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Current budget constraints in the public sector require an innovative response from executives, legislators, public administrators and government employees. Legislators must set the course with directive policy, administrators must develop the management plan and government employees must remain flexible and committed to the personal transformation required to do public business in a new leaner way. […]

The following is The Last Word from the January/February 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “When Business is Personal.”

Later this month,IQPC will host the7th Annual Six Sigma Summit in Miami. At the conference will be keynote speaker Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York. I am excited to attend theevent andam looking forward to hearing him teach his lessons on leadership through the worst of times. Other speakers include Don Linsenmann, Corporate Champion […]

From Indonesia to Malta, Six Sigma is a welcome guest at Starwood hotels. Launched early in 2001, Six Sigma is entering its sixth year at the hotel, which still holds the acclaim of being the only hotel with a corporate-wide Six Sigma initiative. Starwood properties each have a Six Sigma Council that organizes and prioritizes […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

How the time has flown! The Cox-Box is nowentering its second year since creation. I’ve received some honest feedback on the content and the characters as the strip evolves…Thanks to you who have given feedback. But as any good Black Belt would promote,I need to strive for Continuous Improvement and,as Ido inmyprofessional role as a […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 16: We’ve been working projects on the same processes for the past 5 years. Just how many times are we going to reinvent the wheel? This type of statement is […]

The January 2006 issue of CMO Magazine has two excellent articles highlighting the use of Lean Six Sigma at Xerox and their ad agency Young & Rubicam. The article Lean Machine specifically goes into detail on how Xerox’s corporate marketing group came on board with Six Sigma and is seeing some outstanding results. For those […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

This has got to be my all-time favorite example of the use of Six Sigma in the restaurant business. Red Robin restaurants teamed with GE Commercial Finance inan “At the Customer, For the Customer” (ACFC) project to tackle a major customer service issue: the timely delivery of milkshakes. “In 2005, we will produce more than […]

What do Bob Nardelli, Larry Johnston, James McNerney, and Matthew Espe all have in common? Aside from all being former GE executives trained and tutored under the hand of Jack Welch, they each speak the Six Sigma dialect of business language and have introduced the corporations they lead to the methodology. In 2001 The Home […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 15: Black Belts, Green Belts, Yellow Belts, how many different colored belts does it take to change a process? If an organization is planning to engrain Six Sigma as a […]

Standard Register received the Top Medical Surgical Vendor for 2005 award from Shared Services Healthcare, Inc. What I like about the press release (beyond the recognition of a remarkable Six Sigma company) is the “About Standard Register” paragraph at the end. The description of how Lean Six Sigma fits in the organization is perfect. “Relying […]

The U.S. Army Materiel Command has a website dedicated to information about the Lean Six Sigma efforts currently underway. There is even an entire page devoted to Lean Six Sigma project case studies and results. Over 20 success stories are shared including a video that highlights the ways Lean Six Sigma is directly impacting U.S. […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 14: Although we’ve had successful Six Sigma projects for over two years, the organization is still resistant. I don’t think Six Sigma will ever be accepted. In some organizations, even […]

It’’s holiday time and Amazon is just about as busy as Santa. This year at Amazon.com you’ll see the Holiday Delight-O-Meter, which shows real-time data for the number of items ordered worldwide since November 21st. My calculations estimate about 2,000 items ordered per minute. Not much room for error. It’s good to know that instead […]

A Press Release issued today by Eli Lilly and Company credits Six Sigma as a significant contributor to the 15% productivity increase they experienced in 2005: “Lilly is utilizing several tools to increase productivity and lower its cost structure, including applying Six Sigma across its global operations, which is expected to free up resources, accelerate […]

Target Corporation began a unique Six Sigma initiative and rightly named it “6SIGMA@Target” to identify it as their own. Six Sigma is helping Target achieve their mantra “design, innovation, and continuous improvement”a philosophy aimed at delighting guests. In addition to Six Sigma, Target trains employees in a wide array of skills under the continuous improvement […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 13: We’ve been working Six Sigma projects for over four years. We’ve run out of project ideas. If your organization is telling you this, then running out of projects is […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 12: Are Black Belt and Green Belt exams really necessary? It’s not like we’re getting a college degree. This is a common question, especially from those who may have attended […]

This week Ibring you two delicious DOE’s (Design of Experiments) as a Thanksgiving treat. The First, Applying DOE to Microwave Popcorn, is a real favorite of mine. Mark Anderson and Hank Anderson share a Design of Experiments that identifies what really matters when making microwave popcorn. In the second, Recipe for Pound Cake Experiment, Mark […]

I love the iSixSigma discussion forum not just for the knowledge sharing that goes on between experts and those needing advice around the world, but also for the trend spotting. In recent days The Independent, and many subsequent television news shows, have reported how Pope Benedict XVI has created a stir in the Vatican (and […]

The Last Word from the November/December 2005 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “Starting-up Six Sigma.” In the early 1990s, the CEO of a large chemical company told his sales managers that they had to start sharing ideas, documenting their processes, and defining a best practice that would make all the salespeople as effective as their […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 11:If Six Sigma is truly supposed to be embedded in the business, why do you need to have a separate Six Sigma financial goal? Good question. The answer depends on […]

Although Volkswagen AG shows no external signs of a Six Sigma program (annual reports, press releases), they did recently start the ForMotion initiative aimed at cutting costs and improving processes. “In March 2004, we launched the ForMotion performance enhancement program across the Group. The program includes seven focus areas in which all Group activities and […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 10: Why can’t we just have part-time Black Belts. I can’t afford to have a full time resource dedicated to Six Sigma project work. When someone asks this question they […]

Mayor Graham Richard, City of Fort Wayne Indiana, delivered a non-partisan view of why Six Sigma is important for the public sector. He began by sharing what he wanted each of us to get out of the presentation: “One hope is that you will think about what you can do in your community, even if […]

Gillian Mann, Master Black Belt at Air Canada, gave a very enthusiastic presentation at the IQPC Lean Six Sigma Summit West. Air Canada began their corporate-wide Six Sigma flight in 2002 with GE captains at the helm of their training. Since then they have been very successful internalizing the program and making it their own. […]

Notes from the deployment frontline 31 October 05 Sorry about the two month delay – babies and work have consumed my time. Alison Grace is sleeping most of the night and Mom is feeling almost normal. Work is going from tactical to strategic as we are beginning to understand the value of focusing change agents […]

I have to admit that I didn’t think that a satellite session with Jack would be all that great, but I was dead wrong. The question and answer format suits his leadership style and seeing him up on two giant screens made the grandeur of Jack all the better. My fellow colleagues Michael Cygerand Dian […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

This blog entry will highlight some of Jack Welch’s comments from Wednesday, October 26, 2005 on the topic of financial savings through Six Sigma.

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 9: Six Sigma won’t work for my department because we really don’t have standard ’processes’ and every client, customer or situation is different. Process thinking is a new way of […]

Roger Cockroft, Corporate VP, Business Performance Improvement, spoke brilliantly about the way Constellation Energy is using Six Sigma to manage change in their organization. Constellation Energy is the oldest utility company in the United States and also one of the largest. Cockroft said that post 911 there were a lot of changes in the organization […]

Roger Hoerl, of GE Global Research, kicked off the conference with a presentation titled, “A fresh approach to integrating Lean and Six Sigma”. His presentation was quite “Lean” at only 12 slides, but the message was clear… The way Lean and Six Sigma have been integrated in the past is based on faulty assumptions and […]

Today was my first full day at the IQPC Lean Six Sigma Summit West, in Las Vegas. I attended as many events as I could and have met some great people in and out of the Six Sigma world. I briefly spoke with Roger Hoerl (still hoping for a more in depth conversation later), joined […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 8: I know that leadership needs to understand Six Sigma but is learning all these statistics really necessary? We’re not all statisticians nor do we want to be. When leadership […]

Quest Diagnostics are early pioneers of Six Sigma in the healthcare industry, implementing the methodology in May 2000. Since then they have supplemented the program with a healthy dose of Lean and DFSS. Their progress to date is well documented on their website and in annual reports: “Since May 2000, with the launch of the […]

I just received my ASQWire email today. The email includes a summary of what’s going on at the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and is sent to members. One of the stories caught my eye and I thought it had a fascinating title, “Have you calculated your ASQ membership worth?” It encouraged me to visit […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 7: Six Sigma looks like repackaged TQM.What makes you think its ‘staying power’ is going to be any different? When people first hear about Six Sigma, some may see it […]

Do You Know One? Do you know a special Black Belt deserving of recognition? Someone who gets outstanding results using their own skills, and at the same time fully involves the people who work with them… a Black Belt who brings talent, integrity and good humor to the workplace? Introduce iSixSigma to a great Black […]

The International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC) is hosting the Lean Six Sigma Summit West,October 26 – 27, 2005 at the Venetianin Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. I’m looking forward to attending the conference, soaking up the Six Sigma sun, and blogging the events. Jack Welch will be there via satellite and will take questions… so […]

Control Chart Wizard – p-Chart: Control charts dealing with the proportion or fraction of defective product are called p charts (for proportion). There is a difference between a defect and defective, as there is between a nonconformity and nonconforming unit. The p-chart control chart is used with discrete/attribute defective data when the sample size is greater than 50. The sample size may vary.

Steps in Constructing an np-Chart: The np Chart can be used for the special case when the subgroups are of equal size. Then it is not necessary to convert nonconforming counts into the proportions phat(i). Rather, one can directly plot the counts x(i) versus the subgroup number i.

Control Chart Wizard – np-Chart: The np control chart are used to monitor the number of nonconforming units in samples of inspected units. A nonconforming unit is a product which fails to meet at least one specified requirement. There is a difference between a defect and defective, as there is between a nonconformity and nonconforming unit. The np-chart control chart is used with discrete/attribute defective data when the sample size is greater than 50. The sample size must be constant; this control chart is only valid if data is collected in same-size subgroups.