Blogs

BMW Lean Manufacturing Wows Boeing

Boeing 777 achieves higher rates of productivity after being inspired by BMW's Lean experience.

Baltimore Aircoil Company Wins Environmental Solution Award

Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC) recently won an environmental solution of the year award from Endeavor for using a holistic approach to sustain and operate its factory – made possible by the company’s reinvigoration using Lean Six Sigma.

Implementation of Six Sigma Priority Matrixes and a Tollgate Process

Unfortunately, productivity measures sometimes end up in direct conflict with one another. Depending on the business structure each group may be told to proceed, even though their initiatives are contrary to the overall health of the company.

The 5S of Communication

Like Lean, effective communication is about the how; it is about how communication takes place, as well as what is said. With that in mind, here are the suggested 5S of communication.

Don’t Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Many years ago I worked in industrial security; I spent many nights patrolling an automotive assembly plant. During this time I would occasionally find flyers written by somebody who called themself the “Sleeping Dog.”

Efforts and Limitations in Creating Key Performance Indicators

If senior management teams were omnipotent then all decisions would be perfect, market share would increase, sales would spike, profitability would skyrocket and employee morale would be unparalleled. Unfortunately, the reality is that even the most sophisticated company rarely knows its financial position until the end of the month.

England’s Early Years System Focuses on Quality Improvement

UK's education regulator seeks input as he aims for quality improvements to the early years school system.

Six Sigma Brings $200K Cost Savings To County Schools

Savannah River Remediation is expanding its implementation of Six Sigma strategies to more public schools after it helped the Aiken school system see as much as $200,000 in energy cost savings.

Lean Six Sigma Boosts Monroe County Crime Lab’s Efficiency By 400%

Monroe County Crime Lab of New York State implemented Lean Six Sigma to decrease backlog, increase turn-around times and quality.

DreamWorks Practices Just In Time

Hollywood production house DreamWorks adopts Just In Time and Six Sigma to creating full-feature animated masterpieces.

Participate in iSixSigma’s 10th Annual Salary Survey

It is time for iSixSigma’s 10th annual Global Six Sigma Salary Survey! Every year iSixSigma analyzes information in its Job Shop database to produce a Six Sigma-specific salary report.

Herbie Is Alive and Well

A recent visit to the local Starbucks near Penn Station was a wonderful illustration of Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s theory of constraints – and a great example for how important real process management is.

Real-time Feedback Changes the Game

Efficiency is in everyone's interest. However, achieving it is heavily dependent on the quality and timeliness of crucial performance data. Live, real-time information is crucial for any manufacturing business.

“I Took Control” – Excerpt, Part 2

They say change is good and I was fortunate that things started returning to normal in short order.

A Six Sigma Basics Infographic

I found a new Six Sigma infographic thanks to Google Alerts. It connects nicely to this week's new article on iSixSigma.com, an updated assessment of the ideal Black Belt Body of Knowledge.

“I Took Control” – Excerpt, Part 1

Most individuals would view this diagnosis as an announcement of a disease. I viewed this as a project, in which I was going to modify the outcomes so that they were more in my favor.

Keeping an Organization Healthy

Individuals want the quick fix with minimal investment. Organizations are often guilty of the same type of thinking in regard to investment in process improvement.

Where’s Your Data?!

I've had more than one colleague accuse me of being overly focused on the data when making business decisions. Clearly I'm not the only one.

What Gets Measured Gets Done

Ever heard the phrase “What gets measured gets done?” It sounds good, doesn’t it? If we can measure X, then we will achieve the performance we want.

Help with a Future iSixSigma Article on Gage R&R

We are working on an article about gage R&R and need your help with data collection for analysis.