Month: November 2007

iSixSigma Magazine is conducting research on Six Sigma certification requirements. With your help we’ll get to the bottom of the certification issues that hover over the industry. While there may be no formal standards, different companies have different methods and requirements for certification of their Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black Belts. Please take […]

If you haven’t secured your own 2008 Cox-Box Wall Calendar, it may be too late. Get them now at https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/

In his Rough Type blog, Nicholas Carr — contrarian author of the book, Does IT Matter? — comments on Microsoft’s plans to build a data center in Siberia and upcoming completion of the world’s largest data center in Chicago. Construction of these facilities costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and each will hold tends of […]

(Movie Review – WARNING! May contain spoilers…) At the beginning of the movie, the Santa Claus who is scheduled to appear in the Thanksgiving Day Parade is found to have significant defects. He is replaced with a worker who seems to utilizestandard work, Sensei Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn). The new Senseiyields improved results for the […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2007 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission Order Your 2008 Cox-Box Calendar Online Now! Go to https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/

I recently came across a fairly newblog in the “business improvement” universe…Sith Sigma. It’s the rantings and ravings of a couple of infamous Sith Lords, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. They offer plenty of entertaining but solid advice on Leadership, motivation and project management. The blog has nothing to do with Six Sigma directly, butthe […]

My last blog discussed elevating the strategic relevance of Lean, Six Sigma and process excellence. My view is that mature Process Excellence Organizations enjoy or achieve credibility and success by executing a flexible performance-improvement process attacking the top priorities, employing the best tools, selecting the right projects and leveraging organizational momentum. The first thing mature […]

Isn’t it ironic that what might actually be needed to address variation in your process is variation in your team? Picking the right team members is almost as important as picking the right project. In addition to an expert, a customer and representatives from other key stakeholder groups, you should think about how you can […]

I have had the fortune to serve twice on the ASQ’s International Team Excellence Awards judging panel. It’s not the entries that I want to talk about, but the experience of serving on the panel. The details of the competition and the criteria are posted on the ASQ website, www.asq.org. When I volunteered to serve […]

Ever wonder what a Six Sigma Thanksgiving would be like? Here’s a glimpse . . . 99.9997% of the turkey would get eaten so you don’t have to eat turkey sandwiches every day for the next two weeks 99.9997% of the mashed potatoes won’t have lumps 99.9997% of the desserts taste great and have no […]

Order Your 2008 Cox-Box Calendar Online Now! Go to https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/ The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2007 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

“Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?” Homer Simpson would be proud of Maidstone Bakeries. Striving for the perfect donut. According the a press release: Maidstone produces more than 60 million donuts per week and wanted to ensure top quality while making sure its production operations were as efficient as possible. Maidstone is using Six […]

A conversation I regularly get into involves discussion of the difficulties encountered when deploying Six Sigma in an environment that is already saturated with other programs and toolsets. A majority percentage of the time the discussion is about deploying Six Sigma in an area where Lean is already well established, but there are many other […]

When my fellow Black Belts and I facilitate, or teach, we ask the participants to give us feedback at the end of each session. We use the plus-delta format that we inherited from our original consultants, by dividing a flip-chart page into two columns for the “plusses” (things that worked well, were meaningful, or strengths) […]

iSixSigma launched a new website last week, Six Sigma in the Military, complete with stories about how the U.S. Military is using Six Sigma. The purpose of this iSixSigma Military channel is to document the transformation of the United States Armed Services through the use of Lean Six Sigma and related process improvement methodologies. Ronald […]

This training video was made for CISCO by the Creative Learning Studio. It’s an entertaining explanation of process improvement as told by a fictitious news station in need of better proceses. DMAIC gets a plug as a way to achieve improved processes. Enjoy.

Whether it’s a Six Sigma deployment, a project, a training class or metrics, one variable stands out as the ultimate gauge of success: Business Line-of-Site. Yes, I meant “Site” not “Sight.” It’s more than just seeing the path to the destination. It’s about actively targeting it. When you are passionate about something, it is easy […]