Six Sigma Shooter

Mike,
I thought so – once again, we are in “violent” agreement!  Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
Semper Fi!
Shooter

Mike,
I may have taken your post wrong, but in response to your comment, “something that you can monitor and adjust on a control chart – maintaining status quo.”  If we relegate control charts to just monitoring and control, we miss the real power of the tool.  If we use them as a tool to reduce the common cause variation once we have stability a…[Read more]

Mike,
I think we have some “instant pudding” people, touting the benefits of the funnel exercise which always equals increased variation and chaos.  Deming would not be amused!  “Data” by anecdote and opinion?  Following the advice of the quick and easy crowd, the processes will become even more disjointed.  Looks like a good dose of VSM wou…[Read more]

Michael,
Deming and Shewhart are quite clear on the subject that SPC is not just a monitoring / control tool – it is a continual process improvement tool.  If we take the limited view that is is just for process control and monitoring, we miss out its their true power:  variation reduction and improvement.
Just my $0.02 worth,
Shooter

Lonnie,
Though a scorecard may be used for 5S, I believe that it is for much more than that.  As derived by Kaplan and Norton, it is used to achieve balance among the four legs (or perspectives) of your business:  Financial, customer, internal processes, and knowledge and growth.  Used in conjunction with the strategy map, it can be a very po…[Read more]

Mike,
You heretic!  Suggesting that Lean and Six Sigma are about more than just the tools.  As usual, you are spot on! 
As a famous departed old guy would say, “What is the aim?”  It is to use the tools in some prescribed way, following some pre-scripted approach, or is it to achieve continual improvements in ways that make sense for our bus…[Read more]

The black belt asked the master, “Which is worse, ignorance or apathy?”  The master answered, without hesitation, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

They both have their critics who will say it’s nothing but a bunch of garbage and they can do it better.
Shooter

Random Question –
Aren’t you comparing apples to oranges? 
Shooter

Brandon,
If anything of value was started in this thread, as I believe it has . . .  well, you know where the glory goes and it isn’t to any of us on the forum.  Both you and Chad have added some good thoughts and value, and I find I am in total agreement with what you both say. 
I was always amazed by how Charles Barkley once said “I am not a…[Read more]

I keep mine in my shirt pocket in a Pez dispenser.  Always handy, easy to use, and camoflaged.  Also, it doesn’tlook unusual when I take them like candy!
Shooter

Why not talk about baseball!  The season is getting ready to start and we have lots of steroid discussions we can have!  That way, we combine sports, drugs and performance enhancement all in one topic, with some congressional oversite thrown in to make it real interesting.
Shooter

Wasn’t it about taking drugs or getting drunk at performance review time or something like that?

Brandon,
Yes, they are a kick and God love them all! 
There was a book out a few years back by James Hunter (the last name is right – not 100% sure on the first), called “The Servant.”  It was written in the story telling style of “The Goal,” and makes a good case that the job of a leader is to be a servant of their people – and, dare I say,…[Read more]

Brandon,
My problem with the performance review system is that they are flawed, in thier application as well as the thinking that goes into them.  The once a year specials are useless.  Worse, they are harmful and really do not achieve their stated aims. 
When was the last time you heard someone exclaim, “Oh boy, it’s performance review ti…[Read more]

BC,
Actually, the natural selection process is practiced in business to this day, although not as drastic as my admittedly poor attempt at levity.  Jack Welch did so by getting rid of the 10% bottom performers every year.  It was tried at Ford by their former CEO as part of their Six Sigma process (their A, B, C rating system) and it led them i…[Read more]

Having given this due consideration, I have decided to start the Natural Selection Management System.  A very simple method wherein the slowest employee will be taken out to the back of the building and shot.  Black Belts have nothing to fear, as they will be administering the system, taking the data, and pulling the trigger.  We can claim the sa…[Read more]

Chad,
So, by extension of the concept to the Theory of Constraints by Goldratt, Herbie should be killed and the rest of the scout team will then be able to move faster.  Extending this to process thinking, we should kill the slowest process in the value stream, and then the other processes won’t be subordinated to it.  I can forsee the e…[Read more]

I treid the recorder thing and it worked well, until I forgot where I put it (even after I recorded a message about where I put the recorder). 

You could start an underground campaign, posting the pictures of the “evil doers” on the bulletin board, with the caption: “No projects, no peace.”  Tie in a movement to certify a union under the Continual Improvement Brotherhood of America.  Maybe come up with a snazzy slogan, like “Empowerment!  It’s not just for management an…[Read more]