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The famous poet, Alexander Pope said, “To err is human … ” Using Error Mode Effects Analysis (EMEA) will help mitigate, eliminate and prevent those human errors.

As complexity increases so does the probability of error. Scrap, rework, defects, retesting, and recalls are all expensive. With failure mode and effects analysis we’ll show you the true value of adopting this approach.

Where should you focus your improvement efforts; the vital few or the trivial many? Let’s define these two terms so you can answer the question.

Six Sigma is a philosophy of business and a set of tools for improving all your organizational processes. There are three strategies or desired outcomes of deploying Six Sigma. Let’s explore them further.

Time value mapping helps to eliminate areas of waste and improve the efficiency of a work item process. Read on to learn what it is and how it works.

As the name implies, process capability is the ability of your process to meet your customer’s expectations. There are a number of calculated metrics which can be used to indicate your process capability.

An understanding of this concept is an absolute must when it comes to making your business thrive. Find out more about Price Recovery and its impact on your business.

Chi-square analysis is a powerful tool for examining the relationship between variables formatted in a table. One consumer products company used it to look at its consumers in a different way, resulting in a significant increase in sales and profitability of its product portfolio.  Traditionally, an organization’s sales and marketing department makes advertising decisions based […]

After experiencing multiple adverse medical events, one large hospital system moved from the sole use of a reactive root cause analysis approach to include a proactive Failure Modes and Effects Analysis strategy, which significantly reduced adverse medical events.  As was the strategy at the time, a large tax supported public health system relied on root […]

Stop guessing what your customers value in your product or service. Use conjoint analysis to determine what features are most important to them and have the data to support your decisions. Conjoint analysis is often described as a design of experiments (DOE) for marketing. It is a structured way to help you identify and evaluate […]

Don’t you hate it when you make a mistake? A type 1 error is a mistake you can make when erroneously interpreting your data. Let’s learn what that mistake is and how to keep from making it.

You have heard the old saying that no two grains of sand are alike. Variation is everywhere. But, some variation is predictable, some is not? Special cause variation in the non predictable type of variation. Let’s learn more about it. 

Of the 7 Lean Six Sigma principles about getting the right people involved at the right time, quorum is one not just limited to improvement projects but also to any project a company may undertake.

When you think about the word “product,” you probably think about the physical things you buy and use every day—diapers for your baby, toothpaste for your teeth, or a cup of coffee to get you through the afternoon. But when it comes to Lean Six Sigma (LSS), products aren’t always tangible.

Never-ending improvement is the heart of any continuous improvement effort. PDSA, developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, is one of the fundamental tools used today for continuous improvement.

A definition of percent of tolerance is provided, and its importance, benefits, and best practices are explored.

The interquartile range is a measure of the variation in your data. While it is a calculated number, it is often shown in a graphical format on a box plot.

When someone says your data has kurtosis, do you think this is referring to some disease? Kurtosis can be a natural state of your data. Let’s find out more about kurtosis and what it means.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is often quoted as saying, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” But should the change be radical or incremental? Kaikaku is the Japanese word for “radical change”

How hard can it be to make orange juice? As one large global company found out, no single Six Sigma tool will solve all the problems in an organization. However, the integration of a number of tools such as correlation, Measurement System Analysis (MSA), control charts, and process capability will help solve many of them.  […]

Let’s look at the financial division of a global conglomerate. One of its businesses was providing loans to corporate clients. Although a dominant player in the market, the company still had to compete with other organizations to provide financing and lending to myriad businesses. By using binary logistic regression to help refine its lending offers, […]

Providing the proper organizational environment for engaging people in your continuous improvement effort will provide large benefits for your organization. In this study, we look at how the combination of using control charts and providing an environment for people engagement helped one company achieve significant financial benefits. Control charts are a powerful tool for understanding […]

Most businesses today brag about how they make data driven decisions on important company issues. But, what if the data is not accurate or reflective of what is really going on in the company? You might be making the wrong business decisions and inadvertently costing your company lots of money. Let’s see how one company […]

A company producing commercial ink products noticed that injury rates during one step in their manufacturing process were rising after the introduction of a new product. A Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB) consultant was hired to help the company try to resolve this serious problem. Was there a simple solution, or would it […]

Culture is the “white whale” of leadership: in Moby Dick, Captain Ahab was obsessed with capturing the white whale, and modern leaders have a similar obsession with developing organizational culture.  Lean Six Sigma organizations task themselves with fostering a culture of continuous improvement (or kaizen) that draws from customer requirements, objective data and metrics, and […]

The problem: Healthcare providers needed to safely care for patients over the course of the pandemic. But how could they keep everyone safe without adequate supply of N95 masks?

You’ve involved the appropriate stakeholders in the work, done robust voice of the customer work and data analysis, dug into root causes, and developed and piloted a number of promising solutions to the problem. But your efforts haven’t been sustained. Here are three reasons why.

All over every industry there is a graveyard of deployments that began with all the right factors. Why is that?

The pandemic brought new challenges to all industries. Here, learn how one skilled nursing center used Lean Six Sigma to address three.

The supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you invite your suppliers into the profitability equation, you can facilitate success for everyone in the supply chain.

HKPO has unveiled Sensei On Demand, a revolutionary online learning service designed to develop the next generation of continuous improvement business leaders with engaging content, coaching, and mentoring, bite-size modules, and a network of peers and mentors.

Everyone’s heard the saying in support of teamwork that two heads are better than one. But once you get the right heads together, how do you turn that group of people into a team?

Successful innovation is not only about the creation of a new idea but also about its execution.

“As an add-in to the already familiar Microsoft Excel, SigmaXL is ideal for Lean Six Sigma training or use in a college statistics course, and is now compatible with Mac Excel 2016, 2019 and 365. Version 9 adds Time Series Forecasting and advanced control charts.”

Need help setting a vision for your team? Read about how a new leader found inspiration through a phone call to his local fire department, and learn the five practical steps to casting a vision.

QFD speeds up the product development process by removing what doesn’t matter to the customer. Just like the Kano analysis, QFD is interested in what the customer says is important. The format of QFD removes the time-consuming activities that don’t add value.

TestOil’s tagline is “Remarkable in Every Way” and Lean is central to making that statement a reality. Top-down leadership ensures all employees are part of the continuous improvement culture.

We must understand the needs and values of the customers at a deeper level. To this end we employ Kano analysis.

The new book, Flawless Launches – Profitable Products, by Eric C. Maass, PhD, is now available as an eBook on Amazon.

The customer journey value stream (CJVS) is the best starting place for the Lean community to engage in the processes of product development.

Medical device companies must comply with FDA requirements to address quality issues through a complex and sometimes inefficient process called CAPA. One such company applied Six Sigma to the CAPA process to significantly reduce rework loops, reduce cycle time and reduce time to resolve rejections.

Why hasn’t Lean revolutionized product development like it has operations? We don’t share product development knowledge.

By using smaller bites from a large problem, you can quantitatively assess performance and then apply improvement changes.

While a Bolling mill machine creates uniform sheets of rubber with ease, it also poses a danger to an operator’s hands. Reducing rescue time and improving safety measures made for a successful Yellow Belt project in one lab.

The best of iSixSigma 2020 features the highlights of this year’s content – those best loved by our readers.

Business process maps are a popular continuous improvement tool. A six-layer approach elevates their usefulness.

The Colorado Department of Transportation’s Lean Everyday Idea program has successfully implemented over 345 ideas as of fall 2020. But how does the word spread across an entire state?

The California High-Speed Rail Authority built their program on a foundation of disciplined process mapping. Check out their excellent best practices and up your game with this meat-and-potatoes tool.

If the Mayo Clinic can do it, so can you! Let this case study at the medical organization’s Phoenix Transplant Center be your guide to operational excellence in healthcare settings.

Don’t let the costs of poor quality eat your profits for breakfast. Learn how to stay competitive by understanding the components of TCOQ and how to optimize them – and ultimately the quality of your product or service.