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Need help setting a vision for your team? Read about how a new leader found inspiration through a phone call to his local fire department, and learn the five practical steps to casting a vision.

QFD speeds up the product development process by removing what doesn’t matter to the customer. Just like the Kano analysis, QFD is interested in what the customer says is important. The format of QFD removes the time-consuming activities that don’t add value.

TestOil’s tagline is “Remarkable in Every Way” and Lean is central to making that statement a reality. Top-down leadership ensures all employees are part of the continuous improvement culture.

We must understand the needs and values of the customers at a deeper level. To this end we employ Kano analysis.

The new book, Flawless Launches – Profitable Products, by Eric C. Maass, PhD, is now available as an eBook on Amazon.

The customer journey value stream (CJVS) is the best starting place for the Lean community to engage in the processes of product development.

Medical device companies must comply with FDA requirements to address quality issues through a complex and sometimes inefficient process called CAPA. One such company applied Six Sigma to the CAPA process to significantly reduce rework loops, reduce cycle time and reduce time to resolve rejections.

Why hasn’t Lean revolutionized product development like it has operations? We don’t share product development knowledge.

By using smaller bites from a large problem, you can quantitatively assess performance and then apply improvement changes.

While a Bolling mill machine creates uniform sheets of rubber with ease, it also poses a danger to an operator’s hands. Reducing rescue time and improving safety measures made for a successful Yellow Belt project in one lab.

The best of iSixSigma 2020 features the highlights of this year’s content – those best loved by our readers.

Business process maps are a popular continuous improvement tool. A six-layer approach elevates their usefulness.

The Colorado Department of Transportation’s Lean Everyday Idea program has successfully implemented over 345 ideas as of fall 2020. But how does the word spread across an entire state?

The California High-Speed Rail Authority built their program on a foundation of disciplined process mapping. Check out their excellent best practices and up your game with this meat-and-potatoes tool.

If the Mayo Clinic can do it, so can you! Let this case study at the medical organization’s Phoenix Transplant Center be your guide to operational excellence in healthcare settings.

Don’t let the costs of poor quality eat your profits for breakfast. Learn how to stay competitive by understanding the components of TCOQ and how to optimize them – and ultimately the quality of your product or service.

How do you elevate a recruiting free-for-all into a standardized, efficient and well-respected process that gets new hires in the door faster? Hello, Lean Six Sigma!

SigmaXL Inc., a leading provider of user-friendly Excel Add-ins for Statistical and Graphical analysis, announces the release of SigmaXL Version 9.

Machine learning in operations has been gaining traction since the 2010s, and this business solution grows more powerful if you approach it through the lens of continuous improvement.

The foremost purpose of the gemba walk is people-engagement. Here are some suggestions for conducting a gemba walk in the virtual space.

A workforce with a variety of generations features a breadth of experience and knowledge that can serve any company well. Be intentional with managing your diverse team to ensure success.

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.

As we consider our business response to COVID-19, take a truly Lean approach. See JIT in the context of Lean and evolve it as necessary, using the change in environment to identify waste and see new problems as opportunities for new improvements.

Planning is always easier if you know what the future will bring. You may not be able to “see” the future, but with yield modeling you can predict future yield and prioritize opportunities for improvement.

In many cases, you want to compare the means of samples. But, comparing variances can be just as important. The F test is the statistical tool you would use for that.  

As helpful as a Pareto chart is, it isn’t practical when working with reams of data and hundreds of groupings. A Pareto table, on the other hand, can analyze large data sets and point you to improvement.

In only three years, Edward Jones has realized more than a million dollars in cost avoidance through the use of bots combined with LSS.

Icebreakers can help teams to build community, promote interaction and foster empathy. Some of the go-to icebreakers I have used over the years have translated well into the virtual environment.

If not trained well in statistical analysis, Belts lose confidence as soon as a real-world scenario deviates from the classroom example. Bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical know-how with these four practices for your statistical tools training.

Why not do something novel and use the tool that is best for the job at hand independent of an acronym?

The Marshmallow Challenge can be used as more than a basic team-building exercise. Multiple rounds with changing rules increase the continuous improvement learnings.

If there’s one thing that the coronavirus pandemic has made glaringly apparent, it’s that we need to do a better job with prioritization and, ultimately, delegation, execution and communication.

Processes easily bloat over time. Through value stream mapping, a hypothetical hospital is able to identify and eliminate waste, making its processes more efficient – and profitable.

6S is the formal activity of organizing the workplace and serves as the foundation of any continuous improvement effort. Explore the 6S and learn how to implement them in your organization.

What happens if you want to do continuous improvement but don’t know where to start? What if your organization wastes too much time firefighting or operates in silos? Here are five steps any organization can embrace to get started on the right path.

Someone asked: “Why do 5S [sort, simplify, shine, standardize, sustain]? It’s just going to get dirty again.”

Improvement is like a mighty fire. You must continue to add firewood to keep the fire burning. If you stop, the fire will surely burn out. Lots of repetition builds the fire of improvement capability and culture.

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.

We read or hear “facts” and accept them without critical thought. This article reviews a sample of the kind of facts we accept in the workplace that sometimes we should not.

Tangible benefits are the common currency of defining project success, tying the value of the project to the organization’s bottom line.

Non-value-added is the work your customer is not paying you to perform.

Most Lean initiatives fail. What can you do about that? Ensure your organization’s leaders are champions for the deployment who encourage failure as part of your Lean journey.

The best of iSixSigma 2019 features the highlights of this year’s content – those best loved by our readers.

There is a right way to do standard work. Ensure that your organization knows what it is, how to implement it and how to measure its success. Your company’s future may depend on it!

You’ve used Lean principles at work, but can it also work at home? One family implemented Lean in their daily lives over the course of a year with sustainable and measurable results. You can do it, too.

If you work in construction, Lean will work for you. Answer 10 questions to find out if you need Lean, learn five ways to begin Lean, and be sure you know the ONE thing that MUST happen before beginning a Lean deployment.

ReAgent Chemical Services has successfully achieved ISO 13485 accreditation. On 8th August 2019, they were awarded this international ISO standard which demonstrates that they meet the rigorous requirements of a quality management system specific to the medical devices industry.

Secondary metrics consider the overall health of the business. They help ensure that other areas do not slip when pursuing improvement of the primary metric.

It’s easy to fall into business-as-usual routines, but it’s only a matter of time before that will lead to loss of business. Use ideation to avoid stagnancy and keep your business fresh.

Who knows more about what it takes to improve digging ditches – the person holding the shovel or the executive vice president of ditch digging? Learn from a self-described Gemba nerd as he takes us behind the scenes in a Lean powerhouse.