Category: Concepts

Utilizing Six Sigma tools like DMAIC saved RFR $928,000 in retained sales as well as $10,000 in cost savings and $9,000 in workplace training. RFR Metal Fabrication Was Having Growing Pains RFR Metal Fabrication began as Advanced Fabrication Technology in 1987, switching names to RFR in 1999. Throughout its history, the organization has focused on […]

When many think of Six Sigma, they first think of massive corporations utilizing the methodology for quality and process improvement. They do not generally associate it with the mom-and-pop shop down the street. The truth is that plenty of smaller companies use the Six Sigma method to optimize their businesses. The only reason that most […]

In the early 2000s, Motorola was struggling with defects in its products and a decline in customer satisfaction. In an effort to improve their business processes and regain their competitive edge, they turned to Six Sigma, a data-driven methodology for process improvement. The Impact of Six Sigma on Motorola’s Semiconductor Production Process Motorola is a […]

Everyone knows Canon as a massive corporation that manufactures cameras, printers, scanners, and a variety of other quality goods. Less known by the consumer market is the role Canon plays in helping other companies improve processes using the Six Sigma methodology. This happens through a Canon subsidiary that operates under the name Canon Business Process […]

With the formation of a joint venture between the original healthcare organization laboratory, Sonora Lab, and the larger Quest Diagnostics, a partnership existed in name only. Both labs went about operating in separate locations while continuing with their individual instrumentation and systems. Over time, this led to issues across both teams, and it became clear […]

When faced with the news that drug manufacturers of cancer medication were responsible for causing a massive amount of financial waste, the oncology department at UCSD utilized Six Sigma and Lean tools like a cause-and-effect diagram, a Kaizen Event, the 5 Whys, and others in order to improve scanning processes that could help in recovering […]

The web development team at The Nature Conservancy in Arlington, VA, was able to utilize Lean and Six Sigma tools to close the gap in downtime due to a coding freeze every 45 days. The Nature Conservancy used such Six Sigma tools as process maps, The 5 Whys, and cause-and-effect diagrams to dramatically bring the […]

By employing Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma methodologies, the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Test Center was able to improve the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of its vehicle maintenance operations. Six Sigma’s DMAIC method gave the Aberdeen Test Center the necessary tool for improving its cycle time, significantly decreasing the wait for its clients between when a […]

Have you ever wondered whether the outgoing inspection values from your vendor are equivalent to the values of your incoming inspection? Maybe it’s time to use orthogonal regression to see if one of you can stop inspecting. If your vendor is doing final outgoing inspection, do you need to also do incoming inspection on the […]

In the 1980s, Wipro made the leap from being primarily known as a vegetable oil company in India into the world of IT. In order to be a competitor in this industry on a global scale, Wipro would need to continually improve its performance as well as work smarter towards meeting the needs of its […]

Have you or a family member ever had to visit a hospital Emergency Room? What was your experience? How was your wait time? Let’s see how one hospital handled long wait times and extensive patient dissatisfaction using queuing theory. The Emergency Room of a public hospital was experiencing long wait times to treat patients. Wait […]

Lean and Six Sigma practices are ultimately about helping businesses use efficiency to provide the ultimate customer experience. But what about state and county government entities? Can the same practices apply, and do they even have “customers”? The residents in the counties these government offices serve would likely say “yes”. Kern County spans the southern […]

You may have taken notice of Deschutes lately. In the last few years, it has become much more commonplace to find the brewery’s products on draft at your local pub or at your nearest retailer. Such a marketplace presence did not happen overnight, and the brewery credits the lessons learned from Six Sigma as having […]

ZARA changes its clothing designs every two weeks on average, offering upwards of 11,000 distinct garments every year. In comparison, competitors change their designs every three or four months and product 3-4,000 distinct pieces. This is fast fashion: the business model of replicating high-fashion, luxury-brand pieces quickly and cheaply, making them available to customers while […]

In discussions about the Six Sigma methodology, you will often find the equation Y=F(x). It is an important formula in working with the methodology and can serve as a very helpful tool in project management. When working with the Y=f(x) formula, X stands for the various inputs utilized to generate an outcome, while f represents […]

When you are part of an organization that is working towards goals, you are part of a team. A team moving toward hitting milestones can sometimes need to generate excitement and motivation while inching toward the goal line. This is why we have acronyms like TEAM. An acronym like TEAM can be used by team […]

Not all experiments are created equal. Learn how randomization can improve the validity of any business’ experiments aligned with Six Sigma principles. Randomization in Six Sigma Business owners and managers want to know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to existing processes and methods of operation. Running experiments and assigning inputs and outputs […]

Measurables indicate how a process is performing or how customer expectations are being met. These indicators are quantifiable, expressed numerically, and can have units of measurement. There are two kinds of these indicators. They are process measurables and result measurables. It is important in any business to know if you are meeting the expectations of […]

ANOVA will tell you whether there is a statistically significant difference in the population means of three or more groups of data. But which means are different? Tukey’s will tell you that. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to determine whether the population means of several sample data sets are statistically different or not. If […]

What is the point of having a bunch of raw data if you don’t have the tools to analyze it? Regression models provide you with the ability to see if there is a relationship between two types of variables, helping make some sense of data that has been collected by fitting it to a line. […]

The Bartlett Test is named after the English statistician, Maurice Stevenson Bartlett. The test is also known as the Bartlett’s test for homogeneity of variances. It is most used in the context of doing a 1-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). ANOVA is used to determine whether there is any statistical difference between the means of […]

You are probably familiar with the notion that there are costs of poor quality, often shown as COPQ. These represent both internal and external failures to maintain good quality. There are also costs associated with maintaining good quality sometimes represented as COGQ. These costs represent appraisal and prevention costs. Total Cost of Quality (TCOQ) is […]

Statistics is a branch of math that involves the collection, description, analysis, and inference of conclusions from quantitative data. But what is a statistic? Let’s find out. The word statistic is a word with numerous possible definitions. In its simplest form, a statistic can be defined as a descriptor of a set of data. The […]

When an organization attempts to implement a Six Sigma deployment, somebody needs to be selected to lead and manage it. Champions are upper-level managers who lead the execution of the Six Sigma deployment plans for the organization. That makes it one of the most critical roles in the eventual success of your Lean Six Sigma […]