Category: Blogs

I read a great blog post today in Agus Rachman’s Blog. He attended Microsoft’s Enterprise Project Management Solutions Seminar at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. He comments on the Office Solution Accelerator for Six Sigma presentation by Microsoft: “But the third, by Sudimin Mina of Microsoft Indonesia was quite enlightening. He opened his session by […]

Phelps Dodge is one of the world’s leading producers of copper. In 2001 they began an initiative called “Quest for Zero” that involves Lean, Six Sigma and other tools. Today, they continue in their Quest for Zero and have seen significant savings. “Quest for Zero – as in zero accidents, zero production variances, zero environmental […]

American Express began their Six Sigma journey with a pilot initiative late in 1998. A small group of Black Belts across disciplines, functions and business units were trained and completed projects. After the initial pilot the program spread slowly to other business units. In 2001, Six Sigma became part of the Global Reengineering initiative and […]

ITT Industries began their Six Sigma program in 2000. It is named Value Based Six Sigma (VBSS) because it is linked to Value Based Management principles. Their Summer 2000 newsletter (PDF) is loaded with information introducing the new initiative: “Value-Based Six Sigma is a new company-wide continuous improvement effort that — according to ITT Industries […]

Fortune 500 Six Sigma companies in the Industrial Sector. Includes Metals and Industrial & Farm Equipment industries: Alcoa American Standard Black & Decker Caterpillar Cummins Deere Eaton Illinois Tool Works ITT Industries Parker Hannifin Phelps Dodge Timken York International

Fortune 500 Six Sigma companies in the Retail Industry: Albertsons Amazon.com Avnet Best Buy Big Lots Circuit City Stores Federated Department Stores Fisher Scientific International Home Depot IKON Office Solutions Ingram Micro Lowe’s May Department Stores Office Depot Radio Shack Sears Roebuck Target Wal-Mart Stores

Richard Weissman “shamelessly promotes” his article “The Pitfalls of Six Sigma” on the SCM Wire blog.The article appears in the May 2005 edition of The Manufacturer. The title of the article is deceptive and lead me to believe it was written from a negative bias, but the opposite is true.The article discusses some of the […]

Supply Chain Management Review – The Next Stage of Supply Chain Excellence. This article does a fine job speaking to how Lean and Six Sigma are helping shape the future of Supply Chain.Six Sigma Companies included in the article: IBM, Dow, 3M, Textron, Lockheed Martin, GlaxoSmithKline and Delphi. The authors, Gregory L. Schlegel and Richard […]

The remaining three iPod Shuffles were given away to three deserving individuals wearing iSixSigma buttons today. We ordered over 500 buttons, and if I hadn’t grabbed a pack of 20 from the box they all would have been given away. Thanks to Frank and Erin (our editors for the iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine, respectively) for […]

After following the market for nearly four years, I decided I needed a place to organize my Six Sigma thoughts as they were crowding my head. I decided to jump on the blogwagon and write about something I knew well…Six Sigma. A few months worth of posts to my blog caught the eye of Michael […]

Air Academy Associates graciously shared their booth with iSixSigma Magazine at the ASQ World Quality Conference, May 16-18. A few customers and alliance partners also displayed iSixSigma Magazine reprints. Thank you to everyone! The process for winner selection was pretty simple: wear a button, win an iPod Shuffle (if we see you wearing your button […]

Dominion is now in its fifth year of an enterprise-wide Six Sigma initiative. Their unique approach encourages the entrepreneurial spirit and has led to $300 million in savings since 2001. Dominion is active in the Six Sigma community, speaking at conferences and sharing best practices on deployment issues. A quick stroll through Dominion’s history and […]

The Energy Sector consists of the Energy and the Utilities: Gas & Electric industries of the Fortune 500. Six Sigma companies in the Energy sector: Constellation Energy Dominion Entergy FPL Group Public Service Enterprise Group TXU Notable Fortune 1000 companies using Six Sigma are: Alliant Energy Allegheny Energy Aquila

The article, Lehman Wants More Efficiency, appeared today on Forbes.com. The author, Liz Moyer, writes: “Lehman has quietly put together what it calls a “productivity and process improvement” group. Formed in January, it reports to Chief Administrative Officer David Goldfarb.” Mike Cyger, founder of iSixSigma.com, is quoted in regards to productivity improvement: “There are twice […]

It’s clear that Six Sigma pays. This issue’s Benchmarking feature (iSixSigma Magazine, May/June 2005) presents a positive picture of the average annual salaries of Six Sigma professionals around the world. Black Belt and Master Black Belt salaries increased 5.4 and 5.3 percent respectively since last year – climbing to $74,000 and $98,000. In the United […]

Larry Johnson, CEO of Albertsons, spoke at the Lehman Brothers Retail Seminar on April 26, 2005. He gave a detailed update on the progress they have made with their Six Sigma deployment. The webcast is available from Albertsons Investor Information until May 17, 2005. The following quotes were transcribed: “All of these initiatives, along with […]

Over the years I have enjoyed the many articles that have speculated on the future of Six Sigma.This past month I have read three articles in particular that offered differing opinions on where Six Sigma is headed. According to Thomas Pyzdek, in Cargo Cult Six Sigma. Is the fad fading?: “As someone who follows Six […]

The Construction sector includes the following Fortune 500 industries: Homebuilders – Engineering, Construction – Building Materials, Glass The list is short and includes: Jacobs Engineering Group Owens Corning Notable Fortune 1000 companies include Armstrong Holdings, Vulcan Materials and  Martin Marietta Materials.

The 2005 Fortune 500 is out! I have been anxiously waiting for the new list to perform my annual ritual of updating my Six Sigma Fortune list with the new rankings. I have been keeping tabs on Six Sigma in the Fortune 500 since 2001 when Wal-Mart was #2 wedged between Exxon and GM. Wal-Mart […]

Pharmaceuticals is a place where Six Sigma does more than save money. Less defects in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industries save lives. All the Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical companies are using Six Sigma. Abbott Laboratories Amgen Bristol-Myers Squibb Eli Lilly Johnson & Johnson Merck Pfizer Schering-Plough Wyeth

The Computers & Electronics sector consists of the following Fortune 500 industries: Computers, Office Equipment Computer Software Computer Peripherals Computer and Data Services Semiconductors and Other Electronic Components Electronics, Electrical Equipment Early Six Sigma pioneers were Texas Instruments, IBM, Solectron, and Sun Microsystems. Below is a list of Computers & Electronics companies that are using […]

The Consumer Food Products Sector includes the Fortune 500 industries, Beverages, Food Production and Consumer Food Products. The following companies are using Six Sigma: Campbell Soup Coca-Cola Kellogg PepsiCo

IKON Office Solutions is quickly becoming a major voice for Six Sigma in the Business Services industry. Matt Espe came to IKON in August, 2002 and less than a year later his GE roots revealed themselves with a corporate Six Sigma initiative. An overview of IKON’s Six Sigma initiative is told best through their annual […]

Pfizer currently uses Six Sigma as one of the tools in their “Right First Time” initiative. Right First Time also includes Process Analytical Technology (PAT) which is an FDA prescribed framework for quality assurance in the pharmaceutical industry. Food & Drug Packaging published a Special Report in May 2004 that reveals details of their program: […]