8 Factors in Selecting Statistical Software for Six Sigma

Over at Quality Magazine, Evan Miller, president and co-owner of Hertzler Systems Inc., shares eight factors to consider in selecting statistical software for Six Sigma.

According to Miller, there are two categories of statistical software: the Advanced Statistical Analysis tools and the Real-time Enterprise SPC Solutions. How to work on both or either of these categories, the following will be your guide:

1. How strong a background in statistics does the typical operator have?
2. What types of data are operators most likely to encounter?
3. If data are mined for information, how easily can multiple approaches with multiple options be tried?
4. How easy is it to create a report or presentation that can be shared with other colleagues?
5. What does it take to get new data into the system?
6. Does the system automatically test new data for real-time process shifts?
7. Are Data Stored in a Robust Relational Database?
8. How Easy is it to Slice and Dice the Data?

Read more…

Filed under: Six Sigma, Software/Technology, Statistics

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SixSig Reference Feature: Improving Service Delivery in Government with Lean Six Sigma

Inspired by the renewed optimism of Americans with their new leadership, I searched for a connection of Six Sigma and governance. Then I stumbled upon a report that discusses how Lean Six Sigma improves service delivery in government.

Lean Six Sigma has been proven to work in manufacturing, but service companies have also seen the merit of the methodology. Thus, we have been hearing service companies go into Lean Six Sigma.

One good thing about the report is that it starts with a discussion of Lean Six Sigma and the possible barriers of some service processes to go into Lean. Like for instance in government, the challenge of implementing Lean Six Sigma lies on the nature of a government structure itself. These include:

inconsistent leadership motivation, union rules and regulations, job security concerns, and a prevalence of undocumented processes. Other characteristics unique to the public sector pose an additional challenge, including skepticism about government, legislative controls, competing special interests, the election cycle, and term limits.

Click here to read the report.

Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Public Sector, Six Sigma

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iSixSigma Live! Announces the Winners

Winners: Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects

* Environment – Bell Helicopter, Textron Inc. for “Compressed Air Savings Headstart (CASH)”
* Supply chain – General Dynamics for “Submarine Material Receipt Inspection”
* Transactional – North Shore-LIJ Health System for “Increasing CT capacity in a Tertiary Hospital”
* Manufacturing – Xerox Corp. for “Photoreceptor Belt Tensioning System”
* Customer service – Sutherland Global Services for “Improving Customer Satisfaction”
* Solving the unsolvable – Shuuro Technologies for “Improving Revenue from Sales”
* Innovation – Delphi Corp. for “Joint Design for Electronics Cooling Heat Exchangers”

Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up – NewPage Corp.

Read more…

Congratulations!

Filed under: Awards, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, iSixSigma

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Can’t Lean Six Sigma Save Nortel Now?

Toward midyear last year, Nortel announced that it would continue with its Lean Six Sigma initiatives for better operations. Its President and CEO Mike Zafirovski then shared Nortel’s growing momentum with customers.

But in last week’s news, Nortel perhaps shocked the world when it filed for bankruptcy. The global crisis along with the decrease in demand for phone gear hit Nortel and drove the company to file for bankruptcy protection and prepare for Chapter 11.

My question now is: can’t Lean Six Sigma save Nortel now?

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

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Lean and Six Sigma in Hospitals

If you’re a regular visitor/reader of this blog, you may have noticed that I have not been updating for a week now. That is because, I brought my younger son to the hospital for fever, which turned out to be dengue fever stage 1. I thank the Good Lord for getting us out of that ordeal. My son is doing A-OK now.

In any case, when we were still in the emergency room of Paranaque Doctors Hospital, I couldn’t help observing their processes with Lean or Six Sigma eyes. I know that medical workers in the hospital are generally cool and composed because only they can tell the gravity of a patient’s condition.

We were ushered to a bed in the ER, and in a minute, nurses and a pediatrician were already hovering over my son. They took his temperature, and made some tests. Since our pediatrician already advised us to admit my son, they were doing the work based on the recommendation of our doctor.

For all of that, including getting a private room, it took us almost an hour. My son was already restless, and so were we. We wanted to be in our room already and get some rest. But for some reason, they were like waiting for something else. For what? We would ask, they would mumble something I didn’t understand.

The room, we knew was already available as my husband had made the deposit and all. It turned out that they were waiting for the resident pediatrician, who seemed busy on the phone, to give a go-signal perhaps for us to be brought to our room.

So, as far as I know, there was no reason for us to be detained in the ER for an hour. And I said to myself, if the hospital would ever go into Lean or Lean Six Sigma, they could improve patient flow through the system. I believe that more than anywhere else, the hospitals should be quick and fast. It assures patients and the relatives that they are being attended to. It can really help assuage some fears. Read more…

From then on, it was a week-long of waiting for us. But, except for that long wait in the ER, the waiting we did was the kind that was not wasteful. As explained by our pedia, dengue is a waiting game.

Paranaque Doctors Hospital is a good hospital (I will be writing about their service on CustServ.), but I know they can still improve by going Lean or Lean Six Sigma.

Filed under: Healthcare, Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma

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Six Sigma Case Study: Converting Paper Into Electronic Documents

Ever heard of a paperless company? I used to work for a company that claimed to be one, but since we need to edit all our materials, it turned out that we were using more paper than we were supposed to.

In any case, using less paper would mean cutting less trees. Since we need trees more, might as well refrain from using paper.

This Six Sigma case study deals with converting printed paper from US customers into electronic copies. This project was taken up as a demonstration example within the framework of building a Six Sigma mind-set in the organization.

The study shows the importance of Six Sigma in building a culture and mindset of continuous improvement and change.

View the Six Sigma case study.

Source:
iSixSigma

Filed under: Processes, Six Sigma

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Qatar Petroleum Is Into Six Sigma

I’m pleasantly surprised to know that Qatar Petroleum is big on quality, and it is in fact into Six Sigma.

Here’s the full list of quality courses. And here is the Introduction to Six Sigma course outline.

Way to go!

Filed under: Petrochemicals, Quality, Six Sigma

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What Your Lean and Six Sigma People Don’t Want You to Know

Catch this Live Internet Broadcast.
Sponsored by Realization Technologies
Thursday, January 22, 2009 – 2:00 p.m. EST (GMT -05:00, New York)
Estimated Length: 1 hour

This IndustryWeek-hosted presentation will cover:

• Why lean and Six Sigma projects often do not produce measurable results in project environments
• How the management policies you set cause an impact on the success of projects
• How management typically measures success, and why those measurements often cause projects to be less effective
• How to prioritize which areas should be targeted for improvement programs
• How companies like Boeing and Delta Air Lines are achieving between 25%-40% more throughput that Lean and Six Sigma alone did not deliver

Click here for more info and to register.

Filed under: Events/Announcements, Lean, Six Sigma

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Six Sigma at Baldor Electric Company

Baldor Electric Company, a leading manufacturer of energy efficient electric motors, recently got the IWs Best Plants Award 2008 for its plant in Ashville.

The recognized achievements include predictive maintenance programme that increased machine uptime to 97.8% while reducing maintenance repair cost by 35% over six years; recipient of the Baldor President’s Award for outstanding safety achievement in 2007 and 2008; fifth consecutive annual award in 2007 for Outstanding Work In Accident Prevention from the North Carolina Department of Labour. Continue reading…

The company is able to achieve these because of its Lean and Six Sigma programs. Lean systems within its factory and Six Sigma methodology to its suppliers. As such, Baldor is able to:

• sustain a culture of ongoing improvement through employee involvement
• maintain improvements in the production processes by gleaning employee-generated ideas
• incorporate loading and unloading automation in the manufacturing cells to prevent operator fatigue and excessive worker travel.
• target its key suppliers to help them implement Six Sigma leaning strategies

Read more…

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

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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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