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Data is the lifeblood of Lean Six Sigma. But that data must be measured reliably. Be sure to choose the right method to validate your data.

When it comes to selecting the “right” business process improvement methodology, many CEOs, CIOs and COOs have a wide array of options available including Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six Sigma and ISO9000. The selection process then typically focuses on evaluating business drivers and deciding on an improvement methodology that closely matches their needs to improve […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rod Morgan RPM-Academy Phone 416-571-0121 [email protected] Join our rapidly growing community of Lean Six Sigma professionals. Ottawa, Canada, February 26, 2018: RPM-Academy Online is a new and exciting resource available to Lean Six Sigma students, instructors and practitioners, offering the complete library of Lean Six Sigma courses, tools and a host […]

FOR IMMMEDIATE RELEASE Portland, Oregon, 2/6/18 – Brion Hurley, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with Business Performance Improvement (BPI) and Community Consulting Lead for Lean Portland, has released a new book, called “Lean Six Sigma for Good.” This book was written to motivate process improvement experts to get more involved with social and environmental […]

The best of iSixSigma 2017 features the highlights of this year’s content – as determined by our readers. U.S.A.F. Uses Continuous Process Improvement on the B-2 Bomber: Part 1 In this case study, the 509th Maintenance Group of the U.S. Air Force used an eight-step continuous process improvement approach to balance its resources and meet […]

Organizations involved with business process improvement use different methodologies, approaches, tools and techniques for implementing quality management programs. These management programs have different names in different organizations – TQM (total quality management), Six Sigma, operational excellence, etc. Regardless of the approach and name used, each organization needs to manage a proper selection and combination of […]

Building a culture of continuous improvement within an organization goes beyond the ability to execute process improvement projects. An organization that supports continuous improvement promotes a non-blaming culture, focuses on the improvement responsibility of all employees and uses the talent of the entire workforce. Such an organization empowers employees to speak up when they see […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Barbara A. Cleary, PhD [email protected] (800) 777-3020 September 5, 2017 (Dayton, Ohio) – With improved alerting possibilities, new chart types, and a host of other new features to enhance ease of use and immediate access to information, the latest version of SQCpack® will save time and improve data analysis for process […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Barbara A. Cleary, PhD 800-777-3020 Dayton, Ohio, April 14, 2017—An update to GAGEpack 12 from PQ Systems demonstrates the commitment of developers to respond to customer needs with enhanced ease of use and improved user interface. In this updated version, visual improvements streamline the window view by collapsing the navigation panel […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact Diane Tilley (888) 744-6295 Kitchener, Ontario February 27, 2017—SigmaXL Inc., a leading provider of user friendly Excel Add-ins for Statistical and Graphical analysis, announces the release of SigmaXL Version 8. “SigmaXL was designed from the ground up to be a cost-effective, powerful, but easy to use tool that enables users […]

The best of iSixSigma 2016 features the highlights of this year’s content – as determined by our readers. Avoid Two Common Mistakes in Measurement System Analysis Learn two of the common mistakes made during measurement system analysis and how to avoid them. Run Charts: A Simple and Powerful Tool for Process Improvement Among other benefits, […]

Censored data is commonly used in reliability studies to determine the mean time to failure in order to establish warranty and maintenance periods for products. A large number of samples are subjected to either normal-use or accelerated-use conditions. Failure modes and occurrences are logged. Plotting the distribution of the sample failures over time allows the […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact Steve Owen [email protected] 503-273-1750 Stephen Owen named Senior Vice President, joins Executive Management Team Portland, Ore., July 29, 2016—OnPoint Community Credit Union announces that Stephen Owen has been named Senior Vice President/Chief Operations Officer. Owen joins the Executive Team of Oregon’s largest credit union with more than 303,000 members and […]

TaaG (trends at a glance) analysis is a fast way to compare trends of subsets of data across large data sets. It is an ideal tool to use in the Measure and Control phases of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) projects. The value of TaaG analysis is best understood by way of example. Suppose […]

As a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt for many years I get why many organizations have a focus on Lean. The idea of many people working on many projects is compelling in terms of the value it can generate, the high level of involvement of the workforce and the intuitive nature of the toolset […]

Complex, multi-team processes in transactional operations can often be almost invisible in operation and execution – until, that is, something goes wrong. Transactional process failures are common: failed online transactions, payments not made on time, double bookings and lost orders are frequently encountered errors. These processes often involve manual tasks and multiple unconnected systems, are […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Rachel Glassford  (888) 744-6295 Date: April 5, 2016 Kitchener, Ontario – SigmaXL Inc. is pleased to announce that DiscoverSim Version 2, our Monte Carlo simulation and global optimization Excel add-in, has been formally validated by a major FDA regulated medical devices company. “Our medical device company has found Monte Carlo […]

The three critical aspects of a running a successful project include project costs, project scope and project schedule. Since projects contain many sources of variation, all three aspects are prone to not meeting targets. Project managers need to use appropriate tools to manage the variability (or risk) in the project. Critical Path Method Traditionally, project […]

Part 1 Looking at the team I saw their eyes were glazing over. I hate that. We were finishing up a workshop in which the team had developed a current state process map of an information technology (IT)-related process. I was walking them through the sticky notes on the banner paper that made up the […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Analyse-it Software, Ltd. is pleased to announce the launch of its Quality Control and Improvement Edition, a major new edition of its popular statistical analysis software for Excel, Analyse-it. The Quality Control and Improvement Edition lets users to improve products and services with statistical process control (SPC). It is ideal for anyone […]

For immediate release                                Contact: Caryn Schockling                                  [email protected] 800-777-3020 DAYTON—A powerful dashboard feature that provides a high-level overview for managers, technicians, and auditors is the “crown jewel” in the newest release of GAGEpack from PQ Systems, with an improved user experience that streamlines the gage management process. GAGEpack is a powerful gage calibration solution that maintains […]

Many well-managed companies struggle with the concept of high-performance work teams. Part of this struggle is operational as decision rights, formerly owned by middle managers, must be delegated to operational teams. Part of this challenge is cultural as building solid teams requires a certain amount of controlled conflict to be successful. It is this cultural […]

The run chart is a powerful, simple and easy-to-use process improvement tool. Often, the run chart is shortchanged as the statistical tests that can be used with run charts are overlooked. This article takes the reader through the benefits of a run chart as well as how to correctly create and analyze one. A process […]

When you try to perform process improvement, whether for cost, quality or other reasons, you will often find yourself in an environment where the status quo is the status quo. You may be new, and find yourself awash in a sea of this-is-how-we-do-things. People are in their comfort zones. Management may or may not get […]

In the heartland of America the population of residents is shrinking. Along with a decline in population comes the fading economic market of consumers to support the service businesses of these communities. Due to aging populations and fewer people migrating to rural America, small towns confront real threats to their ways of life. Economies are […]

The best of iSixSigma 2015 features the highlights of this year’s content – as determined by our readers. An Affinity for Organized Thinking: A Diagram With Many Uses The humble affinity diagram can organize output from brainstorming, sort out overwhelming observations about a process, and inspire participation from a group. Process Documentation – A Modern […]

In this case study, a team wants to be sure their customer-focused business is satisfying its clients. Part 1 focused on reducing the wait times associated with transferring cargo and documents. Part 2 looks at making more improvements using just-in-time (JIT) principles. It is often possible to make significant improvements in speeding up documentation processes […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rachel Glassford (888) 744-6295 December 14, 2015 (Kitchener, Ontario) – SigmaXL Inc., a leading provider of user friendly Excel Add-ins, announces the release of DiscoverSim Version 2 for Monte Carlo Simulation and Global Optimization. DiscoverSim is now bundled with MIDACO, one of the world’s strongest evolutionary solvers for global optimization.  MIDACO […]

In this case study, a team wants to be sure their customer-focused business is satisfying its clients. Part 1 focuses on reducing the wait times associated with transferring cargo and documents. Part 2 looks at making more improvements using just-in-time (JIT) principles. A 15-year-old shipping company with a network of offices throughout India considered being “value-driven, customer-focused” […]

New SQCpack is quality control for anyone, anytime—now with Six-Way Analysis™ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Caryn Schockling [email protected] (800) 777-3020 December 10, 2015 (Dayton, Ohio) – PQ Systems announces the release of SQCpack 7, a comprehensive update to their best-selling statistical process control (SPC) solution that helps organizations utilize the power of data analysis to improve […]

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) can have a major positive impact on organizations that apply it; however, not every company has achieved the desired results. One of the reasons for that lack of success is the inability to sustain improvements yielded from LSS projects. Through LSS projects the aim is to make improvements to address a […]

It is an old dilemma. Should we select our Black Belt candidates based on prior performance in unrelated jobs or should we allow people to self-select for Black Belt roles based upon motivation and aptitude? Unfortunately, the answer is clearly, “It depends.” There are advantages to each approach and each approach has specific perils. When […]

One would think that with the levels of standardization and process efficiency we drive in Lean Six Sigma that there would be consensus on how much training a certified Black Belt should receive. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, despite the herculean efforts by the American Society of Quality (ASQ) and the […]

Whenever there is an issue in a process, attempts are made to identify the process step that is causing the problem, identify the root cause and come up with a corrective or preventive action. The time taken to identify the “right” process step is directly proportional to the number of process steps involved and it […]

Within Six Sigma’s change acceleration process, GRPI (goals, roles and responsibilities, process, and interpersonal skills) is a tool for team development. The GRPI model should be used in the following scenarios: When initiating a new team and planning its first steps When a team is not working well and it is not clear why GRPI […]

From safety to quality to productivity, there’s a trend in the way organizations have approached process-oriented movements. Starting as the responsibility of an individual or a group of people, to be successful, the movement inevitably shifts to shared accountability – it becomes the responsibility of everybody, every day. Professional problem solvers that have taken this […]

Every process falls into one of four states: Ideal: produces 100 percent conformance and is predictable Threshold: predictable but produces the occasional defect Brink of chaos: not predictable and does not produce defects Chaos: not predictable and produces defects at an unacceptable rate Processes tend to migrate toward chaos if not effectively managed. Pre-control Charts […]

Every organization aspires to grow with time. The most common hurdle faced by an organization in the path of scalability is the absence of proper processes and systems. To overcome this, an organization needs to adopt a standard approach to business process creation and documentation. All business processes should be documented in a systematic way […]

Every organization is under pressure to drive success for shareholders, stakeholders and owners. Organizations retreat to their comfort zones when challenged with achieving higher levels of success. Frequently, this results in controlling the bottom line. Continuous improvement can be used to enable top-line growth. Figure 1 shows a compelling reason to focus on improving your […]

Have you been paying attention to your iSixSigma User Profile rankings? We’ve had a couple of community members jump levels in the past few months. We offer our thanks and congratulations to them for being a part of the iSixSigma community! Gary P. Cox: Silver Shelby Jarvis: Silver Forgotten what the rankings are? Want to […]

A high-tech company was exploring the use of haptics to provide gentle haptic vibration with wearable devices (Figure 1) for future customers, including tweens (children around 11 or 12 years old). Haptics involve how users perceive tactile feedback from a device. Mobile devices typically provide haptic sensations and responses using vibrations of various frequencies, amplitude, […]