Month: January 2008

Over my career I have taken many personality & skill tests. For example, I know my Myers Briggs Indicator Type, mapped myself across the Insight Discovery Wheel, discovered my rating on the Management Assessment of Proficiency, found the next number in the sequence, found the wrong shaped shape and generally been tested in every conceivable […]

As I’m reading the newspaper, I notice two articles from different countries, Australia and China, both about eliminating plastic bag usage in retail outlets by the end of 2008. The Australian article focused on the benefits and did provide a few statistics, such as the number of bags used annually, estimated % decrease of landfill […]

Many organizations are awash in data, generating enormous and plentiful reports with a variety of statistics. Others have little data to work with, often going by gut feel and experience when decisions are to be made. Most are somewhere in between. In the transactional world, many process measurement systems are manual, comprised of spreadsheets, Access […]

It is the aim of most Continuous Improvement programs to transform the organization. Six Sigma usually attempts to do this in one of two ways: By taking top-down approach, wherein the end state of transformation is articulated and communicated by organizational leaders, and stages and activities of the transformation are painted only in very broad […]

My healthcare organization uses a versionof Lean Six Sigma that may be familiar to some of you. First, project definition through hoshin kanri(enterprise value stream mapping and value stream analysis). Define -VOC, CTQs, and performance specifications. Measure -Value Stream Mapping with analysis of data. Analyze -Waste Walk, SpaghettiMapping, and statistical analysis where appropriate. Lean – […]

Networking, by definition, is a supportive system of sharing information among individuals or groups having a common interest. Next week, IQPC is hosting one of the biggest networking opportunities of the year. It’s the 2008 Lean Six Sigma & Process Improvement Summit. This year hundreds of process improvement professionals will converge in sunny Florida to make […]

USA Today reporter Del Jones interviews Textron CEO Lewis Campbell. This is an outstanding Q&A session with a CEO who knows Six Sigma. Finally, a mainsteam media outlet that goes right to the source for information about the success of Six Sigma. Nine tough questions, nine solid answers. I especially liked the final question about […]

Lost Tools # 2 Data In this quick fire working environment using a ‘Sore Thumb Approach’ strategy (something hurts so you go fix it quick), we don’t always have time to collect the data. I’ve just taught the Measure phase to a wave of Green Belts and other than a SIPOC IT’S ALL ABOUT COLLECTING […]

Having now delivered many transactional projects I have noticed common themes repeatedly occurring. These include: IT Systems that have been poorly designed or operated Inadequately thought through policies & procedures Opaque, non-existent or duplicate processes Lack of viable information on process performance But there is one area I would like to focus, decision points. People […]

Every morning and every evening I walk to and from work.It can go fromcold rainy days (like today!) to balmy summer evenings. I enjoy the exercise and get to watch the changing of the seasons. For those of you with a statistical bent this is the season to “guess the population distribution”. On my return […]

The January/February issue of iSixSigma Magazine is out. Aside from being a fantastic issue in itself, the research feature is one that I particularly enjoyed researching and writing. Thanks to all those who responded to our survey last year we were able to gather solid data from the soft side of Six Sigma. The research […]

We graduated another Lean Six Sigma class last week. Our version of Lean Six Sigma is based on the DMAIC structure and Lean tools that works well in our healthcare organization, and this was our 8th class since October 2006. Just before we handed out the certificates for course completion, the hospital President who took […]

Gianna Clark notes that several hundred companies began their Six Sigma journeys about seven years ago. Is Six Sigma the quality equivalent of a stock market bubble? Are we cheerleaders of an irrational exuberance where performance economics do not match the hype we create? Is Six Sigma on the verge of becoming the next TQM […]

In a recent blog at Harvard Business School Press Online, Tom Davenport challenges the applicability of Six Sigma. You can read his post at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/davenport/. Coming from anyone else, a statement that Six Sigma “should only be used in product manufacturing, where the idea of reducing defects to one in six standard deviations really makes […]

iSixSigma Magazine’s latest research survey is underway. This time we are exploring the Voice of the Customer and Six Sigma. With your input we’ll be able to better understand how VOC is integrated into Six Sigma deployments. The results of this survey will be published in the July/Augustissue of iSixSigma Magazine. Please take a few […]

Hundreds of companies embarked on their Six Sigma journey in 2000 and 2001. Today, Six Sigma deployments haven’t slowed a bit but instead have expanded and grown and are a driving force in achieving excellence in almost any type of business. And, because of industry experience and forums for sharing, are being implemented with the […]

There’s a new blog in town, one that is sure to make it big. I invite dummies and non-dummies alike to read Today’s Six Sigmaby Craig Gygi. Craig was the lead author of Six Sigma for Dummies as well as the Six Sigma for Dummies Workbook that hit the bookstores in late 2006. When it […]

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Chris Collins, the new County executive of Erie County, gave an interview to WNYMedia.net recently where he unveils the details of the Six Sigma initiative underway in the county. The video below is the Six Sigma excerpt of the interview. It’s only two minutes long and worth the watch. You can tell Collins has got his […]

The very first Six Sigma book I read was The Six Sigma Way. The first page describesthe story of a CEO jumping to solutions and being educated by a Black Belt on the methodology. He is turned around and states, “We’re not in the ‘Just Do It’ mode anymore”. My take-away being, we take a […]

Mayor Richard’s legacy, journalgazette.net, December 26, 2007 Mayor Graham Richard left office last week as Mayor of Fort Wayne Indiana. The article above describes his many accomplishments over his two terms in office, including Six Sigma: From major public projects that will distinguish the city’s landscape for decades to the minutiae of using Six Sigma […]

Chris Collins, the new Erie County executive, is making good on his promise to bring business efficiency practices to the county…namely Six Sigma. In his most unusual appointments, the new executive selected Alfred Hammonds Jr. as his director of Six Sigma implementation. Six Sigma is the business-sector efficiency discipline Collins championed during his campaign. Hammonds, […]

I can save you the trouble of reading the blog entry below. I realize you are very busy. Here’s a summary: Communications in the business world rely heavily on PowerPoint-style summaries. At best, summaries omit crucial information and context present in the work being summarized. Without this context, conclusions have to be accepted on faith. […]