Category: Kaizen
Using SQDCM Boards the Right Way for Effective Gemba Walks
Published:With the right metrics, SQDCM (safety, quality, delivery, cost, morale) boards can – and should – be used on the floor to enhance strategic development and the power of your Gemba walks.
Read more »Kaizen Blitz Explained: A Targeted Approach to Problem Resolution
Published:Your business is at war with waste, defects, and inefficiencies. Let’s attack and defeat your enemy with a lightning-quick attack using overwhelming forces. In other words, a Kaizen Blitzkrieg, or Blitz for short.
Read more »How ZARA Revolutionized the Fashion Industry with Lean Practices
Published:ZARA changes its clothing designs every two weeks, offering 11,000 distinct garments annually. In comparison, competitors change their designs every three or four months and produce 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 the trend and […]
Read more »How Lean Six Sigma Helped Grupo Bimbo Stay Relevant and Retain Global Market Share
Updated:Established in 1945 in Mexico City, Grupo Bimbo became a global leader in the baking industry, known for its commitment to quality and innovation. As the company expanded its operations worldwide, it encountered various challenges that threatened its profitability and market position. In response, Grupo Bimbo made a strategic decision to implement Lean Six Sigma […]
Read more »How One Company’s Investment in Employees Led to $40K in Savings
Updated:In business, when times get tough, the knee-jerk reaction is to have layoffs. What follows is a remarkable example of one company that decided to make a further investment in its people by getting them trained toward Six Sigma Green Belt certification and having them put their focus on saving money for the organization. Even […]
Read more »How Six Sigma and the DMAIC Process Made Samsung Into an Industry Leader
Updated:With strategic implementation, Six Sigma can do wonders for an organization. The methodology can drastically improve processes, cut down on waste, and even help provide better results in the design and R&D of new products. Samsung found that it was having issues with all of the above and, in 1999, conducted a complete […]
Read more »How Canon Business Process Services Uses Six Sigma to Optimize Business Processes
Updated: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 […]
Read more »How Six Sigma and Lean Tools Helped Recover Nearly 4 Million Dollars in Annual Revenue
Updated: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 […]
Read more »Continuous Improvement and the 3p Approach Helped Deschutes Become An Industry Leader
Published: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 […]
Read more »Successful Reinvention Focused on Customers and Quality
Published:In 2008, Starbucks was taking a major hit from the financial crisis, losing customers to competitors, and having to close hundreds of stores. Despite having its back against the wall, some decisions made around key Six Sigma principles helped Starbucks bounce back better than ever. How Giving Quality and a Better Experience To Employees and […]
Read more »How Kaizen Events Drive Continuous Improvement
Updated:With your business, sometimes a need arises to address an issue swiftly and with all hands on deck. A Kaizen Event is meant for these kinds of times.
Read more »Tips for a Successful Virtual Gemba Walk
Published:The foremost purpose of the gemba walk is people-engagement. Here are some suggestions for conducting a gemba walk in the virtual space.
Read more »Tips for Facilitating a Virtual Kaizen
Published:In the time of a global pandemic, the ability for a company to make efficient and effective adjustments is more important than ever. Don’t let the need for physical distancing put a stop to your continuous improvement efforts. Learn how to adapt an in-person Kaizen event to a successful virtual experience.
Read more »Achieving Excellence Through Quality Management
Updated:The strategy of continuously improving your organizational processes by setting your goals, identifying deviations from those goals, and then taking appropriate actions to adjust your processes to close the gaps.
Read more »The Concept of Kaizen: The Key to Continuous Improvement
Updated:If your organization is too impatient to use a formal DMAIC approach to continuous improvement then Kaizen may be the tool for you.
Read more »Achieving Quality Through Continuous Improvement
Updated:Competition for products and services is cutthroat, and survival should not be taken for granted. Implementing continuous improvement into your organisation and embedding it into your business culture keeps you one step ahead of the pack, locking in both customer and employee loyalty.
Read more »Resource Page: Kaizen
Published:Kaizen is a Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from the words kai, which means continuous or change, and zen, which means improvement or good. A Kaizen event gathers operators, managers and leaders in one place. An existing process is reviewed and all team members – generally comprised of those directly responsible for or […]
Read more »Readying Middle Management for Culture Change at Bosch
Published:This is the second of two excerpts iSixSigma.com is publishing from Creating a Kaizen Culture. This week’s excerpt looks at ways to engage middle management in a culture of change at Bosch. Last week a team in a Fabrication Department at Hill-Rom Industries learned about continuous process improvement from Shigeo Shingo. We have seen that […]
Read more »A Kaizen Event with Shigeo Shingo at Hill-Rom Industries
Published:iSixSigma.com published two excerpts from Creating a Kaizen Culture. Here a team in a Fabrication Department at Hill-Rom Industries learns about continuous process improvement from Shigeo Shingo. A second excerpt looks at engaging middle management in a culture of change at Bosch. In July 1985, Mike Wroblewski was still a junior industrial engineers in the […]
Read more »Managing to Standard Work in the Office
Published:In the fourth quarter of 2010, Fairbanks Morse Engine had to swallow a tough message from its customers: You are too slow and we are not going to take it anymore! After an extensive voice of the customer (VOC) effort, it was clear that our lead times for aftermarket parts were missing customers’ expectations. Although […]
Read more »A Plan for a Five-day Kaizen
Published:In a previous article, “Kaizen – ADHD Therapy Using Continuous Improvement: Tools to Keep Employees Continuously Occupied,” we discussed what a Kaizen event is, focusing on how to organize and scope the event. This article looks at some common tools and techniques for planning a successful Kaizen event, and identifies some pitfalls to avoid. Data, […]
Read more »Kaizen – ADHD Therapy Using Continuous Improvement: Tools to Keep Employees Continuously Occupied
Published:Two common questions for people new to the Lean Six Sigma community are: “What is Kaizen?” and “Why would you run a Kaizen event as part of a Lean Six Sigma project?” This article describes what a Kaizen event is and addresses how to run successful Kaizen events. In “A Plan for a Five-day Kaizen” the […]
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