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Business Execution software specialist, i-nexus, celebrates 10 successful years in 2011, highlighting increased ROI from existing customers alongside the addition of global leaders such as Best Buy and 3M to its client portfolio.

Ford Motor Co. said is it nearing completion of the demolition phase of a $600 million project to revamp its Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville, Ky., USA, which will include the addition of several Lean processes.

Doncasters Group Ltd., a U.K.-based global manufacturer of precision-engineered machine parts, has met its internal goal of training three members of its staff as Lean Six Sigma Black Belts in three different locations.

At the inaugural iSixSigma Live! Retail Forum for Process Excellence, SSA & Company will present a free Executive Workshop about how retailers can apply process excellence to drive significant cost savings.

MoreSteam.com, the leading global provider of online Lean Six Sigma (LSS) training and Blended Learning support technologies, proudly recognizes and congratulates customer Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. on its recognition as the “Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up Program” at the iSixSigma Live! Miami 2011 Summit and Awards.

This step-by-step guide shows how Belts in the transactional sector can calculate the time needed to complete a process and utilize their resources efficiently.

Historically, medical residency teaching clinics provide the heart of medical services to an under-insured population through various government-subsidized health insurance programs. These programs provide medical coverage for eligible individuals with incomes of less than 35 percent of the federal poverty level. It is well-established that people living in poverty are at a higher risk for […]

San Diego-based SG Biofuels, an energy company that is developing biodiesel fuels based on the jatropha plant, is expanding operations into India and has named Black Belt Subhas Pattnaik as its new director of operations for the Indian market.

The typical plant control room has changed dramatically over the years. Alarm management – which once was simply a sound or flashing light designed to get the control room operator’s attention – has changed dramatically, too. Many control rooms have replaced analog panel boards with multiple screens of bright and colorful representations of plant equipment. […]

Eric Doden, a Republican candidate for mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., USA, said that, if elected, he would continue the city’s process improvement programs initiated by former Mayor Graham Richard, including customer service training for city employees.

An insurance firm discovers through value stream mapping that it must fix its broken processes before it can increase its productivity in a sustainable way.

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) has released a call for nominations for its annual Manufacturing Excellence Awards, recognizing North American manufacturing sites that have demonstrated the highest quality in their operations.

Lauren Manufacturing, a supplier of extruded and molded sealing products, has announced the promotion of Halle A. Norris from plant manager to vice president of manufacturing.

The publishing industry is on the threshold of major structural changes. The arrival of e-books is only the first threat, and it is having an impact sooner than expected. For example, Amazon.com sold more e-books than paper books in the first quarter of 2010. The credit crunch also has reinforced retailers’ demands for smaller, more […]

According to George Wilbanks, managing director of Russell Reynolds’ Asset and Wealth Management practice, many investment firms are looking especially hard for technology executives who have some kind of training in continuous improvement. “In the last two years, with so much volatility we’ve had in the markets, they’ve been asking for Six Sigma qualifications,” he […]

After a contentious 10-year competition with European rival EADS, the Boeing Co. won a hard-fought $35 billion contract to supply the U.S. Air Force with new refueling tanker aircraft, due in part to the Lean methods the aerospace manufacturer recently adopted for its 767 line.

As a Six Sigma professional responsible for managing projects, have you ever been asked the following questions? When do you reasonably expect to complete your project? What’s the probability of completing the project on time or on a given date? Which activities on the critical path should you focus your attention on to meet the […]

Former Motorola Inc. executive James Melton has been appointed the new director of Lean Six Sigma programs and initiatives for Erie County, N.Y., USA.

The March 8 webinar, hosted by iSixSigma Live! and Instantis, will feature a hands-on project portfolio management (PPM) system demonstration of the business financial results validation and communication process at Xerox.

Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania – One Tobyhanna organization sees the writing on the wall when it comes to cutting overhead costs and improving efficiency. Members of the Productivity Improvement and Innovation Directorate’s Process Improvement Division estimate an annual cost avoidance savings of more than $2,000 by transitioning select processes from the use of paper products […]

Latest Version of Lean Six Sigma Data Analysis Tool Features New Lean Templates

Former Dallas police chief David Kunkle has announced his intentions to run for Dallas mayor, saying he will favor the application of continuous improvement programs to address the city’s most pressing needs.

ADA Carbon Solutions LLC, which produces activated carbon from coal-fueled power plants, announced that Dr. Joe Wong has been hired as the company’s new vice president of technology.

Cummins operates three plants San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which produce and ship products daily to distribution centers in the United States. These plants produce systems such as reconditioned engines, alternators, and filtration and exhaust systems. Two of the three plants were looking for ways to reduce the high costs of trucking the products, so Rebecca […]

Printing Industries of America (PIA) has reported that Kenneth E. Rizzo, 61, the company’s director, technical and Lean services, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, Feb. 15, while on assignment in suburban Boston.

Over the past month, as I’ve been reading and researching articles in my new role as editor in chief of iSixSigma, I’ve come across the term VOC a bunch of times. VOC, or voice of the customer, is important and worthy of its numerous mentions. The “Dictionary of Lean Six Sigma Terminology” on iSixSigma.com lists […]

Vestas, the Danish wind-turbine manufacturer, has hired David Gels as its new vice president of quality and process excellence. The company also hired two other executives to its North American operations: Ramon Mendoza as warranty management chief specialist and David Sword as government relations director for Canada.

By using question-based workbook exercises in training, Belts will be better prepared to guide teams in solving problems.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to engaging employees … either in training or for roles within a change initiative. One says that it is perfectly fine (even necessary) to infuse such efforts with elements of entertainment, creativity … (dare we say) fun. The other says that such frivolity should be avoided […]

Six Sigma projects differ from traditional projects in one important requirement – understanding of the Y=f(x) relationship with data before developing or implementing a solution. In the DMAIC framework, we identify, test and verify the causal relationship between a potential root cause (x) and the outcome (Big Y), and then develop a solution to change […]

In response to what has been called a difficult 18 months for the estate agency sector in the United Kingdom, senior management at Frank Marshall & Co. have announced that the company is the first to adopt the Lean Six Sigma methodology in the estate indsutry.

Thoughts of fraud can cause call center leaders to sit bolt upright in bed at night. The damage to a company’s reputation from agents stealing credit card information is a serious threat. Further, companies are constantly trying to combat a low, but steady percentage of consumers’ attempts to not pay for goods they have received. […]

The “Great Indian Bazaar” – the rapidly growing and evolving Indian retail market – presents special and daunting distribution challenges for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products. For a typical producer, about 100 stock keeping units (SKUs) flow through 40 to 50 depots to 2,000 to 3,000 distributors to more than 1 million outlets varying in […]

UL extends the reach of its knowledge and training arm to deliver a differentiated offering that addresses customer needs.

Benjamin Franklin once said that “time is money.” In the clinical world, time can be more valuable than money. When a patient is in need of attention, bedside clinical caregiver time is worth more than money. As Vice President of Support Services at Heartland Health, my job is to make sure support service departments – […]

Delta Faucet Co. has promoted its continuous improvement (CI) manager Todd Shadburn to the position of senior CI engineer.

The third annual iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards conference wrapped up last week at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami.

I received a very nice comment today from a team member of a lean project. She said, “You know, I didn’t want to be on this team. My boss made me attend. I didn’t think anyone was going to care about my opinion, and I wasn’t sure what I could contribute. Also I was very […]

iSixSigma, the leading provider of content for the Six Sigma community, has named Timothy C. Tyson, executive chairman and CEO of Aptuit, as the third inductee in its Six Sigma Hall of Fame.

For the second consecutive year, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, North America, was voted as iSixSigma’s No. 1 Best Place to Work for Lean Six Sigma professionals.

Betfair, Firstsource, Nationwide, Tyco, U.S. Army take home project and program accolades

By Paul V. Arnold, Editor-in-chief Day 3 brings big news and big learning opportunities at the iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. Featured activities for today (Wednesday, Feb. 9) include a high-energy general-session keynote, 11 program sessions and three panel discussions. But probably the most anticipated portion […]

There has been plenty of buzz at the 2011 iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards, being held this week at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami. iSixSigma’s team of reporters have been blogging and Tweeting throughout the event. Here are 20 of the most interesting things heard and noted on iSixSigma’s Twitter account (http://twitter.com/iSixSigma) […]

In his standing-room-only breakout session “The Heart of ROI: Project Identification, Selection, Tracking and Replication”, Steven H. Jones of Siemens IT Solutions and Services educated iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards attendees on methods to overcome several key Lean Six Sigma deployment challenges. The session took place in the “A Solid Investment” track on Wednesday, Feb. […]

In finance departments, focusing Six Sigma efforts on cost savings can be a recipe for failure. The way to be successful is to focus on the areas in which employees perceive more value – risk mitigation, metric development, controls, gap analysis and assessments. This was the message of “Delivering Value in Corporate Finance”, a breakout […]

By Paul V. Arnold, editor-in-chief Excitement and learning continues to build at the 2011 iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards, behind held this week at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. Featured activities for today (Feb. 8) include several general-session keynotes and addresses, 11 program sessions and two panel discussions. The day opens up […]

  Day 3 brings big news and big learning opportunities at the iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. Featured activities for today (Wednesday, Feb. 9) include a high-energy general-session keynote, 11 program sessions and three panel discussions. But probably the most anticipated portion of the day is […]

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?… Well, almost gone. After 10 years of ups, downs and near cancellations, the Lean Six Sigma team at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, North America, knows what it’s like to see years of hard work nearly wiped out by mistakes […]