Category: Teams

A method exists for quality professionals who would like to obtain the benefits of a corrective and preventive action (CAPA) system, but do not have the time or resources to dedicate to deployment of the full initiative. This is particularly true for those working in companies involved in agile product development where there must be […]

All Six Sigma teams are groups of individuals, but not all groups of individuals have the cohesiveness of a team. Teams outperform individuals because they generate a special energy. This energy develops as team members work together, fusing their personal energies and talents to deliver tangible performance results. The behavioral descriptors of a successful team […]

Process owners are a vital part of successful DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) projects. Process owners are responsible for the management of processes within the organization. In some cases process owners are current leaders/managers, and in other cases process owners may be taken from non-leadership positions. They are the […]

Six Sigma has been adopted by some of the world’s leading companies as a mechanism to improve bottom line results and delight customers. But though the companies have made spectacular gains in some areas – millions of dollars in increased revenue or reduced costs – success has not been uniform. Deploying Six Sigma in areas of […]

Imagine that an organization has chartered four Six Sigma improvement teams – one each in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each has been given the charter to reduce manufacturing cycle times. The four facilities are virtually identical, producing comparable products and packaging, with the same technology. However, even with an equal degree […]

Somewhere within the Six Sigma brother/sisterhood are the unwritten rules of hierarchy: Grandmaster Black Belts mentor Master Black Belts, Master Black Belts mentor Black Belts and Black Belts mentor Green Belts. It is a great example of a traditional pyramidal reporting structure. However, within this hierarchy lies a hidden factory of defects. Six Sigma deployments […]