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Four times a year, I donate blood at a local blood bank and receive readings on my cholesterol, blood pressure and pulse. Although donating blood does not improve a person’s health, the regular readings of the vital signs, along with analysis and actions stemming from this data, can be significant in the fight against heart […]

We home educate our children and one approach we take is to think up and solve problems. When solving one of these, “how can you measure how tall a tree is?”, the Tan-o-meter was born! The maths is straightforward. You measure yourdistance from the treeand the angle to the top of the tree. Multiply the […]

PolyOne Corp. — an Avon Lake, Ohio-based firm that ranks as North America’s largest compounder — on Feb. 4 reported a full-year 2009 profit of almost $68 million. The firm had reported a loss of almost $273 million in 2008. The improvement occurred even as the firm’s 2009 sales fell 25 percent to about $2.1 […]

Robert Weiner, a recognized Lean Six Sigma expert and CEO of North Kansas City-based PAS Technologies, died on Tuesday.

The Energy Forum for Process Excellence (May 24-27, St. Regis, Houston, TX), produced by iSixSigma Live! and presented by SSA & Company, will feature hands-on opportunities for attendees to strengthen their process excellence knowledge.

Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary Assembléon is cutting New Product Introduction (NPI) time on its A-Series pick & place equipment by 30 percent.

GE Appliances & Lighting will be getting the most out of the recently announced multi-year (2010-2014), $600 million investment in its manufacturing and other facilities at Louisville’s Appliance Park.

Arctic Cat Inc. today announced that the company has named Paul Fisher, 53, as vice president of operations, effective immediately.

I’ve used the phrase “closest to the customer” when explaining some aspects of lean – for example, starting improvements with the process closest to the customer outcome then working backwards in the process. Lately, I’ve been using the phrase “closest to the worker” to get people to think about removing non-value-added effort from out processes. […]

To improve the results of processes and make them leaner, practitioners need to identify which of the traditional seven wastes (or muda) are present in the process and take appropriate action. The seven wastes can be summarized with the acronym: DOTWIMP. D: Defect in the output, as identified in the eyes of the customer. O: […]

Linium’s acquisition of Five9 Technologies Training division, Chicago-based management consulting firm specializing in IT performance and business process, will springboard Linium’s own education offerings launch through Linium Educational Services, adding to its array of services specializing in IT solutions and strategy, enterprise performance and business technology optimization.

After a difficult year of serious cutbacks at many businesses due to the global economic crisis, average salaries for Six Sigma professionals around the world, including those in Europe, held steady, for the most part, according to the results of iSixSigma’s 7th annual Global Salary Survey. While Six Sigma salaries in Europe lagged behind those […]

Caterpillar Inc. said on Wednesday that its Chief Financial Officer Dave Burritt will retire next month as part a major management restructuring that will also lead to the departure of four other top executives.

Ina recent blog post, I mentioned a Waste Walk – and got a few queries about what that is. I see that I have assumed that everyone’s lean toolkit has the same tools, so I apologize for my assumption! Here’s some more information. Most lean approaches use a list of7 or 8 wastes to describe […]

Announcing a certification workshop on International MATRIZ level 1 in Mumbai from 17th to 21st May, 2010.

We have all heard a lot about “customer focus” in our work. But what does it really mean? How much has “bringing customer focus to the organization” helped you change the culture and improve the long-term performance of the business? What has been your customer’s response to it? Lean Six Sigma has brought more concrete […]

Imagine receiving the following message from your organization’s travel assistant: “You will really like your next business trip! I have booked you into a hotel right in the city center. It is a bit far from the factory and not really cheap, but after work you can do lots of things!” But what if you […]

A leading manufacturer of color picture tubes launched a DMADV project to increase speed and, thus, improve productivity and throughput capacity.

“Transformation” – One of the most overused words of the last decade…and at the same time, one of the most underreported phenomenon happening in the world today. Literally, much of the main stream media, academia and “so called experts” are missing the most important story of the day. The break-neck speed of global transformation driven […]

Just as people follow weather predictions to know if they should carry an umbrella, organizations use forecasting to predict and prepare for future events. Across industries, companies attempt to determine what will happen – they forecast for product or raw material prices, market demand, exchange rates, and numerous other key metrics. Based on these forecasts, […]

Former Stanford Tennis Coach, UPSTA Pro, USTA Official and Six Sigma Champion Steven Falk’s groundbreaking book “The Six Sigma Tennis College Scholarship Guide,” which uses proven quality management principles to achieve athletic excellence, is now available for parents of college-bound kids to increase tennis knowledge and gain the skills to secure a tennis scholarship.

Analogic Corporation, a leading provider of medical imaging and aviation security technology, announced today that the Company has received a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Division of Career Services (DCS) Workforce Training Fund. Analogic will use the funds to support a Lean Six Sigma training program to improve the Company’s productivity and reduce costs.

Letterkenny Army Depot, in Franklin County, Pa., has earned its sixth Shingo medallion for its work in 2009 on the Patriot missile system. Letterkenny repairs and rebuilds vehicles that support the anti-missile missile. They include the launcher, radar trailer, control center and antenna mast.

Throughout the world, both commercial and government organizations are engaged in efforts to improve their overall operations. Government agencies are faced with a particular challenge when trying to improve operations – they may be dealing with smaller work forces without a reduction in deliverables. This presents the need to become more efficient in order to […]

A free workshop for energy executives detailing how to move process improvement closer to the CEO’s office is scheduled for May 24 at the second annual Energy Forum for Process Excellence.

Using Six Sigma has proven highly successful in addressing internal issues where the focus is on reducing production defects and costs. One way to take the methodology to the next level is to integrate it with the marketing function. Marketing offers a portal to an organization’s external environment – the competitive marketplace – where the […]

I teach a full-day workshop called “Lean Boot Camp.” It’s an introduction to small-scope projects and tools, the kind you can do as a beginner like 5S and a Waste Walk. I use a phrase that I picked up somewhere: “The lean approach is simply having the ability to see waste, and the courage to […]

In a Six Sigma implementation, the initial focus is typically on training in-house Black Belts and Green Belts to work on projects that support the business strategy and, in the process, demonstrate the efficacy of the methodology. At this stage, program oversight and mentoring – the typical Master Black Belt role – is often provided […]

Validation of every material and piece of manufacturing equipment in the biopharmaceutical industry is an expensive and time-consuming process, costing drug companies and contract manufacturers millions of dollars and delaying time-to-market for a new medication. To reduce the impact of this challenge, manufacturers have moved toward the use of disposable manufacturing equipment — bioreactors, chromatography […]

The job of any purchasing department is to source for reliable suppliers who deliver products conforming to specification on time and within a certain price range. The more data is available about potential suppliers, the better the decision will be. The question is, how should that data be analyzed? The following case study helps to […]

Erie County, N.Y., Executive Chris Collins is looking for the third deputy county executive of his first term.

A large, Indian, fast-moving consumer goods company had completed successful total quality management (TQM) projects to improve its manufacturing efficiency, expedite vendor payments, and increase the availability of finished products. For its next project, the company wanted to address problems in human resources (HR). By working with HR process owners, a focus for the project […]

MoreSteam.com, the leading global provider of online Lean Six Sigma training and Blended Learning support technologies, has partnered with the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University (OSU) to present an innovative and affordable Master Black Belt development program.

PowerSteering Software, the leader in on-demand enterprise project & portfolio management (PPM) solutions, today announced its achievement of Stage-Gate® Certification, solidifying its credentials in the New Product Development market.

Which delivery method of Six Sigma training do you prefer? How have curriculums been changing? What’s working – and what isn’t? Participate in a short iSixSigma survey on Six Sigma Training to find out. The results will be published in the July/August issue of iSixSigma Magazine. As a token of our appreciation for participating, we will […]

Any change to a process is only successful in the long run if the stakeholders truly adopt and sustain the change. Process and technology improvements cannot be implemented without a change in the hearts, minds and behaviors of the people involved in the change. True adoption and sustainability requires thoughtful planning and focus, which should […]

Lead Time and Cycle Time are two important metrics in Lean and process improvement in general. However, many people do not seem to understand the difference and their relationship. In fact, many use them interchangeably. This can lead to confusion in understanding the true problems in a process, and worse, poor decisions in process improvement. […]

From time to time, Belts may meet people who strongly oppose the implementation of Lean Six Sigma. These people may have had bad experiences, such as failed projects or losses on investment, which planted seeds of doubt regarding the usability of the Lean Six Sigma framework. But when projects or deployments fail, is it really […]

I’ve participated in a lot of projects where one of the first questions is: How are our competitors doing it? Are there any benchmarks or nationally-recognized “best practices?” While this may give a team a sense of security, or help to push stretch goals, sometimes I think it stifles creativity. If we are developing, or […]

Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) approaches such as Lean, Six Sigma and TOC have been applied to help organizations to improve their efficiencies and profitability. However, there had not been research to quantify the effects and contributions of each of these approaches, which led to a recent scientific research conducted from 2003 to 2005.

Many people have experienced the pinch of money from time to time. As a Black Belt, I decided to use Six Sigma to aid in managing my money, and conducted a project to lower my expenses.

Contaminated needle sticks are a risk for healthcare workers. These injuries are frightening because the patient whose blood was pricked into the nurse, medical assistant, lab tech or other healthcare worker can be contaminated with Hepatitis B or C, or HIV/AIDS. Once the blood-borne pathogen exposure has occurred, the employee has to undergo tests to […]

For many middle and senior managers who are considering business improvement initiatives, the thought of committing resources to a three- or four-month Six Sigma project can be a daunting. Many managers feel they are already working “flat out” and don’t have the people to spare. Others understand the reality that projects can sometimes stretch out […]

Instantis, a leading provider of on-demand project portfolio management software used by business process and IT leaders to improve strategy execution and financial performance, announced today that WR Grace will lead an upcoming Webinar entitled: Optimizing the New Product Development Process at Grace.

Today, the International Association for Six Sigma Certification, (IASSC), announced the opening of an additional 200 Testing Centers around the world.

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT), a Mubadala-owned firm that provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services in the aviation industry, has embarked on a comprehensive performance and quality enhancement program that will further hone its technical prowess and improve efficiency to boost revenues.

For any organization, the first step in a Lean Six Sigma deployment is deciding to use the methodology. Once the leadership of an organization believes they can benefit from using Lean Six Sigma, they can follow eight steps – from creating a burning platform for adopting the approach to recognizing team member contributions – to […]