Michael Cyger

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 […]