isixsigma.com

Lean Six Sigma is part of a broader U.S. Marine Corps and Department of Defense (DoD) continuous process improvement (CPI) effort aimed at enhancing all aspects of support provided to Marine Corps operating forces to maximize combat readiness and war fighting capability. The Marine Corps has emphasized that the CPI program is entirely focused on […]

The U.S. Marine Corps’ continuous process improvement (CPI) effort is aimed at enhancing all aspects of support provided to operating forces to maximize combat readiness and war fighting capability. That means the Marine Corps is emphasizing that the CPI program is for every level and every element of the corps. Here is what is being […]

Free Six Sigma iPhone app now on iTunes

The Quality Group announces several education programs designed to help organizations that are looking to blended learning as a way to face the seemingly insurmountable task of maintaining–or even increasing-their Lean Six Sigma / Continuous Process Improvement training levels.

Caught in an exploding market, with rapidly improving products, the management of a media organization in India realized that improving the quality of printing of its newspaper was imperative to survival and progress. The organization adopted total quality management (TQM) and has completed several improvements in office processes related to turnaround, which is so vital […]

Hertzler Systems Releases Case Study of Six Sigma in Financial Services

Based on the desirability function, using batting average, home runs, runs batted in (RBIs), All Star Game appearances and Gold Glove awards all weighted equally, Ron Santo, a third baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1960 to 1973, should be a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. An understanding of the desirability function […]

An Unprecedented Quarter for i-nexus: i-nexus Today Announced Record Trading Figures for the Final Quarter of 2007

Rath & Strong is pleased to announce the release of its Lean, Integrated Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma Champions, Six Sigma Team and Six Sigma Pocket Guides on Amazon Kindle™.

Instantis, the 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 its spring Webinar series line-up.

STAT-A-MATRIX Announces Publication of ItsLatest White Paper: Making Improvement Work: Using Process Management to Transform Your Performance Improvement Initiative

Dr. Joseph M. Juran, ‘Father’ of Quality, Has Passed Away

Increasingly, organizations that use Six Sigma are making an effort to integrate Lean into their existing process-improvement framework. For many, combining Six Sigma’s focus on process quality and Lean’s emphasis on turn-around time results in more high-impact, quick-hit projects. To gain this advantage, however, organizations must face a difficult obstacle: integrating Lean without creating ripples […]

SBTI Announces Release of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Testing

For any process improvement program, effective resource planning is key. A measurement system that will determine the benefit of internal projects from an HR perspective might be particularly helpful in implementing project goals for IT departments.

Conversion Services International Sponsors iSixSigma Financial Services Industry Channel

Extensive training and a thorough understanding of complex analytical tools are required to successfully perform traditional Six Sigma projects. Although this careful and methodical evaluation is an invaluable problem solving technique, traditional Six Sigma projects can be time consuming and must be carefully selected. Lean projects, on the other hand, are different. Lean is intuitive, […]

SigmaXL Announces Release of Version 6

The American Council on Education Has Recommended Graduate Level College Credit for SBTI’s Master Black Belt Program

MoreSteam.com® Launches Virtual University Platform for 3-D Distance Learning

Companies interested in retaining customers should complete a two-phase process: first, they must determine what is important to customers and second, they must make sure their organization is capable of filling those needs reliably.

test article

For Six Sigma to succeed in a financial services organization, the deployment team and the business need to be able to measure the benefit of the projects. This should occur from both a financial and operational effectiveness perspective.

The beginning of any design or development project should include activities aimed at a deep understanding of likely user behavior. Gathering this information should involve open-ended questions and observation, which will highlight user needs.

A Six Sigma initiative can be wildly successful or it can sadly fail. The reasons are found in 10 major points critical to the success of a Six Sigma deployment. The points also are in the list of the 10 ways that a Six Sigma initiative can fail.

The coaching of software Six Sigma is always a challenge. This top 10 list details common mistakes Green Belts in training make that can cause their projects to fail.

Value at the point of production does not necessarily translate into value at the point of consumption. Likewise, Lean Six Sigma initiatives focused on the factory floor do not ensure that the end user is receiving that value. As a product moves through the distribution system there are many factors that can diminish its value. […]

GE Healthcare’s Consulting Group Reveals Emergency Department Strategies

Instantis Announces Record Sales Performance

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” With those words, President Kennedy launched the program that has become the stereotypical example of multi-generation project planning. At the time, multi-generation project planning (MGPP) was not a popular tool, […]

Organizations often have a strategy and process improvement program in place, but eventually start seeing signs of waning momentum. The organizations experience a familiar realization that it is difficult to sustain improvements. Organizations including hospitals and health systems have encountered similar challenges. It is not easy to launch a major change initiative in healthcare, and […]

When plotting data from an improvement project, the difference between a start-based or end-based time series plot can be substantial. Understanding and accounting for this difference will avoid incorrect conclusions and lead to to better results.

Alternative dispute resolution has become a popular way to identify the root cause of a problem and to build a solution strategy – both in and out of the business world. In some environments this is accomplished by a mediator or arbitrator. Mediators act as neutrals to reconcile differences before proceeding to arbitration or litigation. […]

Forecasting is an integral part of business management. The better the forecast, the better management will be able to plan for the future. Although there are many methods for making forecasts, some are better suited than others for particular situations. For short-term forecasting, Black Belts can benefit from analyzing production trends and looking for special […]

Lean Six Sigma, a process-driven program to reduce defects, relies heavily on a decidedly process-free emotion: passion. A motivated, driven team can make the difference between success and failure. I know about the power of motivation – I learned to walk again with braces and crutches after a 55-foot fall that left me as a […]

Six Sigma leaders from three of America’s premier healthcare institutions – The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital – recently shared their experiences with Six Sigma. These institutions are applying the method to improve operations and, ultimately, patient care. They offered the following advice for hospitals considering deployments of their own. 1. […]

There are many stories written about successful top-down change, but few about successful middle-out change – probably because the latter is much more difficult to achieve than the former. Sometimes, however, middle-out change is the only option – and with the right leader, success is possible. The following story, which took place at a North […]

It can be challenging at first to find the connections between Six Sigma and Agile; a number of obstacles stand in the way of reaching an integrated view. But there is some untapped leverage that, if explored, may ease the use of the two methods. It is often more interesting to find the intersections that […]

Instantis Reports Record First Quarter Sales

Instantis Publishes Enterprise Portfolio Management Vision

Projects are the core of every Six Sigma initiative. Identifying the right projects, having skilled people on board, and providing a proper environment for project execution determines whether the intended process and business results can be achieved and whether Six Sigma will be perceived as a powerful approach to contribute to business success. A relatively […]

Many Six Sigma practitioners have asked how the Supply-Chain Operations Reference model, or SCOR®, relate to Six Sigma and Lean. However, perhaps a more relevant question should be, “How can Six Sigma and Lean make a SCOR model more effective?” SCOR, a trademark of the Supply-Chain Council, consists of several hierarchal levels. These are shown […]

Six Sigma Directory

iSixSigma Announces Alliance with Global Provider of Six Sigma Conferences

Coaching software Six Sigma is always a challenge. Coaches must help to get concepts taught and ingrained, to find the right projects to provide the broadest experience, and to balance the participants’ “real job” with Six Sigma study and work.

In many Six Sigma projects, practitioners use traditional voice-of-the-customer techniques to find the specifications clients seek. But to get the full picture, they should also try a set of data-gathering methods known as corporate ethnography.

Despite a new lab, Ephrata Community Hospital faced the challenge of meeting the goal of a 60-minute turnaround time for all stat labs. Thus the lab management team chose to learn to use the Lean methodology to improve its lab processes.

In order to successfully deliver service to customers, satisfy them and increase the likelihood of future business, transactional companies can make good use of the 5S tool as a basic framework to manage workplace dynamics.