Performance Archive

3M Offers to Settle Age Discrimination Suit Involving Six Sigma

The 3M Co., based in Maplewood, Minn., USA, has offered to pay up to $12 million to roughly 7,000 current and former employees to settle a long-running lawsuit alleging that older workers faced age discrimination under the the company’s Six Sigma program.

Activities vs. Performance: Improvement, Common Sense

Most organizations have a strong bias toward planning, managing and executing a multitude of supposedly value-added activities hoping that these activities will yield significant results. Most do not. But there is another – better – way.

Activities vs. Performance: The Procedure/Audit Dilemma

Including compliance audits and procedures in work processes lowers cost, time, and risk and improves quality. Trained Black and Green Belts use process and measurement tools to refine and maintain control of compliance programs and avoid redundancy.

Black Belt Nichols to Run CitiStat Program in Springfield, Mass.

The city of Springfield, Mass., USA, has hired Marta Nichols, a Six Sigma Black Belt, to run its governement performance management program, known as CitiStat.

Business Improvement Strategy, Masteries and Metrics

Many organizations that deploy Lean and Six Sigma fail to reach the level of improved performance that they expected. One reason for this often is a lack of a well-structured business improvement strategy on the front end of the deployment process.

Catalyzing Change: A Turnaround Success

Given a dire situation, a change management process is clearly required. A haphazard attack on many issues can exacerbate the problem. Kotter's Eight-Stage Process of Creating Change was used as the guide to induce the re-invention of a team and business processes in this real-world transformation that saved a company.

Comparing Financial Performance Among Business Units

Earlier this month, a member of the iSixSigma Discussion Forum asked about the best methods to measure financial performance among business units within the same company, but in different regions. The answers that came back ranged from simple bottom-line comparison…

Creating a High Performance Culture with Hoshin Kanri

Often organizations plan effectively for performance gains, but fail to act on their plan to achieve their goals, leading to poor performance. Hoshin Kanri is a method that addresses the need to act on and achieve planned goals.

Cummins Talks with Indiana Town About Improving Processes

Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. is discussing a possible collaboration with the municipality of Franklin Township, Ind., USA, about improving the town’s financial performance via Lean Six Sigma methods, according to a report by WRTV-6.

Dealing with SLAs and Visitors from ‘Outlier’ Space

Information Technology businesses can create better service level agreements (SLAs) by using a more scientific approach than just negotiating with their customers. Yet the method is not complex and it does not require a Six Sigma deployment.

Fort Wayne Mayoral Candidate Vows to Continue Six Sigma Efforts if Elected

Eric Doden, a Republican candidate for mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., USA, said that, if elected, he would continue the city’s process improvement programs initiated by former Mayor Graham Richard, including customer service training for city employees.

Getting the Most out of a Capability Analysis

Many articles describe the difference between the process capability indices simply: one is short term, one is long term. Moving beyond such a description, this article focuses on the untapped power of capability analysis and shows you how to use them to your advantage.

Healthcare Quality Initiatives: The Role of Leadership

A panel of healthcare executives recently shared their views that leaders must take an active and visible role in their organization’s quality initiatives. They also agreed on the need for organizations to develop the right management systems.

How Six Sigma Can Help ITIL Service Level Management

Utilizing service level agreements (SLAs) can go far in establishing fruitful working relationships between IT providers and customers. If implemented poorly, however, they can be a source of discomfort for which IT providers should be wary.

Indiana Considers Six Sigma Reviews of Public Teacher Performance

State education officials in Indiana are considering the implementation of Six Sigma standards in performance reviews for public school teachers in order to comply with a new law requiring an evaluation of how school districts allocate their state funds.

Lean Methods Help Avoid Layoffs at Four Hospitals

Despite the common allegation that Lean improvement methods must lead to layoffs at healthcare systems, the reality is quite different at several leading hospitals, where Lean methods are actually saving or creating jobs.

Lean Services: Doing Transactions Right the First Time

In services, the most efficient method for cutting waste is to attack anything that is not done right the first time. Completing services right the first time is not easy, but doing so can be an effective way to begin a Lean journey.

Lowering The Cost Of Ownership For Software Lifecycles

From CIO to CFO, the writing is on the wall – lower the cost of ownership. This article discusses strategic choices IT organizations can make in lowering the cost of ownership for the entire software lifecycle in order to minimize overall costs and deliver return-on-investment. Reducing their budget in the short term can motivate IT organizations to create innovative approaches to systems development that will reduce costs.

Manage Project Performance with EVM and Control Charts

This article describes how earned value management (EVM) indexes and control charts may be used in tangent to capture more insight from project performance.

Managing Performance Factors: A Sample Checklist

In the May/June issue of iSixSigma Magazine, the article, "Taking the Next Step: How to Eliminate Errors for Good," offers an approach for managing human performance factors in an effort improve processes in service organizations.

Maximize Six Sigma Team Performance

The Black Belt's ability to maximize team members' contributions is critical to the success of a Six Sigma project. Many factors must be addressed. With a well-maintained team comes team synergy, which results in happier, healthier, and more productive employees.

Monitoring Return on Investment for Internet Initiatives

During the past four years the Internet channel has seen the migration from an exploratory revolution of new functionality to creating a viable profitable business. It is no longer feasible to place additional technological enhancements on the web without considering…

One IT Size Does Not Fit All; Lean Six Sigma Can Help

A specific process solution, orchestrated for one IT organization, is unlikely to fit perfectly in another IT system. This means that importing a set of processes into an organization, without some kind of review for “fit” carries momentous risk.

Six Sigma Critical Success Factors

Measuring and managing Six Sigma critical success factors is required for organizational alignment and optimization. View this checklist to ensure your company is measuring, aligning and closing gaps in management performance and behavior.

Tips for Avoiding Common Metrics Challenges

Metrics programs face some unique challenges that need to be tackled successfully in order to derive real benefits. This piece reviews some of those potential roadblocks, as well as recommendations that metrics teams can use to avoid such problems.

U.K. Estate Agency First in Industry to Adopt Lean Six Sigma

In response to what has been called a difficult 18 months for the estate agency sector in the United Kingdom, senior management at Frank Marshall & Co. have announced that the company is the first to adopt the Lean Six Sigma methodology in the estate indsutry.

U.S. Postal Service IT Project Slashes Costs Via Performance Management

A challenge facing many new CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders is the need to change their organization’s culture and reputation. Fairly or not, technology leaders are often saddled with the perceptions (or misperceptions) that their team can’t deliver projects on time or on budget.

Value Matters as a Key Metric for Six Sigma Initiatives

Some business organizations have come to recognize that measures of customer satisfaction may not be the best metric of business performance. As a result, more companies are beginning to use the more actionable metric of customer value.

Posts Tagged ‘performance’