Six Sigma @ U.S. Postal Service

Hello  Folks,
I think they skipped the 6S and went strainght to the 37 cent stamp. 
Later,
Billybob

Neil,
I have also heard that the USPS was looking into Six Sigma, but I have no confirmable source.  I just tried calling them and received no confirmation either way.
You may be interested in a US Today article published on 10/31 (in the Money section).  The title is “Feds may unleash Six Sigma on terrorism.”

Do you guys know how six sigma could help the United Postal Service have a better financial bottom line or increase delivery speed or accuracy?

I heard a guy named John Biedry was running six sigma at USPS about 2 years ago. Then he became a consultant with BMGI so I would assume that they stopped their program, or it faded into the background. Does anyone know John Biedry?

Yes, USPS is currently dabbling in lean six sigma with Giganto Consulting.

job hopping isn’t necessarily indicative of not being able to hold a job.   I don’t know this guy from Adam, but many jump in order to gain differing experience, or to get order of magnitude salary jumps.
I see generational trends.   My Boomer Dad spent 30+ with a certain “Giganto War Machine Company” and 15 at another, switching companies was not an option, unless he was laid off.   One of my GenX friends jump every 2-3 years for the $, avging 10-15% per jump…well more than a typical 3-4% raise.
I know a guy that jumps every 2 yrs like clockwork between “Giganto War Machine Company A” and “Giganto War Machine Company B”.  He’s open to his mgmt about it and does good work, so they are down with it.   The guy went from mid 5 figs in the early 90’s to mid six figs in 4 jumps (8 yrs).
 

Yep.   Does good work.   Proved himself over and over.  Now runs a sizeable chunk of the business.   Probably won’t be jumping so much, as he is loving his work (and pay)

Say what?”So, which one do you want to address first, since improving one may adversely affecting the other two.”Dude, you need to learn to think in more than one dimension, you know like walk and chew gum.

Let’s see -Quality done right is quicker and costs less.Speed done right, demands that quality is done right, and costs
less.Costs increase as quality gets worse.Costs increase as response time increase.I honestly don’t see your point or the point of the alleged “Business
Process Architect”.Sounds like crap they teach in MBA programs.

BTW, my reply above was to MrMHead’s comments.

Stan, please. My reply wasn’t to you. It was to MrMHead and to the person who posed one of the original questions. It was also to help get the conversation back on these questions and off the discussions of consultants and what they’re paid.

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Can we just stay on track and address the questions? It’s not about us; it’s about the topic. I’m not here to “defend” my suggestions.

Stan, re: “The Triangle”
Your point: “Quality done right is quicker and costs less”  is the end product of applying the SS methodologies and tools.  And I don’t disagree with that.
But back it up – How did you get there?  What was “Done”?
Do you work for free and make improvements overnight, and implement the perfect solution perfectly?

Absolutely Correct Brother……………Had one of the most tireless arguments of my life with one of my MBA peers on the same subject. He was an Aggie so I knew I was in for a long one.

You argued with an Aggie? Have you have heard about teaching pigs to sing?

Something about Salt, Lime and Worm made me do it.

Ed Barkley,
You are correct, it is not about us, you or whomever. It is about the topic and you have added your triangle to the topic. You cannot defend the suggestion because the logic of your suggestion was old thinking easily one to two decades ago regardless which business school teaches it. As odd as Crosby is even he figured it out when he wrote that dribble Quality Is Free, but it was breakthrough thinking at the time. Even the graph, the cost and quality trade off, that used to be in Juran’s Handbook is gone which is amazing considering Blanton Godfrey’s involvement.
This nonsense is perpetuated in schools that have brought us wonderful events such as Enron, AIG, Madoff, etc. There will be a time when people will use the term MBA and then rinse their mouths out with soap.
Integrity. You need to either defend your advice or apologize for such an abomination.

You are probably having trouble with the logic basically because I did not say that. Will you point out specifically where that was stated please.
If you read what I posted and will agree that your post is an interpretation of my post then we should be able to agree you a very good candidate for some reading comprehension classes.

Stating something directly is exactly that. Rather directly doesn’t make any sense. That fraud comment would be an interpretation not stating something directly.
This gifted interpretation came from?
“So SS solves all the world’s problem …….”
The question should be what have you understood?

Rath and Strong are the consultants that USPS are using to help implement LSS.

Ryan Hess,
“In fiscal year 1995, the Postal Service had the largest increase in operating profits of any company in the world and earned $1.8 billion. By 1998, some were complaining that the Postal Service was making too much money. In 2001, the USPS is predicting a $3 billion loss that may be the largest negative change in the bottom line of any company in the world. What happened and why?”
http://www.postcom.org/public/articles/2001articles/can%20the%20usps%20survive.htm
Even if we ignore the article above lets look at some other issues. My data is pretty old but at one time they were the largest consumer of optical recognition equipment in the world. Even if someone is larger that still own a lot of optical recognition equipment. What I saw there was that when something didn’t recognize and address enough times (whatever enough was) they slowed the machine down. Nobody figured out what was wrong and nobody understood optimization or DOE. I saw an experiment done by John Hathaway that showed them how to set the machine up. Speed went up and accuracy went up. Guess what happens when you slow a lot of machines down. You have capacity issues and the solution to that is you buy more machines. If you do that often enough the results are predictable. You become the largest consumer of optical recognition equipment in the world. Will six sigma help? Of course.
They used have the largest fleet of trucks in the US. I don’t know if they are the largest currently but just driving around I would say they still use a lot of trucks. I am sure there are efficiencies to be had there.
They used to have the largest fleet of planes in the US. Just a guess but I am sure they still have a lot of planes. Same thing. I am sure there are efficiencies.
They used to be the largest non-military employer in the US. I am sure with that many people you can get some problem solving skills in the hands of a fair number of those people and they will be more than happy to improve the processes they have to deal with daily.
With FedEx and UPS out there you can probably find a couple of people to go benchmark those companies and see if it runs as efficently but I think the question is academic.
Look at the old FedEx ad “when it absolutely has to be there over night” What do you think that was about? Why would FedEx use that advertisement? When it absolutely has to be there over night do you FedEx it, DHL it, UPS it or do you use the express mail service at USPS? If your answer isn’t USPS then there is an opportunity even if it is just a marketing opportunity. You would have to see their data on successful deliveries to decide if you fix the service or fix the marketing.
My exposure to USPS was 11 years ago and your question to my post is 7 years later. I am pretty sure the numbers haven’t changed much. The answer in 1998 was there are a ton of opportunities and I am sure those opportunities haven’t changed much.
If the article I cited in the beginning is true then someone at USPS needs to be asking what is wrong with their Six Sigma program.
Just my opinion.

The six Sigma Program at the USPO – the training / support is via
Accenture (George Group) – if you wish to get in contact with some
of the folks deploying there let me know and I’ll pass on the
connection request.I apologize if this has already been covered in the deluge of
comments – I’m just not going to read them all.Regards,Adam adamlbowden@yahoo.com