Fang Zhou

Healthcare is on everyone’s mind nowadays, from individuals to the government. Employers often try to lower healthcare expenses by sponsoring wellness programs. How effective are these programs? Not much, according to a report by the National Institute for Health Care Reform: While employer wellness programs have spread rapidly in recent years, few employers implement programs […]

I was shopping at IKEA and found a bureau on sale for $30. The display model looked well-made with nice materials and finish. However, as expected, IKEA furniture comes in a box assembly required. No problem as I have plenty of experience. The assembly process took a number of steps: Find a suitable area large […]

The June 14 issue of Fortune magazine featured an interview with Vanguard CEO William McNabb as a part of their C-Suite series. McNabb became CEO on August 31, 2008, two weeks before Lehman Brothers failed. Many more companies lost employees, customers, and certainly, a lot of money during the crisis. In contrast, Vanguard emerged stronger, […]

As expressed in my first blog, learning and practicing Lean Six Sigma helps me communicate with more clarity and consistency. In my opinion, one of the barriers to continuous improvement is the use of words without clearly defined and mutually agreed upon meanings. It’s common to see project charters include vague statements like these: improve […]

DMAIC is a very powerful method and provides a framework for leading business improvement projects. The consistent rigor has led to many great results. However, I have also seen less successful DMAIC projects that took too long and/or generated little improvement. As mentors, we all have seen inexperienced belts struggle with various tools. However, my […]

We have all heard a lot about “customer focus” in our work. But what does it really mean? How much has “bringing customer focus to the organization” helped you change the culture and improve the long-term performance of the business? What has been your customer’s response to it? Lean Six Sigma has brought more concrete […]

Lead Time and Cycle Time are two important metrics in Lean and process improvement in general. However, many people do not seem to understand the difference and their relationship. In fact, many use them interchangeably. This can lead to confusion in understanding the true problems in a process, and worse, poor decisions in process improvement. […]

I recently read a blog on GE Healthcare’s website. http://nextlevel.gehealthcare.com/cost/a-child-of-our-own.php Although the general idea of needing better ways to improve healthcare systems is valid, I cannot agree with the underlying interpretation of what Lean and Six Sigma are. It seems to me many people view Lean and Six Sigma as 1. tools for solving specific […]

Lean Six Sigma is still fairly new to the R&D people in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, where I have been supporting its deployment. Often people ask me “What is Lean Six Sigma?” and “How did you become a Black Belt from a scientist?” I used to give a textbook answer to the first question […]

As practitioners, we think Lean Six Sigma is an integral part of our life. But how can we help others see its value? This is a crucial step to building and sustaining a Lean Six Sigma culture. One thing I learned through the Lean Six Sigma deployment is that people have to be personally motivated […]