Mobilizing a Business for Turning Strategy into Action

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Developing a strategy is critical for any organization, and equally important is having a mechanism to translate that strategy into action. However, given the complexities of the European market, there is a special need for a business implementing its strategy to allow its local business unit leaders to adjust the tactics to local needs and […]

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How a Company Can Involve Its Suppliers in Six Sigma

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When to involve suppliers in a Six Sigma initiative is a topic that comes up in every organization that has made the commitment to improve. “We are only as good as our suppliers.” This statement by Gรถran Lande, quality manager at Sony Ericcson, at a recent Six Sigma conference, sums up the situation. It is […]

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LEAP

Using the 5As to LEAP into Lean Implementation

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A good acronym for the framework by which an organization can implement Lean is LEAP โ€“ learn it, explain it, adapt it, provide it. The 5As โ€“ assessment, awareness, association, adherence and ascendancy โ€“ are the steps to take.

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Is Your Company’s Leadership Ready for Six Sigma?

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Six Sigma is not for the feint of heart. It takes courage to attack chronic problems no one has been able to solve. It takes true grit to define and collect the data needed for new insights. And, it takes staying power to see solutions become the new way of working. Is every company ready […]

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How to Avoid Deep-sixing a New Six Sigma Program

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As he pushed out from Fairfield, Conn., USA, the king of CEOs left us all holding the Six Sigma bag. In it, a host of tools, techniques, potential and promise clank against one another. It is a nice collection, and we are pretty sure it works, but it is the old proverb that bothers us: […]

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Is Six Sigma for Real? Question Deserves Solid Answers

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Is Six Sigma for real? Is it the factor responsible for improvements? How much Six Sigma is really necessary to get positive results? Doesn’t any quality improvement method yield similar results? These questions are always in the minds of people in every organizationย โ€“ sometimes out in the open, sometimes not. In a thoughtful response to […]

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Top 10 Questions for Lean Six Sigma Integration Partner

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Many of the attendees at a recent Lean Six Sigma conference were investigating how to start a Lean and Six Sigma program in their organization. Most were very excited about Lean and Six Sigma and how it could help them introduce process improvement and customer focus to their organizational cultures. Of course, some also were […]

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Defining Primary Metric - Starting Off on the Right Path

Defining Primary Metric: Starting Off on the Right Path

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After a rocky start developing the project’s primary metric, a Six Sigma team was able to increase the accuracy rate of dispenser maintenance calls, resulting in potential savings for the company of more than a million dollars.

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Six Sigma Deployment Planning and Readiness Assessment

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Anyone who has deployed Six Sigma, or has thought about deploying Six Sigma, is familiar with the main stumbling blocks to a successful deployment โ€“ lack of senior leader support, lack of data, longer-than-expected project cycle time, part-time Black Belt resources, and most important, poorly defined projects. Since the first financial firm started deploying Six […]

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Making the Business Case for a Six Sigma Deployment

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Many quality managers have read about and seen the benefits of Six Sigma but are unsure how to approach their senior leadership about the opportunity because they do not have a concise package of information to convey. Fortunately, there is a series of tried and true steps which can be taken to sell management on […]

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Making the Best Use of Process Improvement Consulting

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How often do organizations that have a dedicated team or group working full-time on quality initiatives under the name of Six Sigma, or Lean, or Business Excellence or Service Quality and at the same time the strategic major projects like business reengineering, restructuring, revenue enhancements are outsourced to big consulting organizations? The answer is: all […]

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Learning to Think Lean: 6 Steps with Review Points

Learning to Think Lean: 6 Steps with Review Points

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Organizations can profit from learning to think in terms of Lean, a philosophy that aims to eliminate waste. Learn the six steps to a strong Lean foundation, including detailed questions to ask at each step to review current status.

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What Small Business CEOs Must Know to Start Six Sigma

What Small Business CEOs Must Know to Start Six Sigma

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Most CEOs of small and mid-sized businesses are aware of Six Sigma and what it has done for other companies. But some think the quality improvement program only works in larger companies. Of course, that is not true. Six Sigma can help grow any company by giving it the all-important competitive edge. For the majority […]

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What’s in a Name? It’s the Approach, Not the Name

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This article is the first of two on using a systematic approach to implementing a strategic initiative. The second article is “What’s in a Name? Systematic Approach to an Initiative.” For more than 30 years, global competition has driven businesses to seek new and better ways to be competitive in the marketplace. Some companies, in […]

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What’s in a Name? Systematic Approach to an Initiative

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This article is the second of two on using a systematic approach to implementing a strategic initiative. The first article is “What’s in a Name? It’s the Approach, Not the Name.” When a company decides to deploy a strategic initiative, whether the approach is called Six Sigma or something else, it must stay focused on […]

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Lean Manufacturing: Adapting as Important as Adopting

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Lean is a wonderful experience when deployed properly and can be a nightmare when it is not. When properly deployed, a company has productive and relatively happy employees, increased efficiency, on-time deliveries and all sorts of other desirable outcomes. When it is not deployed properly, a company can have angry customers, frustrated employees, late deliveries, […]

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Is Your Organization Ready to Implement Six Sigma?

Is Your Organization Ready to Implement Six Sigma?

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A successful Six Sigma implementation depends on many factors. Evaluate your organization against this list of key variables to determine whether you are ready to launch a deployment that works.

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Leveraging: Stealing with Pride from Your Own Company

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The CEO of a $1 billion business with sales and marketing affiliates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa asked the question, “When one of my affiliated businesses makes improvements, how do I get the benefits across all my businesses without having to wait for people to reinvent the wheel?” His question stimulated those responsible […]

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“We Are the Champions!” โ€“ Exactly What That Means

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Project Champions ensure that organizational systems are in place to support the Six Sigma initiative. As managers, they provide exposure of the program to their functional reports and endorsement of the program as a management initiative.

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Insider Views on Selecting a Six Sigma Consultant

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You’re the CEO of a small-to-medium-sized company. Or you’re heading the committee charged with maximizing output and minimizing mistakes in a much larger organization. You’ve heard about Six Sigma and you think it might work for your firm. You make the leapย โ€“ you decide to hire a consulting company to help you implement the methodology. […]

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Before Deployment: “Minding Your Ps to Get Your Q”

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Answering two fundamental questions can help an organization honestly assess its readiness for adopting a Lean Six Sigma culture.

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