Month: October 2010

Dave Wheeler has been promoted to senior vice president, global supply chain and corporate Six Sigma at Cintas Corp. in Mason, Ohio, USA. Wheeler will be responsible for all company-owned and contracted production facilities, procurement, distribution facilities, textile research, new product development, production planning and Six Sigma initiatives.

Laboratories can be a taxing environment in which to implement Lean and Six Sigma. Labs are not the same as manufacturing – where Lean and Six Sigma got their start – because they typically have more variability in workload, less operational focus, less process reliability and longer task cycle times. However, through creative adaptation of […]

In just six months of applying Lean Six Sigma techniques, the State Police Crime Lab in Baton Rouge, La., USA, has dramatically reduced the turnaround time for the processing of evidence in criminal cases.

Lean and Six Sigma have helped many organizations improve quality and productivity in their manufacturing and transactional processes. However, applying these methodologies remains a challenge in a knowledge work environment, such as the life sciences, based on my 15+ years of experience at various companies –from a start-up to a global pharmaceutical giant, as well […]

When project managers begin studying Lean Six Sigma, the first question asked is often, “How will I get buy-in?” Although the core concepts and methodologies may make sense to project managers, the question of buy-in sometimes overshadows this powerful methodology for process improvement. There are many root causes for why people are reluctant to lend […]

After a brief hiatus, the iSixSigma Live! Social & Networking Party returned last week, with the first event taking place in Seattle, welcoming nearly 70 Six Sigma professionals from the Puget Sound region. Held on the top floor of the popular Rock Bottom Brewery in Bellevue, Wash., the Social drew continuous improvement professionals from the […]

A Minnesota-based quality group recently presented three people with the 2010 Shurson Awards, honoring commitment to quality principles. The winners, chosen by the Rochester Area Quality Council (RAQC), are Gene Dankbar and Dr. Prathibha Varkey of the Mayo Clinic, and Darryl Mickelson of Hormel Foods Corp.

Read Dr. Mikel Harry’s responses to common questions about Six Sigma. His biography is below: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 1984 M.A., Ball State University, 1981 B.S., Ball State University, 1973 Dr. Harry has been widely recognized and cited in many publications as the principal architect of Six Sigma and the world’s leading authority within this […]

iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine are pleased to announce that the top 10 finalist companies have been chosen for the third annual list of iSixSigma’s Best Places to Work™ for Six Sigma professionals.

How’s your Lean initiative doing? Is it going great? Or is it starting to lose steam? Or is it clearly failing to meet expectations? Have you given up and gone back to the not-so “good old days” from which you had hoped to escape? These are questions I see a lot of firms both asking […]

On iSixSigma’s Discussion Forum, a poster working on a doctoral thesis asked about how various differences in national culture can affect Six Sigma implementation. Respondents provided several links to studies on the role of cultural differences among deployments in the United States and Europe. One reader added that the corporate culture is far more important […]

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.

One of the most important skills people learn in Six Sigma training is project chartering. Many Green Belts and Black Belts have learned to write much better goal statements using the SMART guideline (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). In a previous blog, I talked about how clear operational definitions help create specific and measurable […]

Companies lose an average of 5 percent of revenue annually due to payroll process inefficiencies, errors and fraud. Leaders at Océ Business Services, a provider of outsourced document process management services, estimated that their company had an even greater opportunity because of their outsourcing model – employees based on client premises supporting thousands of individual […]

Boeing is introducing several improvements on its Boeing 767 assembly line as it ramps up production to meet higher commercial demand and a potential tanker order from the US Air Force.