Month: April 2011

For the next two years, many Forutne 1000 companies say they expect to see revenue growth as the economy recovers from the Great Recession, yet a significant fraction of these firms also say they plan to continue cost-reduction efforts, some of which involve Six Sigma, according to a recent Deloitte survey.

Service, or transactional, Six Sigma has sometimes struggled to keep up with its manufacturing big brother in terms of sustainable results. Lean Six Sigma is currently the approach of choice for many service organizations, but that methodology is under pressure as businesses look to cut costs aggressively to survive the recession. In more than 15 […]

EverBank Commercial Finance, an equipment financing subsidiary of Islandia, N.Y., USA-based EverBank, has named Curtis C. Brantl, a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, as the company’s new operations and process leader.

This flow chart for the Problem Solving Methodology Wizard will guide you through the process of determining the most appropriate problem solving methodology for your process.

According to the latest figures from iSixSigma’s 8th Annual Global Salary Survey, certified Black Belts in Europe earned an average of $71,500 in 2010, down from the $75,000 figure from 2009. Bonuses for Black Belts in Europe, however, fell by more than 34 percent compared to the previous year (close to the worldwide average), from […]

Nexteer Automotive, a manufacturer of steering and driveline systems, has reported significant operational savings at its plant near Saginaw, Mich., USA, by using motion analysis software commonly used by figure skaters.

The 21st century has brought on many changes for the Department of Defense, affecting all the military branches. In particular, the Air Force has encountered a reduction of forces, base closures and funding cuts to many of its programs. Additionally, the message from the Department of Defense and Air Force senior leadership is simple: resources […]

Cetero Research, a clinical pharmacology research organization, has hired James “Jay” Dixon as its new senior vice president, quality and compliance.

According to a March 24 report from Objective Analysis, nearly 25 percent of the world’s semiconductor production capacity is in Japan, as well as more than 60 percent of the silicon wafers from which semiconductor chips are created. In 2010, industry analysis firm iSuppli determined that Japan held about 35 percent of the $31.5 billion […]

There is obviously the classic dictionary type definition such as: Design for Six Sigma (DfSS) is an emerging business process which involves a highly disciplined methodical approach to integrating the principles of Six Sigma as early as possible into the design and development process. It is a customer-driven business strategy that creates robust designs that […]

An iSixSigma Discussion Forum exchange involved the manager of a call center who was interested in eliminating her organization’s “online chat” channel of communication and have all contact flow through the phones instead. However, she wanted to see if she could make an apples-to-apples comparison between the online chat and phone channels, given that they […]

  As many of you know, there are significant differences in Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt expectations and certification criteria between organizations. Typically Master Black Belt certifications focus on advanced tool knowledge, training/project coaching experience, portfolio management and program leadership to name a few of the most common ones. While I’ve always thought that […]

Hello fellow Lean Six Sigma professionals! Not so long ago, in conversation with iSixSigma, the opportunity to start blogging to share ideas and insights on deployment leadership came up. In addition to the personal blog that I’ve been maintaining for the past few months on WordPress in which I’ve been touching on a broad range […]

The Six Sigma world is filled with stories reiterating the importance of leadership focus when implementing Lean Six Sigma. However, the continuous improvement landscape is also littered with examples of Lean Six Sigma programs that were implemented in full force to start with and then were slowly abandoned after they had spread to other departments […]

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. An excerpt of a checklist used to measure human performance factors and gauge risk is featured in the magazine article. […]

More organizations deploying Lean Six Sigma are using this innovative team process from Leap Technologies to capture quick wins, replicate best practices and engage more employees.

Regal Beloit Corp., a manufacturer of electric motors and motion controls, has promoted Master Black Belt Jonathan J. Schlemmer to the title of chief operating officer.

Today, irrespective of industry, corporations must focus on speed, efficiency and customer value to be globally competitive. Lean and Six Sigma are both powerful tools for improving quality, productivity, profitability and market competitiveness. While Six Sigma is focused on reducing variation using a problem solving approach and statistical tools, Lean focuses on eliminating waste and […]

A free workshop for executives detailing the critical role of change management in a Lean Six Sigma deployment is scheduled for May 16 at the third annual Energy Forum for Process Excellence.

Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, in Hinsdale, Ill., USA, has appointed Master Black Belt Steve Brown as director of operational excellence, a new position that will focus on improving processes and operations.

Strong America Now, grassroots political organization based in Austin, Texas, USA, has helped draft legislation in the Texas Legislature with the intention of cutting billions of dollars of spending in the state by the application of Lean Six Sigma methods.

Everyone building Lean Six Sigma in an organization probably agrees that the challenge is not teaching the tools but changing the mindset. As many of us have experienced, we could introduce misconceptions that are counter-productive. For example, there are a lot of discussions or even debates on the standards of Black Belt certification – what […]

Manufacturing facilities can be faced with major challenges when it comes to process improvement, largely because practitioners don’t always know enough about the underlying process factors (x’s) are that drive the improvement metric (Y). Practitioners might have a brainstorming session to tap into the collective experience of experts involved in the process, and design experiments […]