Sue Kozlowski

When I first went to Six Sigma training, I was very enthusiastic about it and shared everything I learned over the dinner table with my family. I talked about my projects and the tools, my successes and failures. I always thought they listened politely and then forgot about it. You know, Mom talking about work […]

A lot of my conversations recently have centered around certification for lean. Coming from colleagues who started in Six Sigma as a Green Belt or Black Belt, it seems “natural” that when you add lean facilitation to your skills, you could get certified in lean, too. But, as I understand it, the traditional path for […]

By popular demand, words to an old favorite tune that you can use while watching the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, at the Seventh-Inning Stretch: Take me out to the Gemba Take me out to the flow! Find me a Value Stream I can track I don’t want wasteto evercome back! For it’s root, root, […]

As you may know, if you’re a baseball fan, Major League Baseball is holding its All-Star Game on July 15 at Yankee Stadium. You may also know that you can create your own “fantasy” baseball team, on-line,by selecting players and assigning them to your team. Then, as the statistics build up week after week, the […]

I had the privilege recently of helping to teach lean to a group of university leaders. I had great fun assisting with the first day of class, when we introduced basic lean concepts. However, when my instructing partner and I looked at our plus-deltas from the day (comments about what the participants valued, and what […]

You don’t have to read much of the daily paper, in the US at least, to see datapresented in very interesting ways. “Gas price SKYROCKETS to $4 a gallon!” “The Dow Jones Industrial Average PLUMMETS to 12,500!” “Pistons [Basketball Team] Have the EDGE Now!” “Kid Obesity Rate STEADY” Now, part of the reason for this […]

I was privileged recently to attend the American Society for Quality’s World Conference in Houston, TX. What an energetic gathering of quality-minded people! One topic thatI heard a lot of conversation about was concern for leadership of Lean and Six Sigma. There were many stories shared of new deployments, attempted deployments, and failed deployments. One […]

Quite a few Black Belts from manufacturing environments have told me, “I don’t know anything about healthcare, but my industry is in a downturn so I’m looking for a Black Belt job in a hospital. I figure I can pick up the lingo once I’m there.” I’ve also been asked to speak to industrial and […]

Today’s question comes from the realm of business etiquette. Since I didn’t think Miss Manners would have the answer, I’m asking in this forum. Traditionally, when an organization begins deployment of Six Sigma, “Black Belts” are hired, trained, and certified by their company or an outside vendor. After some years of service, some Black Belts […]

While flipping around the channels a while ago, I happened to catch an episode of “House.” This show, for thoseunfamiliar with it, features aphysician in a hospital setting. He’s faced withpatients who have complex and puzzling disease conditions that he must diagnosis in order to save their lives. I was intrigued, at first. But after […]

There’s a great quote from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” that I was thinking of today, in relation to how we teach lean. Thecharacter Malvoliosays, “Be not afraid of greatness. Someare born great, someachieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.” So, with apologies to Will… “Some are born lean, some achieve lean, and some have […]

I was privileged to speak at a conference in San Francisco last weekend, sponsored by the American Society for Clinical Pathology. The topics focused on leadership in the clinical (medical) laboratory. After giving a presentation on 6S, I served asa panel member for questions submitted from the audience. One of the questions asked, “What can […]

When I’m asked to do a presentation, for corporate training or national conferences, I always try to present in a style that reflects how we practice lean six sigma. How do you gain buy-in in any change process? By having the group participate in the discussion or decision! So, I add interactive segments into my […]

In healthcare, we are definitely trying to speed things up for our patients. Billboards around our area (and maybe, around the country) promise 30 minute door-to-doc time in their Emergency Departments (EDs). One promises no waiting to be seen by a healthcare professional! Mini-offices are springing up in chain pharmacies, promising no waiting for minor […]

My healthcare organization uses a versionof Lean Six Sigma that may be familiar to some of you. First, project definition through hoshin kanri(enterprise value stream mapping and value stream analysis). Define -VOC, CTQs, and performance specifications. Measure -Value Stream Mapping with analysis of data. Analyze -Waste Walk, SpaghettiMapping, and statistical analysis where appropriate. Lean – […]

We graduated another Lean Six Sigma class last week. Our version of Lean Six Sigma is based on the DMAIC structure and Lean tools that works well in our healthcare organization, and this was our 8th class since October 2006. Just before we handed out the certificates for course completion, the hospital President who took […]

5S is one of the foundation concepts of lean. The Japanese originals were: Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shetsuke. (Additional S’s such asSafety or Security are sometimes added.) I did a quick survey on-line to see what variations are out there. Sort – Straighten – Scrub – Standardize – Sustain Separate – Sort – Shine – […]

(Movie Review – WARNING! May contain spoilers…) At the beginning of the movie, the Santa Claus who is scheduled to appear in the Thanksgiving Day Parade is found to have significant defects. He is replaced with a worker who seems to utilizestandard work, Sensei Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn). The new Senseiyields improved results for the […]

I have had the fortune to serve twice on the ASQ’s International Team Excellence Awards judging panel. It’s not the entries that I want to talk about, but the experience of serving on the panel. The details of the competition and the criteria are posted on the ASQ website, www.asq.org. When I volunteered to serve […]

When my fellow Black Belts and I facilitate, or teach, we ask the participants to give us feedback at the end of each session. We use the plus-delta format that we inherited from our original consultants, by dividing a flip-chart page into two columns for the “plusses” (things that worked well, were meaningful, or strengths) […]

Some of our Black Belts were talking the other day about how many projects they’ve got going, and (in spite of focusing our projects on specific value streams) how they sometimes feel pretty fragmented, getting pulled from project to project. We discussed whether it would be reasonableto pause for a short while, to ensure that […]

To: Executive Sponsor From: Six Sigma Black Belt Re: Lean Six Sigma Project #1031 Our Define Report-Out is now ready for presentation. This memo serves as an executive summary for your review. Customers: Children (primary), Parents (indirect) Problem Statement: Too many children in the United States receive Halloween candy in a way that is unpredictable. […]

We’re used to seeking the Voice of the Customer in the Define phase of our projects. Typically (at least at our organization) we haven’t asked, “How much of this process can we pass on to you?” This topic usually comes upwhen weteach a lean exercise in which the Voice of the Customeris supposed to rule. […]

Like many organizations, ours began their Six Sigma deployment with a consultant-based training and project mentorship. We were successful at internalizing the training, and we’ve used a value-stream approach to selecting improvement projects, but the process owners never seemed to be the ones to light the fire – most wait to be tapped on the […]