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Most methodologies warn against the use of part time resources as project leaders. This is more so true with Blackbelts. However, the Army has a unique situation with the Army Reserves. These are true full time members who serve up to a total of 38 days per year. Couple that with the fact that most […]

Six Sigma critics are right about one of their chief complaints: the program is a re-packaging of a lot of tools and ideas that have been around for a long time. Personally I don’t think that’s a bad thing, since many of the ideas that have been re-packaged were languishing before. Regardless of where the […]

In preparation for an award I am accepting for being a pioneer in the CPM (Corporate Performance Management) and BI space for the work done infusing the balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology prior to our deployment of lean six sigma (LSS) , I started thinking about how many blank faces I see when I start talking […]

The IBM Institute for Business Value released a study earlier this year entitled “Driving operational innovation using Lean Six Sigma.” This study showcases how three companies – Caterpillar, POSCO, and Scottish Power have elevated Lean Six Sigma to do more than improve processes and reduce costs: Although CEOs might instinctively think of management approaches such […]

Hi Blogosphere, I’ve recently taken a big decision. It’s important to know that it is totally the right decision but it was also a big decision. You know when you make a decision sometimes you agonise over it and, as BBs, we often spend weeks gathering data to ensure we’ve absolutely, statistically verified that the […]

One of the most recent moves to engage the leadership in Business Transformation is to have the Project Sponsors brief/present BB/GB projects to the Deployment Directors/Senior Leadership. The strategy is a great way to change the old thought process of “kicking the can down the road” or “maintaining the status quo” until the next bloke […]

When you are just started to work on a new project, as Six Sigma professional you are conditioned not to jump to conclusions and let the data and facts guide you to process improvements. However, by asking yourself two simple questions at the start of such an improvement initiative, you be able to get a […]

Reading Robin Barnwell’slastest post, I was reminded of a conversation I had recently regardingstandard work in our own projects. When our Black Belts share their experiences, it’s really interesting to seehow parts of the project structure are valued differently by each individual. Let me give you an example. We have a guideline for rapid improvement […]

Jessica Harper (managing editor of iSixSigma Magazine), Michael Marx (iSixSigma’s research manager) and I will be in warm Scottsdale, Arizona, May 7-10. If you’re looking to escape the weather and be (almost) guaranteed warm days and sunny skies, then consider joining us in Scottsdale for the ISSSP Six Sigma Leadership Conference. This year I vowed […]

I recently had an opportunity to talk with someone involved in a manufacturing deployment. What struck me was how different their deployment was to ours. This worried me into thinking we were somehow doing it wrong and not doing real Lean Six Sigma. I think I have now rationalised the experience and here is what […]

Last week I joined several of my colleagues in Chicago to participate in the Conference Board’s 2007 Six Sigma Leadership Conference. More than 115 Six Sigma leaders gathered to network and learn more about how companies are “Leveraging Lean and Traditional Six Sigma to Optimize Business Process Delivery.” Mike Kirby, Deputy Under Secretary of the […]

I’ve been having some conversations about belts with my colleagues. Officially, we have “Lean Green Belts” (learn Lean Six Sigma basics, facilitate Lean Kaizen events) and “Six Sigma Black Belts” (know both Lean & Six Sigma, facilitate Lean & Six Sigma projects, coach & mentor Green Belts). We had “Yellow Belts” for a while – […]

Successful operations planning can be a powerful cost reduction and organizational development strategy to help define resources and processes needed to sustain the project’s business outcome after control phase, especially in the contact center space. The black/green belts should not keep the responsibility for the product after delivery, nor be listed anywhere in the control […]

Lean Six Sigma for Contact Centers Once your improvements have implemented, the next step is to ensure sustainability of your results through tools like the Control plan & FMEA.To ensure a smooth transitionto your Contact Center Process Owner, the black/green belt should takea more hands-on approach than one may be used to in the transactional […]

Theterm “Mission Creep” with the Military can be applied to “Scope Creep” in a LSS Project. The constant tension to solve problems has to be tempered with the fact that many problems are “Elephants” that need to be eaten one bite a time. The issue of Mission/Scope Creep boils down to being able to define […]

This could be you! Are you a small or medium-sized business that’s seen great results with Six Sigma or process improvement tools? Do you rely on “Six Sigma thinking” to improve the customer experience? We’re looking for a company that would be an inspiration to other small and medium-sized businesses to feature in an article […]

In two previous blogs, I wrote about intersections between Six Sigma, internal control and data quality. By way of background information, my department performs compliance functions, where we monitor information delivered by third parties and created through internal operations. For example, we receive property-address information and derive new information like geospatial position through “geocoding” processes. […]

Wiley Publishing, Inc. was kind enough to send me a few copies of the new Lean for Dummies book, hot off the presses.

Part two in a two part series on First-Call Resolution. Read Part one, Inputs Driving Poor First-Call Resolution Here’s how to get started with a Six Sigma project: Step 1. Define: Conduct an information-seeking drill-down with SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) who are proven resources in the center. This can help determine the objective and scope […]

Meridian Gold finds and produces gold with its mining operations in Chile as well as a pipeline of exploration projects throughout the Americas. While continuous improvement is nothing new to the El Peñón mine, they recently began using Six Sigma in their Operational Excellence initiative: Edgar Smith, Meridian’s Vice President of Operations, commented, “I am […]

Part one in a two part series on First-Call Resolution For most contact centers, nearly one-third of inbound calls are repeat callers who weren’t satisfied the first time, and more often than not, the antiquated switches that contact centers leverage, just do not do that great of a job reporting on the true FCR (First-Call […]

Ever wonder what kind of eggs would be found in a Six Sigma easter basket? Here’s what I say . . . Eggs-ceptional teams Eggs-citing projects Eggs-ponential ROI Eggs-traordinary improvements Eggs-hilarating challenges Eggs-treme customer satisfaction Hope your Six Sigma easter basket is filled with Eggs-actly what you need. Happy Easter!

After last year’s run-in with my broadband provider, here is an equally nonsensical situation encountered with my wireless provider. It highlights another core business issue. My mobile phone (cell phone) broke, so I ordered a new one and it arrived the next day. Handed over the broken phone and started-up the new one. Hold on, […]

In a prior post I reflected on desirable attributes for a Black Belt. After mentoring numerous Black Belts I can tell you what makes a good one, however I am wondering if one can statistically quantify a good vs. great belt. Sure, there are tons of metrics that can be used to measure a belt:hard […]

Nayism 44: “What do you mean by asking my employees to spend an hour doing online Six Sigma orientation? You must be dreaming if you think I can afford to have them away from their job for that amount of time.” Will trying to get this naysayer on board be your next nightmare? How should […]

Update on Pay for Skills A while back I wrote about a Six Sigma project that focused on implementing a pay for skills initiative. I am happy to say the project has passed through control phase and is currently institutionalized. Validating cross training employees created savings was a little difficult at first.Sure, there were tons […]

The training and curriculum of Lean Six Sigma is the perfect example of variation in action. I have the ability to see about 4 different types of curriculum for GB’s and BB’s. In all cases, each one presents you with a almost totally different perspective of what the trainers want you to be able to […]

Here’s your chance to tell us what you think about the iSixSigma Blogosphere.

I was cleaning up my office today and found two extra copies of The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook written by Michael George, David Rowlands, Mark Price and John Maxey of George Group, published by McGraw-Hill. It’s rated 5 out of 5 on Amazon.com and is a great compendium of every Lean Six Sigma tool […]

TAGSYS has announced what they are billing as the RFID industry’s first quality of service guarantee for pharmaceutical manufacturers. This new guarantee — what TAGSYS is calling the “Six Sigma Performance Program” — promises fewer than four failures in one million read opportunities in the item-level track-and-trace process. Read their entire Six Sigma guarantee.

KPMG, the public accounting firm, recently published a survey of outsourcing. Nearly three out of four companies in the survey do not measure the value of their outsourcing arrangements. Yet paradoxically, KPMG concludes outsourcing is working because 89% of their survey participants plan to maintain or increase their use of outsourcing. The survey leads me […]

The first business process I ever put together was heavily indebted to Kevin Costner. If I build it, I figured, they will come. And I did build it. A perfect process, polished in every detail. A global process, that everyone involved would adopt. A useful process, that would solve many disparate problems in a foul […]

Textron released an article last week entitled, Bob Zimering, a Textron Master Black Belt, Discusses Six Sigma at Textron and Responds to Some of the Critics. In the article Bob Zimering does exactly as the title suggests. He responds to the Fortune article where Qualpro said that Six Sigma companies trail in the S&P… Textron’s […]

As is well known by all, the Army exists as a non-profit organization. Our motives and measures of success are not around EPS or net profit. We measure mission accomplishment and effectiveness. Our motto is always, “make it happen” or as the cable guys says, “get ’er done.” However we do measure project success in […]

Last week was a difficult week in the office with a number of day-to-day issues going the wrong way. As the week drew to close I found myself feeling low and faced with a 4-hour drive home. On the way home I indulged in some negative brainstorming around people’s job titles e.g. Director of Infuriating […]

We have a fantastic issue of iSixSigma Magazine coming up in May. The cover story is about Lonmin, a primary producer of platinum group metals. They focus on discovery, acquisition, development and marketing of minerals and metals. The short story goes like this: Prior to Brad Mills becoming CEO, the quality of life for Lonmin […]

I was facilitating a process-mapping session recently, and one of the team members came up to me during a break. She said, “I think it’s really interesting that you are leading us in the process mapping in a way that’s much different than I’ve seen before.” I said, “What do you mean?” She explained that […]

A few comments on organizational design and Six Sigma…. Organizational structure is one consideration. The decision to centralize or functionally embed black belts has to consider an organization’s business model, culture and past experience with process improvement. Likewise, compensation, career track, professional development and human capital management practices are important. In some organizations, Six Sigma […]

Hitachi is running a series of advertisements in the Wall Street Journal focusing on their plasma TV technology capabilities. In today’s issue (March 13, 2007, p. A16), their ad talks about kaizen: No matter where in the world they’re made, Hitachi plasma TVs have one trait in common: They’re the product of kaizen, the Japanese […]

Nayism 43: Ever since we started deploying Six Sigma, everyone has been jumping around like they found the golden nugget. Don’t they know that golden nuggets don’t really exist? Hmmm. Sounds like this naysayer may have kissed the ’ole blarney stone one too many times. Believe it or not, the Six Sigma Pot O’Gold is […]

Nayism 42: Why does every department have to have their own Black Belt? Let’s just pick some people to be Black Belts, give them a job title, put them in a separate department and be done with it. Sound like a good idea? Here’s what I say. . . One of the most important aspects in […]

“Resistance is futile.” That is the warning statement from the Borg Collective, an arch enemy of the Federation of Planets in the Star Trek television series. Any trekkies out there? The first time I heard that phrase I thought; boy are they over-confident, they have not dealt with Captain Jean Luc Picard yet. And of […]

Recently the Under Secretary for Business Transformation (DUSA-BT), the Honorable Mike Kirby spoke with our Command and BB/GB trainees on the need for change. He presented an hour long slide show on why we must change the way we do business. Most compelling was his analysis of the evolution of the capability of the war […]

After spending considerable time over the last few weeks on designing a compliance process to measure the quality of information, I want to share a few observations.Feedback about how companies are addressing data quality through Six Sigma would be most helpful. Companies are approaching an inflection point: exploiting information is their next lever to innovate […]

Praveen Gupta, President of Accelper Consulting, sent me a few copies of his new book entitled Virtually Stat Free Six Sigma. (Thanks for the reference to iSixSigma.com in the first chapter, Praveen!) Subtitled “Focusing on Intent for Quick Results,” this book dives into the biggest problems facing most companies and what tools are most likely […]

As research manager for iSixSigma Magazine, I spend my Decembersanalyzing the data from the iSixSigma Job Shop to figure out who makes what and where they make it. I really enjoy crunching the numbers because I get to spend so much time in Minitab. (My love for Minitab waskindled by my Black Belt instructor, Paul […]

I was speaking with Joe Ficalora, EVP of Technology for Sigma Breakthrough Technologies, Inc., at the IQPC Miami Summit in January and we got to talking about all the bad press Six Sigma had been getting lately.  Joe told me that he and his colleague Joe Costello had co-written a letter to the author of the […]