SixSig Reference Feature: Best Practices on Cost Reduction Using Lean Six Sigma

View the presentation here.

Related article: Lean-Six Sigma: tools for rapid cycle cost reduction: have you ever conducted a “Manager Quality Waste Walk”?

Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma

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Quality Quiz from PQ Systems e-Line

PQ Systems through it’s Quality eline newsletter brings us another quality quiz by Professor Leary.

For this month’s quiz, and a chance to win a copy of the newly-released collection of Quality Quiz Classics, do the Quality Quiz. Submit your response by April 30 to be entered in the drawing.

Here’s the quiz:

Last month we looked again at the ongoing struggles of Quinn Quip, who has been trying to understand and implement the binomial central limit theorem. He has learned several lessons related to taking many sample proportions of the size 100 from a population with a mean of .50 and then forming a distribution with these sample proportions. Among the lessons:

1. The mean of this distribution of sample proportions will be close to .50;
2. The shape would follow a normal distribution;
3. The variability of these sample proportions about the population mean of .50 would be

Continue on to the quiz…

Winners of last month’s quiz and a copy of the Quality Quiz Classics DVD:

Alice Akelman (S.L. Alekman Associates, Inc.)
Michael Borton (Xerox Corporation)
Owen Gutteridge (MSP Group)
Bruce Jefferson (Bruns Machine)
Patty Walton (Cleveland Clinic)

Congratulations!

Filed under: Data Analysis, PQ Systems eLine, Quality Quiz, Six Sigma

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Linking Six Sigma with the Customer Experience

Many corporations that have implemented Six Sigma have discovered that they are able to improve their customer experience in the process.

Reg Goeke shares what he learned at the Lean Six Sigma & Process Improvement for Customer Experience in Miami.

Read: Six Sigma and Customer Experience

Filed under: Customer Service, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma

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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.

Philip Hii of The Art of Virtuosity gives his opinion about Lean Six Sigma. It’s a refreshing read coming from a non-practitioner. Read on…

Black Africa gives us the evolution of Six Sigma. It’s an interesting review really. Read on…

Technical Studies Youngester also gives us a review of Six Sigma—definition, its tools, methodologies, goals. Read on…

Over at The Lean Edge, Dan Jones talks about the essential Lean and Six Sigma. Read on…

Tool Belt and Design Blog shares with us the Six Sigma Tools and Templates that Six Sigma deployments can use. Read on…

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

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Integrating Lean, Six Sigma & TOC: iTLS

The challenge of corporations these days is to improve their efficiencies and profitability. Thus, they look for a quality management strategy to achieve this goal. In the process, these corporations integrate a methodology or two and implement a combination.

This is the case with integrating Lean, Six Sigma, and TOC. An article on IndustryWeek online discusses the results of a case study of integrating the three. Called the iTLS, the approach successfully synchronized production with the available capacity levels while providing process stability. The case study also cites companies that use iTLS.

iTLS integrates, synchronizes and harmonizes the three powerful ingredients (Lean, Six Sigma and TOC):

• Focus on the few yet critical elements that limit the global performance of the organization by applying Theory of Constraint tools
• Eliminates waste in the form of “hidden factories” with application of Lean tools
• Reduces undesirable variability to ensure process stability with Six Sigma tools

Read more…

Filed under: Lean, Six Sigma, TOC

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8 Steps to a Successful Lean Implementation

I’m sure you have read a lot of tips for a successful lean implementation. But another set of tips won’t do us any harm. I got the tips from Lokesh R of iSixSigma.

1. Create a Burning Platform. A burning platform means that there is a compelling reason for the company to go into Lean Six Sigma. An urgency, or even an emergency always kicks people to do something about and are more willing to address the problem.
2. Put Resources in Place. Do not hesitate to hire the right resource—may it be employees, material, or technology—at the right price. For people resource, it is also important that you put people who can work as or with a team. All resources must adhere to your company’s vision.
3. Teach the Methodology. Train team members to be powerful change agents, and trainees should share the organization’s vision.
4. Prioritize Activities. Learn what to overlook and where to take risks. Prioritize: (1) Listen to the customer (2) Identify critical-to-quality criteria (3) Ensure Lean Six Sigma efforts are linked to business goals
5. Establish Ownership. Make it clear who owns the Lean Six Sigma initiative. With ownership comes empowerment and a sense of pride, and team members who are more committed, accountable and engaged.
6. Take the Right Measurements. Create a measurement system which helps determine baseline and process performance for objective decision making and analysis of variation. The key for measurement is to get the cost of quality right.
7. Govern the Program. Successful management of the program can ensure its sustainability.
8. Recognize Contributions. Rewards and recognition of good work inspire, build enthusiasm and help drive innovation.

Source

Filed under: Lean, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, Team Dynamics

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Six Sigma Training: Six Sigma in 3 Steps

Here is more of Six Sigma training.

I stumbled upon this site that presents Six Sigma in three steps. It has something to do with giving Six Sigma training to each Six Sigma team member.

Trainers can follow these three steps to make the training program uncomplicated and effective to develop future Six Sigma leaders.

1. Pre-training
2. Delivery
3. Feedback and analysis

Read more…

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Team, Six Sigma Training

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Comparing DOE Methodologies

The Design of Experiment (DOE), whether you use it for Six Sigma or other quality management methodologies, can be customized to fit your needs. But how the design should go is the tricky part.

Forrest Breyfogle of Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard at SmarterSolutions gives us a good Q&A on comparing DOE methodologies.

Read the Q&A and the discussion that follows here.

Filed under: DOE, Quality, Six Sigma

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On Six Sigma Training

Six Sigma always begins with training. In fact, corporations planning to go into Six Sigma either train in-house or get consultants. Even so, training must start somewhere.

An important component of training is its content, which is governed by the objective you have for training. For me a good training manual or module should precede other action plans. The manual has to  be thought out well and must indicate a doable and feasible objective and must yield the expected outcomes. The same principles apply to Six Sigma training.

So how do you design your Six Sigma training?

Over at iSixSigma, Daniel Zrymiak has one suggestion, that is to apply dynamic content to your Six Sigma courses or training.

According to Zrymiak, a “dynamic content” is one that fully engages students through interaction and feedback from instructors. Dynamic content can be obtained through elicitation and discussion from students, subject matter experts, current events and other information sources.

In other words, it’s a content designed by everyone else who are involved in the training. If so, then I don’t see why it won’t work to the fullest advantage.

Zrymiak further shares the principles of dynamic content.

• Reduce original courseware to high-level fundamentals.
• Avoid over-informing in the initial courseware.
• Make special preparations prior to class initiation
• Facilitate collaborative in-class discussion
• Enhance evaluations and course closure

Read more about how each works and how to come up with a dynamic content for your training.

Filed under: Six Sigma, Six Sigma Team, Six Sigma Training, Training

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Innovation of the Week: Improving Innovation with PPM (A Webinar)

Tuesday, April 6, 11:30am – 12:30pm (EDT)

Featuring Roy Wildeman of Forrester Research

Learn how Project Portfolio Management (PPM) improves product development results, enabling better decisions from idea management and investment selection through resourcing, execution, and post-launch review. Six Sigma and innovation executives will want to participate to learn:

• Insights from Forrester’s latest research
• How PPM helps R&D improve its impact
• The current state of PPM technology options

Register now!

This webinar is brought to you by PowerSteering Software, the leading provider of enterprise PPM software.

Filed under: Innovation, Innovation Update, Project Management, Project Portfolio Management, Six Sigma

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