Manage Project Performance with EVM and Control Charts

Published:

This article introduces the concept of earned value management (EVM) indexes, a project assessment technique, and control charts, a statistical tool for monitoring variation in a process, and describes how both may be used in tangent to capture more insight from project performance.  What to Know About EVM Indexes EVM is a project management technique […]

Read more »

Getting the Most out of a Capability Analysis

Published:

The process capability indices Pp and Cp describe how closely a process can operate within its specification limits. Many articles describe the difference between Pp and Cp simply: one is short term, one is long term. Moving beyond such a description, this article focuses on the untapped power of capability analysis and shows you how […]

Read more »

Cummins Talks with Indiana Town About Improving Processes

Published:

Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. is discussing a possible collaboration with the municipality of Franklin Township, Ind., USA, about improving the town’s financial performance via Lean Six Sigma methods, according to a report by WRTV-6.

Read more »

Indiana Considers Six Sigma Reviews of Public Teacher Performance

Published:

State education officials in Indiana are considering the implementation of Six Sigma standards in performance reviews for public school teachers in order to comply with a new law requiring an evaluation of how school districts allocate their state funds.

Read more »

Managing Performance Factors: A Sample Checklist

Published:

In the May/June issue of iSixSigma Magazine, the article, “Taking the Next Step: How to Eliminate Errors for Good,” offers an approach for managing human performance factors in an effort improve processes in service organizations. An excerpt of a checklist used to measure human performance factors and gauge risk is featured in the magazine article. […]

Read more »

3M Offers to Settle Age Discrimination Suit Involving Six Sigma

Published:

The 3M Co., based in Maplewood, Minn., USA, has offered to pay up to $12 million to roughly 7,000 current and former employees to settle a long-running lawsuit alleging that older workers faced age discrimination under the the company’s Six Sigma program.

Read more »

Fort Wayne Mayoral Candidate Vows to Continue Six Sigma Efforts if Elected

Published:

Eric Doden, a Republican candidate for mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., USA, said that, if elected, he would continue the city’s process improvement programs initiated by former Mayor Graham Richard, including customer service training for city employees.

Read more »

U.K. Estate Agency First in Industry to Adopt Lean Six Sigma

Published:

In response to what has been called a difficult 18 months for the estate agency sector in the United Kingdom, senior management at Frank Marshall & Co. have announced that the company is the first to adopt the Lean Six Sigma methodology in the estate indsutry.

Read more »

Black Belt Nichols to Run CitiStat Program in Springfield, Mass.

Published:

The city of Springfield, Mass., USA, has hired Marta Nichols, a Six Sigma Black Belt, to run its governement performance management program, known as CitiStat.

Read more »

Lean Methods Help Avoid Layoffs at Four Hospitals

Published:

Despite the common allegation that Lean improvement methods must lead to layoffs at healthcare systems, the reality is quite different at several leading hospitals, where Lean methods are actually saving or creating jobs.

Read more »

Comparing Financial Performance Among Business Units

Published:

Earlier this month, a member of the iSixSigma Discussion Forum asked about the best methods to measure financial performance among business units within the same company, but in different regions. The answers that came back ranged from simple bottom-line comparison using accounting department data to more complex metrics, such as profit per item sold and […]

Read more »

U.S. Postal Service IT Project Slashes Costs Via Performance Management

Published:

A challenge facing many new CIOs, CTOs and other technology leaders is the need to change their organization’s culture and reputation. Fairly or not, technology leaders are often saddled with the perceptions (or misperceptions) that their team can’t deliver projects on time or on budget.

Read more »

Monitoring Return on Investment for Internet Initiatives

Published:

During the past four years the Internet channel has seen the migration from an exploratory revolution of new functionality to creating a viable profitable business. It is no longer feasible to place additional technological enhancements on the web without considering the payback model in which returns and/or cost savings can be generated. This young Internet […]

Read more »

Lowering the Cost of Ownership for Software Lifecycles

Published:

How will we remember the past eighteen months? Many will remember it as a time of economic slump, with lay-offs, low spending and a war in Iraq. The economic situation is not likely to improve during the remainder of 2003, leading organizations to focus on delivering value to their customers while demonstrating hard return-on-investment. Any […]

Read more »

Catalyzing Change: A Turnaround Success

Published:

Imagine you run a manufacturing business and a surprise government labor inspector hands more than 21 citations for serious worker safety (OHSA) violations. Add to this an order that gives you only six months to show 100 percent compliance or face shutdown. This true story explains the elements that took this company from near collapse to […]

Read more »

Maximize Six Sigma Team Performance

Published:

The Black Belt’s ability to maximize team members’ contributions is critical to the success of the Six Sigma project. Many factors must be addressed. Assuring Basic Team Member Needs During World War II Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) developed his famous hierarchy of needs study. He showed an individual needs hierarchy ranging from the most basic, to […]

Read more »

Six Sigma Critical Success Factors

Published:

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” This axiom, while intuitive for most managers and business professionals, is often not applied to the Six Sigma management process itself. For Six Sigma or any other management initiative to yield the advertised results, many factors must be considered, aligned, measured and acted upon. Having been involved with […]

Read more »

Creating a High Performance Culture with Hoshin Kanri

Published:

A high performance culture is the result of high performance actions. An organization should strive to implement actions which deliver the desired performance and assess the results of these actions on the culture. If these actions are successful, performance targets are achieved and a high-performance culture ensues. The pursuit of performance gains starts with defining […]

Read more »

Activities vs. Performance: Improvement, Common Sense

Published:

Most organizations have a strong bias toward planning, managing and executing a multitude of supposedly value-added activities hoping that these (often isolated) activities will yield significant results. In rare cases, activities are spawned by careful strategic planning, tracked regularly by performance data, reviewed for adjustments and improvements and integrated across functions, divisions and geographies. However, […]

Read more »

How Six Sigma Can Help ITIL Service Level Management

Published:

Many information technology (IT) organizations are utilizing the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a guiding framework for operational excellence. One of the many “best practices” within ITIL is utilization of service level agreements, (SLAs) and operational level agreements (OLAs). When implemented well, these agreements and associated management processes go far in establishing fruitful working […]

Read more »

Tips for Avoiding Common Metrics Challenges

Published:

Many organizations spend a lot of resources to collect and report a number of metrics without focusing on the proper utilization of them or tracking the return on investment in the effort. In some cases it may be difficult even to find meaningful metrics. Missing the right metrics poses a great risk to business decision-making […]

Read more »

Lean Services: Doing Transactions Right the First Time

Published:

In a service organization, the most efficient method for cutting waste is to attack anything and everything that is not done right the first time. This concept, known as first time right, involves making sure that all activities are carried out in the right manner the first time and every time. Examples include a customer […]

Read more »

Business Improvement Strategy, Masteries and Metrics

Published:

Many organizations that deploy Lean and Six Sigma eventually hit what is referred to as the “performance measurement wall.” These organizations begin with the right intentions, however, the bottom-line results from their Lean and Six Sigma initiatives are often illusionary because they are focused on the wrong targets. One of the major reasons for this […]

Read more »

One IT Size Does Not Fit All; Lean Six Sigma Can Help

Published:

Although information technology (IT) organizations can share commonalities at a general level, each has its own, unique set of characteristics interacting in ways that result in their own performance signatures. Even performance measurements are not identical. Each is its own system, its own environment supporting a specific company’s needs. Just as companies are diverse in […]

Read more »
To top