to watch out for: air and runway traffic will double by 2025
Source:
Fatal Airplane Crashes Drop 65%
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Aviation, Data, Data Analysis
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1 Page-Creative Problem Solving for Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 6 November 2007 | 12:01 am
I stumbled upon this interesting information as I was surfing the web for good Six Sigma resource.
The paper starts with a discussion on the trends of Six Sigma methodology and how is it when viewed through TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) lens. Then it went on to discuss how the 1 Page-Creative Template, also called the Six Sigma Brainstorming Pool, will benefit Six Sigma deployments.
One interesting part in the paper is the A1 Page-Map of Innovation Patterns for the Six Sigma Methodology. Look at the figure below.
Click image for a larger view
The 1 Page-Map of Innovation Patterns, which reflects the concept of 360° innovation, is basically a graph in which customer delight is plotted against pain. All possible innovation patterns are covered in the figure. Innovation patterns, which relate to TRIZs Inventive Principles, are shown in appendix A. The TRIZ principles can be regarded as more detailed descriptions of innovation patterns that are found predominantly in technical systems. The 9 zones are given metaphorical but meaningful names in order to facilitate referencing; the description of the central (shaded) cell or Octopus Zone is omitted for clarity. The map is a 3×3 rectangular fractal in the sense that each zone can be regarded as a 3×3 map of innovation with similar descriptions for the 9 zones. In this article, the focus is on the 3×3 map as represented in the figure.
From the figure, the predominant direction in the evolution of Six Sigma is towards the Lion Zone, that is, the addition of tools and combination with other methodologies to make Six Sigma more powerful. In general, the range, application, and functionality of the Six Sigma methodology have increased but the pain (in terms of complexity as well as the time and cost of learning additional tools) has also increased. The latter effect is undesirable.
On the opposite end of the evolutionary spectrum, that is in the Minnow Zone in the figure, are variants of Six Sigma which are the results of removing parts and tools from classic Six Sigma. The focus of Six Sigma variants in the Minnow zone is to provide a simplified (less quantitative) view of Six Sigma and its principal tools. The aim is not to tactically apply Six Sigma but to gain an understanding of the philosophy and principles of Six Sigma in order to better position a business and develop strategies for competitive advantage. This approach is sometimes called “Strategic Six Sigma.”
Source:
TRIZ Journal
