SiggySig

no offense intended – I am projecting some recent hairsplitting experiences with the BBs in our engineering quality group

amen to that – put up a PP slide with this on it:
“Our Process Sucks” – you’ll get your point across. Unless you’re talking to an engineer, in which case you probably had better have the math correct.

The only way to know for sure whether you have the right X’s is to try out your improvement in a pilot. Then measure the results. Good luck.

One other thing – if your company is planning to have you as the only Black Belt, and expecting you to be able to deliver any kind of ROI, you might want to clear that up with them first.The chances are very slim that one person armed with some Lean Six Sigma knowledge can get very far in a company that hasn’t even taken the first steps to…[Read more]

Chad, sounds like you are familiar with the engineering quality group at GE – the best pitches I’ve ever seen, but sadly limited in the actuall effectiveness.
The quality leader I’m thinking of is a PhD – explains everything…

Or as I tell new belts, just because you have stats skills and tools now does not mean you can just shut your brain off…As you say, there’s a lot more to it than getting the right p-value…At GE, the top quality brass have basically declared the last 10 years a failure as far as Six Sigma is concerned. Turns out all those inspection points that…[Read more]

That’s what is typically taught – the textbooks also tell you not to use ANOVA if you have different variances.Robin Barnwell wrote a great post over on the blogs about this very subject – http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/anova.html

Julia, I’m afraid that if you’re worried about catchy words to sell what you’re doing, you have to question what you’re trying to do.
These guys are right – the name is irrelevant. With the current level of management commitment and understanding (sounds like they don’t have either) your belts, whatever they are called, are pretty much set up to…[Read more]

Sure – you can do whatever you like. There is no such regulation of six sigma certification. You may even invent new belts such as Greem Belts.

Please,please, please don’t feed the troll…

I am not at liberty to divulge the trade secrets behind SSA’s program or certificate processes. Suffice it to say that if you’re the kind of person that would buy a certificate, you will not be disappointed.
So Stanly, can I sign you up?

SiggySig’s Lean Six Sigma Academy is the premier provider of Lean and Six Sigma Certification, recognized the world over for excellence in certificates. 
We’re still working on our website, but here’s a sneak preview of the program:
GB W/Semi-professional Certificate: $2,500 USD
BB W/Professional Certificate: $10,000 USD
MBB W/Extra…[Read more]

Thanks all – I am not as well-versed in proportion testing as in other kinds of H-tests.
This is a long-standing issue with lots of conjecture flying around – this is at least a first cut that demonstrates the need for us to look more closely at the engineering changes and when they occur, since we pay liquidated damages on all of these late…[Read more]

In my experience with invoices, the two biggest issues I encountered were:
– Cycle time to issue invoice after completion of service
– Invoice Accuracy (as measured by credits/rebills)
I’m not sure how RTY would help – find out what the biggest invoicing pain point is among the finance leadership and make it better. It’s really just that simple.

I agree with that – no cert is worth anything if you cant tell me about projects you ran and mentored and what they accomplished. That’s pretty easily uncovered during a brief conversation.
The MBB role still seems to be a stepping stone to higher jobs at GE – many MBBs were never BBs first, and don’t have the level of technical prowess that I…[Read more]

It’s interesting – I always looked up to GE credentialed practitioners because of the reputation of the program at GE. Now that I am a GE BB, I am definitely finding a backlash against what Ron alludes to – “check the box” BBs and MBBs. These days, the emphasis is not on certification but on results. The leaders don’t care whether you use lean,…[Read more]

You’ve hit on the key – even though the actual part produced varies all the time, the actuall process to get there from start to finish probably doesn’t change all that much.
I just left a company that was in the same kind of business. Everyone insisted that every job was different – which was to some extent true – but I pressed them to not have…[Read more]

If it were me, I would totally write this up as  DMAIC project and submit for credit (especially if I needed a project for credit!). Sounds like the steps were basically followed to correct the problem – what would probably separate this from a NS project is the control plan.
At the end of the day, it’s all about results. I think the days of…[Read more]

I just started at GE Energy as a BB, and I don’t see any evidence at all that Six Sigma has been scrapped. Actually, I see the complete opposite. Everyone is focused on Big Y’s, moving the needle, employing a fairly vast network of MBBs and BBs to solve problems. Lots of Workouts, lean events, etc.
In Energy, they’ve been hiring tons of people,…[Read more]

Any idea how many “xxxx” is ruining Six Sigma threads there have been on this board? Too many to count.How about this – unless you got your cert in the 80’s or 90’s by one of the following companies, you are a phony (later Certs do not count since their programs have been “watered down” since then):GE
Allied Signal
Motorola
Disclaimer: I am a…[Read more]