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When we leave the shop floor and enter the back office, we might think that people’s desks are where they work. We’d be wrong. Their workbench, their tooling, their line … is in their heads. This means that most knowledge work (information technology [IT], legal, management, product design, finance) is invisible. My colleague Tonianne tells […]

A 250-bed hospital had implemented total quality management (TQM) to improve customer delight in its diagnostic clinics. After that success, the management team of the hospital was ready to proceed with further process improvement. After completing a brainstorming and prioritization exercise, the team determined to next address the problem: delay in receiving test reports for patients […]

In the movement known as Lean start-up, a new enterprise starts with an idea about what customers want, not an idea for a product. Quick iterations that incorporate learnings from customer conversations with each iteration, rather than elaborate up-front product planning, lead a business to success.

Communication can make or break a relationship, an organization or even a company. The next time you are writing a mission statement for your new project remember to think about how you plan to communicate.

A leading environmental services company applied the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology to improve the availability of an internal software system. The goal was to reduce system downtime (the time that the software application is not available for users) and reduce defect resolution time (the time it takes to fix a software defect […]

The DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) project lifecycle, the predominant methodology in Six Sigma for improving existing processes, is intended to bring about significant change in the behavior of the process under study. In order to know if such goals have been met, the process being worked on needs to be one in which […]

I propose that we replace the concept and word of “resistance” with the concept and word of “objection” in the change management industry. To date, we have cavalierly used “resistance” to characterize the people who don’t choose to go along with our change management plans. These people “resist” us for reasons that have been well […]

What will be the hot topics and areas of interest for operational excellence in 2014? We asked Lean Six Sigma (LSS) leaders for their predictions. Thank you for big picture predictions, personal proclamations and strategies to consider in the year ahead. Kaj Ahlmann, Owner Six Sigma Ranch & Winery When in 2006 we bottled our […]

The best of iSixSigma 2013 features the highlights of this year’s content – as determined by our readers. Most Popular Five Simple Steps to Project Certification Success For many organizations, Lean Six Sigma certification requires a Green Belt or Black Belt to present and defend their project to a panel of experts. Whether you are […]

The distribution of data can be categorized in two ways: normal and non-normal. If data is normally distributed, it can be expected to follow a certain pattern in which the data tend to be around a central value with no bias left or right (Figure 1). Non-normal data, on the other hand, does not tend […]

For several years, a fully-automated plastic drinking cup production line used excessive amounts of raw materials (plastic PET pellets) due to a wide distribution in the weight of the formed cups. When process operators and engineers had tried to reduce the plastic pellet usage by reducing the average formed cup weight, many cups – because […]

With the holiday season upon us, iSixSigma is showing appreciation to our authors by offering extra rewards for submissions in December. There are many reasons why you should be submitting articles to be published on iSixSigma.com: You receive the notoriety of being published on the premier worldwide Lean Six Sigma website You share their professional […]

Article authors, participants in discussion forums and even software documentation claim that  any data and especially time-sequenced data are useful only if they are homogeneous – that is, only if they display control chart stability (CCS).1,2,3,4 According to one quality control expert, Donald J. Wheeler, when out-of-control signals occur, “all of our computations, and all of […]

Post the subprime mortgage crisis, the growth of the financial services market has become stagnant; companies are reeling under immense pressures to sustain their profit margins. It has become imperative for the financial services sector to reduce operational costs by improving operational efficiencies and effectiveness. Financial services businesses can improve by elevating their quality of […]

A popular means for identifying the causes of a particular problem, or effect, is the aptly named cause-and-effect diagram. As the completed graphic resembles the bones of a fish, it is also commonly referred to as a “fishbone” diagram (Figure 1). The head of the “fish” is the problem statement, such as “late delivery of […]

There are many reasons why you should be submitting articles (and blogs) to be published on iSixSigma.com: You receive the notoriety of being published on the premier worldwide Lean Six Sigma website You share their professional experience and expertise You earn 100 iSixSigma reputation points for each published article (20 for each blog), increasing your […]

Cricket: Description and Glossary Cricket is one of the world’s most popular games. It is played between two teams of 11 players. In a one-day cricket game, each team is allowed to bat for a maximum of 50 overs and the team scoring more runs is declared the winner. Each team has a combination of […]

This article describes the successful implementation of a Six Sigma Green Belt project in information technology (IT) in which a software development team applied Six Sigma to reduce the resolution time of software defects and minimize rework, thereby increasing customer satisfaction. A software development team in a leading environmental services company wanted to reduce the […]

iSixSigma is publishing a series of short interviews with our community of Lean Six Sigma practitioners and leaders. Today’s special guest – Gokhan Gureser. You’re at a party and you’re introduced to someone new. Explain what you do in 2-3 sentences. Just like people, organizations also desire to recognize their potential and unleash it. The […]

In any plant, when production increases above planned-for levels – whether due to sudden increased demand or unexpected constraints in the system – contract labor may be brought in as a quick fix. While this provides some flexibility in operations, increased labor costs is a problem. Six Sigma can be used to optimize these changing […]

An information technology (IT) services company was engaged by a European telecom service provider to provide end-to-end testing for its five lines of business. End-to-end testing is a methodology used to test whether the flow of a software application is functioning as expected from start to finish – for example, from receipt of customer order […]

With this post, iSixSigma is launching a series of short interviews with our community of Lean Six Sigma practitioners and leaders. Today’s special guest – Artagnan Ayala. You’re at a party and you’re introduced to someone new. Explain what you do in 2-3 sentences. I do two things. I work to improve profits for those I […]

In January iSixSigma asked Lean Six Sigma (LSS) leaders about their predictions for the hot topics and areas of interest for operational excellence in 2013. Ten months later we checked in to see how close their predictions hit the mark. Forrest W. Breyfogle III, CEO and President Smarter Solutions, Inc. I am seeing a progression […]

The UK government has launched the SIM (See Inside Manufacturing) campaign, which educates and encourages individuals to embark on engineering and similar career paths. As part of the program, a SIM day will be organized at GKN Driveline to let them see how machines work and how parts are being handled in facilities, such as those […]

Online retailer ABC sells books, DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry. ABC has a strong market research unit and a seamless feedback loop for enhancing the customer experience. In the last few years, however, sales had dropped significantly contributing to a slip in the overall market share of […]

When the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for the second time in 1999, companies across many industries began trying to achieve the same level of outstanding customer satisfaction. This was a good thing, of course, as CEOs and executives began incorporating customer satisfaction into their company goals while also communicating […]

Reading a generalized description of how waste was reduced or eliminated in a process is interesting but it is in the details that the true impact and challenges of process improvement are found. This article describes a DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) improvement project, including key deliverables, challenges and how the challenges were met. […]

One hundred-year-old Eiji Toyoda, one of the founders of carmaker giant Toyota, died September 17 from heart failure at Toyota Memorial Hospital.

Coaching Green Belts (GBs) constitutes a primary responsibility of most Black Belts (BBs). Providing advice on which tool to use, directions on how to run a statistical test and input on preparing for a project tollgate review all exercise a BB’s technical know-how. But what if you can’t be assured of a GB’s enthusiasm for […]

A socks manufacturing company in India turned to TQM to improve its supply chain. In Part One, the case study describes the process of elminating a significant cost for the company – delivery delays. This week, Part Two of the case study looks at the broadening of the application of process improvement beyond deliveries. The […]

A socks manufacturing company in India turned to TQM to improve its supply chain. In Part One, the case study elminates a significant cost for the company – delivery delays. Part Two of the case study looks at the broadening of the application of process improvement beyond deliveries. A fledgling socks manufacturing company in India was working to […]

As parents of young children know, “Why?” is one of the most frequently asked questions they hear. And not just once. A girl asks, “Why is the sky blue?” and will proceed with further “Why?” demands to each subsequent answer for as long as the parent is willing (or able) to play along. As frustrating […]

FMEA is a risk assessment tool. Through the structured approach of an FMEA, improvement teams identify possible ways in which a product or process can fail, specify the subsequent effects, quantify the severity of those potential failures, and assess the likelihood of their occurrence. FMEA can be used to rank and prioritize the possible causes […]

The capability of a process, statistically speaking, is the ability of that process – based on historical performance – to achieve measurable results that satisfy established specifications and statistical limits. In a nutshell, process capability indicates how well a process is able to perform its specified purpose. Why is process capability important? When the capability […]

With the goal to boost employee efficiency and streamline the execution of various activities, the University of Colorado Boulder has launched a new office to focus on improving the way the university does business. The opening of the Office for Performance Improvement (OPI) is meant to not just preserve the quality of education and academic […]

The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Lifelong Engineering Education launched a new Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification program, designed for professionals interested in learning updated scientific and practical methods to improve and maintain a competitive company.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Kevin Madden (888) 744-6295 Toronto (July 29, 2013) – SigmaXL Inc., a leading provider of user friendly Excel Add-ins, announces the release of DiscoverSim Version 1.1 for Monte Carlo Simulation and Global Optimization. DiscoverSim enables you to quantify your risk through Monte Carlo simulation and minimize your risk with global […]

Many organizations attempt to improve their processes. The first instinct for many new quality personnel is to attempt 100 percent inspection. A more experienced approach to quality control is to control your inputs to eliminate defects. Consider the following scenario for an organization that had a limited capital budget but needed to ensure its product […]

The Six Sigma tool SIPOC (supplier, input, process, output, customer) is used to map processes at a high level. SIPOC diagrams are typically included as a slide in project presentations – often as a required element of a presentation template – accompanied by a perfunctory description. Presenters may not know what do with the SIPOC […]

There are many reasons why you should be submitting articles to be published on iSixSigma.com: You receive the notoriety of being published on the premier worldwide Lean Six Sigma website You share their professional experience and expertise You earn 100 iSixSigma reputation points for each published article, increasing your standing in the business community For this month […]

Have you tried to explain the concept of process capability to someone who then looks at you like you have two heads? Try using the following analogy to explain the subject more easily. Driving in a Construction Area Imagine you are driving on a highway that is undergoing construction. The width of your vehicle – […]

Regression analysis is a widely used statistical technique; it helps investigate and model relationships between variables. It also uses a derived model to predict a variable of interest. The potential applications of regression analysis are numerous and can be found in almost every field, including economics, biology, management, chemical science and social science. Applying regression […]

According to Merriam-Webster, ethics is the discipline of dealing with good and bad. If you look beyond the tools and the jargon of the Toyota Production System (TPS), this is exactly what you will find; TPS is a system for defining good and bad, and right and wrong in a production environment. When we understand […]

In Six Sigma Black Belt Curriculum and Body of Knowledge – 2012, a universal, highly technical body of knowledge was proposed to equip Black Belts with the expertise and abilities needed to lead nontrivial process improvement efforts over a full spectrum of diverse scenarios. But what additional technical knowledge should be expected for a Master […]

The manufacturing and transactional worlds have long used productivity as a measure of efficiency. Traditionally, a productivity metric has been used for assessing return on investment on machinery to measure the contributions of team members. In the growing service economy where human resources are the biggest driver of costs in the organization, management teams want […]

In Everett, Washington, the director of Boeing 777 manufacturing, Jason Clark, is proud to introduce some of the most recent Lean technologies to automation. Traditionally a team of painters would apply coats of paint on the airplane being built. An entire team would take 4 to 5 hours just to apply the initial coat. Now, […]

Lean can be applied to any industry, not just manufacturing, because any business can benefit from improvements in cycle time, cost savings, productivity, efficiency and more. This case study examines the application of Lean to the engineering services industry in the areas of design, analysis and prototyping of parts to realize improvements in a subprocess […]

Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC) recently won an environmental solution of the year award from Endeavor for using a holistic approach to sustain and operate its factory – made possible by the company’s reinvigoration using Lean Six Sigma (LSS). Several aspects of its business were improved, including its manufacturing approach, product sourcing and design. BAC makes […]

Working for a large multinational corporation has given me insight into, and sympathy for, the hearts and minds of department and cost center leaders. Each year they are required by company leadership to find millions of dollars using Six Sigma productivity initiatives – a subtle way of saying “savings.” Some people volunteer, but many are […]

In the fourth quarter of 2010, Fairbanks Morse Engine had to swallow a tough message from its customers: You are too slow and we are not going to take it anymore! After an extensive voice of the customer (VOC) effort, it was clear that our lead times for aftermarket parts were missing customers’ expectations. Although […]