Jessica Harper (managing editor of iSixSigma Magazine), Michael Marx (iSixSigma’s research manager) and I will be in warm Scottsdale, Arizona, May 7-10. If you’re looking to escape the weather and be (almost) guaranteed warm days and sunny skies, then consider joining us in Scottsdale for the ISSSP Six Sigma Leadership Conference. This year I vowed…
This could be you! Are you a small or medium-sized business that’s seen great results with Six Sigma or process improvement tools? Do you rely on “Six Sigma thinking” to improve the customer experience? We’re looking for a company that would be an inspiration to other small and medium-sized businesses to feature in an article…
Wiley Publishing, Inc. was kind enough to send me a few copies of the new Lean for Dummies book, hot off the presses.
I was cleaning up my office today and found two extra copies of The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook written by Michael George, David Rowlands, Mark Price and John Maxey of George Group, published by McGraw-Hill. It’s rated 5 out of 5 on Amazon.com and is a great compendium of every Lean Six Sigma tool…
TAGSYS has announced what they are billing as the RFID industry’s first quality of service guarantee for pharmaceutical manufacturers. This new guarantee — what TAGSYS is calling the “Six Sigma Performance Program” — promises fewer than four failures in one million read opportunities in the item-level track-and-trace process. Read their entire Six Sigma guarantee.
We have a fantastic issue of iSixSigma Magazine coming up in May. The cover story is about Lonmin, a primary producer of platinum group metals. They focus on discovery, acquisition, development and marketing of minerals and metals. The short story goes like this: Prior to Brad Mills becoming CEO, the quality of life for Lonmin…
Hitachi is running a series of advertisements in the Wall Street Journal focusing on their plasma TV technology capabilities. In today’s issue (March 13, 2007, p. A16), their ad talks about kaizen: No matter where in the world they’re made, Hitachi plasma TVs have one trait in common: They’re the product of kaizen, the Japanese…
Praveen Gupta, President of Accelper Consulting, sent me a few copies of his new book entitled Virtually Stat Free Six Sigma. (Thanks for the reference to iSixSigma.com in the first chapter, Praveen!) Subtitled “Focusing on Intent for Quick Results,” this book dives into the biggest problems facing most companies and what tools are most likely…
We have recently become aware of fraudulent emails and telephone calls from a person claiming to be from iSixSigma which was sent to multiple people, including some of our readers. The fraudulent email, which was sent by Aditi Raisurana and may be personally addressed, tells recipients that iSixSigma is “in the process of promoting our…
It seems that no sooner does Hyperion start the transition from the acquisition of Decisioneering to the process of integrating Crystal Ball with their products, when Hyperion announces that *they’ve* now been acquired by Oracle! The deal is in cash for $52.00 per share, or approximately $3.3 billion. In an email I received today from Jim…
Some of the biggest news to be announced yesterday and circulated around the IQPC Six Sigma Summit in Miami is that Hyperion is acquiring Decisioneering. For those of you not aware of Hyperion, they are one of the leading enterprise-wide BPM (business performance management) software applications in the world. As the press release on Decisioneering’s…
He’s at it again. But this time I laughed out loud, I’m sorry to report. What are your thoughts?
Paula Parmeter, a Six Sigma advocate and pioneer, recently passed away. Everyone that knew Paula is tremendously saddened. Below is a tribute, written by Ilona Kirzhner. iSixSigma has been nice enough to allow us to pay a Six Sigma Tribute to Paula (Feldman) Parmeter. In my knowledge of Six Sigma consultancies, practitioners, trainers,…
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to feel a little “winterized” already (or is that “non-winterized”?). The Seattle rainy season has hit multiple records this season and I’m looking forward to a break later this month by visiting warm — and hopefully dry — Miami for the IQPC Six Sigma…
Dilbert and his pointy haired boss tackled two topics that are near and dear to my heart: Six Sigma and innovation. In one fell swooop, he reduced both topics to buzz words and hype. While I’m sure there are many people who may agree with Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, I’m hoping this site…
Is it related to design for Six Sigma? Is it TRIZ? Is it that guy in the corner cube who has 50 patents and tons of papers piled on his desk high enough to obscure anybody’s view as they walk by?
I spent the afternoon with the North West Quality Forum (NWQF). Today’s meeting took place on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, just North East of Seattle. It was my first time to Redmond, besides my house-hunting trip to the Seattle area a couple of years ago. The NWQF is a group of Seattle-based deployment…
Some vendors have recently expressed concerns about the review of project tracking software programs that was published in the November/December 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine. I would like to share with you a statement regarding this article that will be published in the January/February 2007 issue. It was written by magazine editor Erin Ducceschi, and…
The TRIZ Journal is now a division of CTQ Media LLC and a channel under Real Innovation (which will launch November 15th).
The most difficult problems in any Lean Six Sigma project or initiative relate to changing mind-sets. However, the right combination of vision, resources, incentives, skills and planning significantly increase the probably of success.
The American Society for Quality had an attorney send iSixSigma a cease and desist letter the other day for an article iSixSigma published back in 2001. In the article, Charles Waxer wrote, “ASQ only started offering certification a year or so ago.” This was in fact true in 2001, but since we don’t include a…
I attended the IQPC Lean Six Sigma West Summit in Las Vegas from September 27-29, along with fellow blogger Michael Marx and the rest of the CTQ Media team. On Wednesday I gave a presentation entitled “From Good to Great Six Sigma: 5 Imperatives for Making the Leap.” Many delegates who attended the presentation asked for…
Thank you to everyone who contributes thoughts, suggestions and comments to iSixSigma on how we can improve what we provide. We’re constantly making improvements to our technologies as a result. Our Discussion Forum is a popular Six Sigma-related destination on the Internet. Since our inception in May 2000, we’ve had about 94,000 postings. People have…
Who would you like to hear speak at the IQPC 8th Annual Six Sigma Summit in Miami? Here’s you chance to be heard. Please take this short –one question– survey and choose your ideal speaker for the event in January next year. To participate in the survey follow this link: https://www.isixsigma.com/miamikeynote07
The latest issue of Harvard Business Review features an interview with Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE. It’s an interesting article because after years of growth through acquisition,GE has now shifted theirroadmap to that of organic growth. As part of the roadmap, Jeff Immelt lists innovation as one of the six key initiatives that…
I’m heading off to the ISSSP 7th Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference next week (May 16-19) in Scottsdale, Arizona. Michael Marx, our research manager, will also be attending. (It’s not too late to attend if you live in the area or want to book a last minute ticket. Use code LCISSDISC for a $1,499 ticket….
Pictured at right: Liam Atwood (8 months old), iSixSigma Magazine’s youngest reader. Thanks, Jon, for passing along the picture. I can’t tell you what Mia did with her copy… well, perhaps over drinks ;). See you at the ISSSP Leadership Conference in May.
The following is The Last Word from the March/April 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “Getting Ahead in Business with Six Sigma.” Operational excellence does not come easy, whether in America’s heartland or on the streets of New York City. It takes leaders who are willing to make changes. Despite the breakthrough improvements made by…
It’s that time of the year again. The time of year when we all do a reality check on the job market — or more specifically — on the salaries ofSix Sigma Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions and Deployment Leaders. With now being the time of year when yearly bonus checks are being distributed…
I’m at the IQPC Six Sigma Summit and Awards Conference in Miami, Florida. The conference kicks off Tuesday morning withspeakers from Regal Beloit, Bank of America and Delphi Corporation, and the morning general session culminates with Roy Templin, who is the chief financial officer of Whirlpool, and Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York. I…
Today I learned about a new program that’s being used in healthcare organizations. It gives me great hope that something significant is on the horizon. It’s called Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and the many healthcare professionals that read this site probably know about it already — but I’ll share what I learned for the…
The following is The Last Word from the January/February 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “When Business is Personal.”
I love the iSixSigma discussion forum not just for the knowledge sharing that goes on between experts and those needing advice around the world, but also for the trend spotting. In recent days The Independent, and many subsequent television news shows, have reported how Pope Benedict XVI has created a stir in the Vatican (and…
The Last Word from the November/December 2005 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “Starting-up Six Sigma.” In the early 1990s, the CEO of a large chemical company told his sales managers that they had to start sharing ideas, documenting their processes, and defining a best practice that would make all the salespeople as effective as their…
This blog entry will highlight some of Jack Welch’s comments from Wednesday, October 26, 2005 on the topic of financial savings through Six Sigma.
I just received my ASQWire email today. The email includes a summary of what’s going on at the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and is sent to members. One of the stories caught my eye and I thought it had a fascinating title, “Have you calculated your ASQ membership worth?” It encouraged me to visit…
Do You Know One? Do you know a special Black Belt deserving of recognition? Someone who gets outstanding results using their own skills, and at the same time fully involves the people who work with them… a Black Belt who brings talent, integrity and good humor to the workplace? Introduce iSixSigma to a great Black…
iSixSigma announced today the beta release of the iSixSigma Toolbar. With the toolbar installed on your Internet Explorer browser, you will be able to instantly search against the tens of thousands of pages of content that have been written and collected over the past 5+ years. You will also be able to search against specific…
Have you taken an eLearning course in the past? Do you offer eLearning training through your consulting company? Have you researched eLearning options in the past? We want to hear from you. iSixSigma is preparing to research eLearning options available within the Six Sigma industry. For this study, we’re defining eLearning as: “Any learning that…
It does not matter how small the business, Six Sigma can help improve any process. Even a niche bed and breakfast business can profit from Six Sigma principles. Case in point: Al O’Donnell, who runs a Six Sigma program for Southern Clay Products in Gonzales, Texas, USA, wrote us this note. “My wife owns the…
I had the pleasure of being invited to the Northwest Quality Forum on Wednesday (3 Aug 2005). It’s an informal group of like-minded peers (deployment champions and regional leaders) in the Seattle area that get together every other month to discuss Six Sigma, Lean, management, leadership, change management and related issues faced by their organizations….
If you get Executive Decision magazine, check the recent issue (July/August 2005)on page 35 (article: “Don’t Let Company Growth Stall: Innovation is the key factor in charting a course of long-term sustained growth”).
All well trained Six Sigma professionals know that variation is the root of all evil – at least with respect to the customer experience. I understand this all too well myself. I usually experience it when it is least appreciated – in the early morning. Many nights I find myself up late programming some new feature…
Yesterday I ran my second 5 kilometer running race in about 7 years, causing me to contemplate the difference between causation and correlation. It was Bear Paw 5K Classic inEagle River, Alaska (USA), the last day of my week vacation in Anchorage. Eagle River is a small town about 20 minutes north of Anchorage. My…
Do all Six Sigma deployment models return the same results – proportionally – to the resources and time invested? The topic of deployment models can be a thorny issue among Six Sigma practitioners. Many claim that the best model is to initiate a Six Sigma program from the “top-down” (ala GE’s Jack Welch, who mandated…
Michael Marx and I had a discussion yesterday about the opening of the recently launched iSixSigma Blogosphere to additional bloggers. What’s amazing is not that we came to a similar conclusion, but that the entire conversation took place through instant messaging, or IM. (Since I’m in Alaska this week on vacation I find that the…
The Last Word from the July/August 2005 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “Designing for Perfection: Six Stories of Innovation with Six Sigma.” One of my pet peeves is when people refer to Six Sigma as a cost-cutting or productivity methodology. That definition tells only half of the story, focusing on the DMAIC improvement methodology and…
The following items recur too frequently in my daily activities. I submit them as “pet peeves” to raise awareness of them. OK, let’s be honest – venting helps me too. Pet Peeve 1: People who are more concerned with obtaining a Six Sigma certification than with what the newly acquired skills will allow them to…
The remaining three iPod Shuffles were given away to three deserving individuals wearing iSixSigma buttons today. We ordered over 500 buttons, and if I hadn’t grabbed a pack of 20 from the box they all would have been given away. Thanks to Frank and Erin (our editors for the iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine, respectively) for…
Air Academy Associates graciously shared their booth with iSixSigma Magazine at the ASQ World Quality Conference, May 16-18. A few customers and alliance partners also displayed iSixSigma Magazine reprints. Thank you to everyone! The process for winner selection was pretty simple: wear a button, win an iPod Shuffle (if we see you wearing your button…