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Networking, by definition, is a supportive system of sharing information among individuals or groups having a common interest. Next week, IQPC is hosting one of the biggest networking opportunities of the year. It’s the 2008 Lean Six Sigma & Process Improvement Summit. This year hundreds of process improvement professionals will converge in sunny Florida to make […]

USA Today reporter Del Jones interviews Textron CEO Lewis Campbell. This is an outstanding Q&A session with a CEO who knows Six Sigma. Finally, a mainsteam media outlet that goes right to the source for information about the success of Six Sigma. Nine tough questions, nine solid answers. I especially liked the final question about […]

Lost Tools # 2 Data In this quick fire working environment using a ‘Sore Thumb Approach’ strategy (something hurts so you go fix it quick), we don’t always have time to collect the data. I’ve just taught the Measure phase to a wave of Green Belts and other than a SIPOC IT’S ALL ABOUT COLLECTING […]

Having now delivered many transactional projects I have noticed common themes repeatedly occurring. These include: IT Systems that have been poorly designed or operated Inadequately thought through policies & procedures Opaque, non-existent or duplicate processes Lack of viable information on process performance But there is one area I would like to focus, decision points. People […]

Every morning and every evening I walk to and from work.It can go fromcold rainy days (like today!) to balmy summer evenings. I enjoy the exercise and get to watch the changing of the seasons. For those of you with a statistical bent this is the season to “guess the population distribution”. On my return […]

The January/February issue of iSixSigma Magazine is out. Aside from being a fantastic issue in itself, the research feature is one that I particularly enjoyed researching and writing. Thanks to all those who responded to our survey last year we were able to gather solid data from the soft side of Six Sigma. The research […]

We graduated another Lean Six Sigma class last week. Our version of Lean Six Sigma is based on the DMAIC structure and Lean tools that works well in our healthcare organization, and this was our 8th class since October 2006. Just before we handed out the certificates for course completion, the hospital President who took […]

Gianna Clark notes that several hundred companies began their Six Sigma journeys about seven years ago. Is Six Sigma the quality equivalent of a stock market bubble? Are we cheerleaders of an irrational exuberance where performance economics do not match the hype we create? Is Six Sigma on the verge of becoming the next TQM […]

In a recent blog at Harvard Business School Press Online, Tom Davenport challenges the applicability of Six Sigma. You can read his post at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/davenport/. Coming from anyone else, a statement that Six Sigma “should only be used in product manufacturing, where the idea of reducing defects to one in six standard deviations really makes […]

iSixSigma Magazine’s latest research survey is underway. This time we are exploring the Voice of the Customer and Six Sigma. With your input we’ll be able to better understand how VOC is integrated into Six Sigma deployments. The results of this survey will be published in the July/Augustissue of iSixSigma Magazine. Please take a few […]

Hundreds of companies embarked on their Six Sigma journey in 2000 and 2001. Today, Six Sigma deployments haven’t slowed a bit but instead have expanded and grown and are a driving force in achieving excellence in almost any type of business. And, because of industry experience and forums for sharing, are being implemented with the […]

There’s a new blog in town, one that is sure to make it big. I invite dummies and non-dummies alike to read Today’s Six Sigmaby Craig Gygi. Craig was the lead author of Six Sigma for Dummies as well as the Six Sigma for Dummies Workbook that hit the bookstores in late 2006. When it […]

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Chris Collins, the new County executive of Erie County, gave an interview to WNYMedia.net recently where he unveils the details of the Six Sigma initiative underway in the county. The video below is the Six Sigma excerpt of the interview. It’s only two minutes long and worth the watch. You can tell Collins has got his […]

The very first Six Sigma book I read was The Six Sigma Way. The first page describesthe story of a CEO jumping to solutions and being educated by a Black Belt on the methodology. He is turned around and states, “We’re not in the ‘Just Do It’ mode anymore”. My take-away being, we take a […]

Mayor Richard’s legacy, journalgazette.net, December 26, 2007 Mayor Graham Richard left office last week as Mayor of Fort Wayne Indiana. The article above describes his many accomplishments over his two terms in office, including Six Sigma: From major public projects that will distinguish the city’s landscape for decades to the minutiae of using Six Sigma […]

Chris Collins, the new Erie County executive, is making good on his promise to bring business efficiency practices to the county…namely Six Sigma. In his most unusual appointments, the new executive selected Alfred Hammonds Jr. as his director of Six Sigma implementation. Six Sigma is the business-sector efficiency discipline Collins championed during his campaign. Hammonds, […]

I can save you the trouble of reading the blog entry below. I realize you are very busy. Here’s a summary: Communications in the business world rely heavily on PowerPoint-style summaries. At best, summaries omit crucial information and context present in the work being summarized. Without this context, conclusions have to be accepted on faith. […]

As another year comes to a close, reflecting on what was accomplished in 2007 is a typical year-end activity. After a quick review, a few smiles and a big sigh about things left undone, it’s time to start on your 2008 list. While you are putting together your ‘list’ of things to do for 2008, […]

It’s that time of year again.The year-end stress of closing Six Sigma projects is enough to make any Black Belt sing the blues. But don’t worry, here’s a little song (sung to the tune of Jingle Bells) that will help you get through the holiday rush. Year-end Six Sigma Jingle

I’m driving home from work yesterday and I noticed something different at the intersection by my house. A traffic camera has been installed just in time to give some people a not so merry Christmas present. Traffic cameras, such as the one I saw, have been introduced as a visual control with the intent to […]

5S is one of the foundation concepts of lean. The Japanese originals were: Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shetsuke. (Additional S’s such asSafety or Security are sometimes added.) I did a quick survey on-line to see what variations are out there. Sort – Straighten – Scrub – Standardize – Sustain Separate – Sort – Shine – […]

Here is a take on the Christmas challenge for you, Retrograde Chess. Your aim is to identify the missing piece. This position was reached only through legal chess moves. A word of caution, its tough, it took me a few days to crack and I found coming back to it a regular intervals helped. If […]

Gail Farnsley is the CIO at Cummins. She is also a Green Belt using her Six Sigma skills tackle a leadership development project she dreamed up. She is hoping to use Six Sigma to identify and develop employees with potential to move into IT management. Specifically, management that reports directly to her. Farnsley has realized […]

While reading about type I & II errors and specifically beta-risk I realised that although I was happy with alpha-risk I didn’t recall seeing beta-risk in any of our sampling or hypothesis equations. Being curious, I wondered why I was only accounting for type I errors in my work? Just to review, we need to […]

Innovative solutions are frequently the answer to new or age old problems. But what kind of tools can help you and your team get out-of-the-box? Seems like way back when, we didn’t spend enough time in training talking about innovation in the “Improve” stage. Armed with the 5 S’s, a DOE and some poka-yoke, we’d […]

Black Friday came and went and I avoided shopping for a number of reasons, mainly because I couldn’t be stuffed getting up early enough to get a great deal. Besides, knowing my luck, anything on my list would’ve sold out long before I arrived. Unfortunately Christmas has not been the only time I’ve shopped only […]

Most Six Sigma speak I’ve heard tries to categorize projects into “hard” vs. “soft” savings. Hard savings projects focus on cutting costs, increasing capacity, etc., while soft savings projects generally deal more with topics where dollar value may not be easily to quantify (e.g. environmental performance, employee morale, etc.). However, there is another type of […]

The U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leavenworth Army post in Kansas is striving to make Lean Six Sigma part of their culture. Part of their project selection process is taking employee suggestions. Suggestions for improvement have been hard to come by since Lean Six Sigma joined the Army. Employees feared improvement would mean downsizing. But thanks […]

The triple constraints triangle (below) is used to show the tensions a project needs to balance when meeting its objectives. Normally set at the beginning of the project, a scope change in any one dimension will have an effect on at least one other dimension e.g. a reduction in time can increase costs or reduce […]

DMAIC, DMAVD, DFSS or any other Six Sigma framework is a disciplined data-driven structured methodology that if implemented as required will yield breakthrough levels of improvement in organizations. Having applied Six Sigma and other process methodologies across multiple SBUs at our organization one aspect that is not given much attention in many formal Six Sigma […]

What started out 20 years ago as a way to reduce variation is now the hottest game in town – Six Sigma. Although it has been reshaped through the years to meet constantly changing business needs, the definition is still the same: “Near perfect performance”. . . and customers still demand it. When first introduced, […]

iSixSigma Magazine is conducting research on Six Sigma certification requirements. With your help we’ll get to the bottom of the certification issues that hover over the industry. While there may be no formal standards, different companies have different methods and requirements for certification of their Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black Belts. Please take […]

If you haven’t secured your own 2008 Cox-Box Wall Calendar, it may be too late. Get them now at https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/

In his Rough Type blog, Nicholas Carr — contrarian author of the book, Does IT Matter? — comments on Microsoft’s plans to build a data center in Siberia and upcoming completion of the world’s largest data center in Chicago. Construction of these facilities costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and each will hold tends of […]

(Movie Review – WARNING! May contain spoilers…) At the beginning of the movie, the Santa Claus who is scheduled to appear in the Thanksgiving Day Parade is found to have significant defects. He is replaced with a worker who seems to utilizestandard work, Sensei Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn). The new Senseiyields improved results for the […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2007 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission Order Your 2008 Cox-Box Calendar Online Now! Go to https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/

I recently came across a fairly newblog in the “business improvement” universe…Sith Sigma. It’s the rantings and ravings of a couple of infamous Sith Lords, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. They offer plenty of entertaining but solid advice on Leadership, motivation and project management. The blog has nothing to do with Six Sigma directly, butthe […]

My last blog discussed elevating the strategic relevance of Lean, Six Sigma and process excellence. My view is that mature Process Excellence Organizations enjoy or achieve credibility and success by executing a flexible performance-improvement process attacking the top priorities, employing the best tools, selecting the right projects and leveraging organizational momentum. The first thing mature […]

Isn’t it ironic that what might actually be needed to address variation in your process is variation in your team? Picking the right team members is almost as important as picking the right project. In addition to an expert, a customer and representatives from other key stakeholder groups, you should think about how you can […]

I have had the fortune to serve twice on the ASQ’s International Team Excellence Awards judging panel. It’s not the entries that I want to talk about, but the experience of serving on the panel. The details of the competition and the criteria are posted on the ASQ website, www.asq.org. When I volunteered to serve […]

Ever wonder what a Six Sigma Thanksgiving would be like? Here’s a glimpse . . . 99.9997% of the turkey would get eaten so you don’t have to eat turkey sandwiches every day for the next two weeks 99.9997% of the mashed potatoes won’t have lumps 99.9997% of the desserts taste great and have no […]

Order Your 2008 Cox-Box Calendar Online Now! Go to https://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/ The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2007 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

“Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?” Homer Simpson would be proud of Maidstone Bakeries. Striving for the perfect donut. According the a press release: Maidstone produces more than 60 million donuts per week and wanted to ensure top quality while making sure its production operations were as efficient as possible. Maidstone is using Six […]

A conversation I regularly get into involves discussion of the difficulties encountered when deploying Six Sigma in an environment that is already saturated with other programs and toolsets. A majority percentage of the time the discussion is about deploying Six Sigma in an area where Lean is already well established, but there are many other […]

When my fellow Black Belts and I facilitate, or teach, we ask the participants to give us feedback at the end of each session. We use the plus-delta format that we inherited from our original consultants, by dividing a flip-chart page into two columns for the “plusses” (things that worked well, were meaningful, or strengths) […]

iSixSigma launched a new website last week, Six Sigma in the Military, complete with stories about how the U.S. Military is using Six Sigma. The purpose of this iSixSigma Military channel is to document the transformation of the United States Armed Services through the use of Lean Six Sigma and related process improvement methodologies. Ronald […]