Michael Marx

Six Sigma news this week… Fortune Magazine has decided to pick on Jack on the cover of their latest issue. The article, Tearing Up the Jack Welch Playbook, is an attempts to throw out the old and bring in the new… way of thinking that is. Fortune senior writer Betsy Morris, lists seven of the […]

Thelatest podcast is ready to download.This podcast includes highlights from the Six Sigma and Information Technology survey, published in theMay/June issueof iSixSigma Magazine. This survey takes a look at the relationship between Six Sigma and IT and answers questions such as: How often is Six Sigma used to improve IT processes? How often are technology […]

Lean and Six Sigma make their rounds through the media this week surfacing in publications around the world including Time Magazine… The article in Time entitled “Lean and Mean” is the story of the Army’s implementation of Lean Six Sigma. It is a fantastic article full of Six Sigma war stories from streamlining procurement to […]

For a Fourth of July Six Sigma post, I’ll pay tribute to the Lean Six Sigma efforts in the United States Military operations. Read success stories from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.

This week in Six Sigma related news around the globe… Read about the new weighing and traceability system, Trac-IT MES, which Maple Leaf Bakeriesin the UK is using to reduce waste in their bagel making process. Now let’s head down under to Linde Australia to read about how Six Sigma in the service division is […]

Hess, the energy company formerly know as Amerada Hess, got its first taste of Six Sigma from GE back in the year 2000. GE came in and gave a presentation but Six Sigma didn’t stick. Four years later it was introduced in the Marketing & Refining division of the company as a CEO driven initiative. […]

Innovate Forum has posted an interviewwith David Silverstein, President and CEO of Breakthrough Management Group and co-author of INsourcing Innovation. In the interview, Silverstein talks about the TRIZ methodology for innovative problem solving. “Innovate Forum: TRIZ is a methodology that has traditionally been employed in product design. What prompted you to consider applying TRIZ to […]

A recent article in Electronic Business Online talks about Lean Six Sigma at four companies in the electronics industry: Celestica, ON Semiconductor, Solectron and Xerox. All have seen an improvement inprofitability over the past five years and each agree that Lean Six Sigma has contributed to the gains. Here are a few snippets of information […]

Cardinal Health has been busy with Lean Six Sigma. Their second quarter earnings release highlighted their progress to date: “Initiating more than 100 operational excellence projects, bringing the total number of ongoing projects to 200. The company is on-track to train nearly 300 “black belts” during 2006 to manage company-wide lean six-sigma initiatives within manufacturing, […]

Roger Penske expects and gets – perfection, IRL-Live.com, May 23, 2006 Roger Penske talks about preparation for the Indianapolis 500 this weekend. Penske is a Six Sigma company when it comes to business, but as for racing, Six Sigma just isn’t enough: “After qualifying, Penske gave an overview of his preparation plan. “We’ll go back, […]

Last week Michael Cyger and I attended the 7th Annual ISSSP Leadership Conference. I blogged a few of the presentations, but was unable to capture the aura of the event through regular blog entries. Call it not-enough-time-in-the-given-day syndrome or too much wonderful food to eat (which really slowed down my presentation to blog entry cycle […]

At an event where the most common number mentioned is SIX, it was really nice to hear a presentation where being ONE was more important than being SIX. Lance Secretan is inspiring. His presentation, ONE, The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership, delivered at the ISSSP Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, was a welcome […]

The general session opened with Chad Holliday, CEO of DuPont. His presentation was titled “Six Sigma from the 9th Floor” (the ninth floor beinghis office). He spoke with confidence, wisdom, energy, and humor. I’m sure it takes all that and more to be a CEO. The main takeaways of his message (two pieces of learning […]

I’m here at the ISSSP Leadership conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. Not a far trip for me as I live in Phoenix, but to beat the traffic I’m staying at the hotel. The Westin Kierland Resort and Spa is spectacular. I brought my family along with me to enjoy the pool (since I sure wasn’t […]

In God We Trust, Everyone Else Bring Data This is a nine and a half minute audio excerpt of the KCPW show The Bottom Line, moderated by Lara Jones of KCPW News. Lara speaks with a panel of Army Colonels and gets to the bottom of Six Sigma at the Army Reserve’s 96th Regional Readiness […]

Later this month(May 16-19) the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals will host the 7th Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference in warm and sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. I attended the event last year and had a great time. You can read my blog entries from last year here. This year Chad Holliday, Chairman and CEO […]

For companies considering a Six Sigma initiative, read what Robert Krakauer, executive VP of strategic operations and CFO of MagnaChip had to say about their new initiative in their Q1 results release: “During the quarter, we initiated a Six Sigma management system that is expected to result in improved product quality, substantial cost savings, and […]

New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) began their Six Sigma initiative in 2003. Today they are ranked 7th in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Before implementing Six Sigma they were ranked 14th. Ed Craven, Director of Innovation Strategy at NYP said Six Sigma deserves some of the credit for jump in the ranks. […]

Dow Chemical is a Six Sigma giant. A recent news item from CCH reported that they have been using Six Sigma to reduce the number of vehicle accidents at the Hydrocarbons and Energy business unit (HC&E). “The study was conducted in 2002 and improvements and a control plan were put into place beginning January 2003. […]

Over the last two days many of the presenters have all touched upon a common theme: The hardest part of a Design for Six Sigma implementation is not the technical aspects of DFSS, but the organizational challengers, the soft side of the equation. Success is more about influencing the people than using the methodology. Today’s […]

I’m in Chicago attending the IQPC 8th annual Design for Six Sigma conference. Today’s events included presentations from HP, Bank of America, Bechtel Nevada and Motorola. Joe Ficalora, of SBTI, chaired the day. For the DFSS enthusiast today was a feast. To anyone else it probably sounded like an acronym convention. I really enjoyed the […]

Thelatest podcast is ready to download.This podcast includes highlights from the Third Annual Global Six Sigma Salary Survey, published in the March/April issue of iSixSigma Magazine. Nearly 2,500 Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions and Deployment Leaders worldwide took part inthe survey. The data is broken down by Six Sigma role, geographic location, educational level, […]

It’s nearing the end of tax season in the U.S. and chances are you’re probably using Intuit’s Turbo Tax software to figure out how much you owe, or better yet how much your return will be… Intuit is an innovative company that has revolutionized the way we do our taxes and keep our books. From […]

Here’s a gem of a post buried in an old thread I’ve been following that saw some activity today. Thanks for the laughs Linus. Re: Six Sigma Companies by Linus Barrymore Three one-sigma companies board a train in Cleveland traveling southwest at92 mph. At the same time, six two-sigma companies board another train in Cincinnati […]