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For Six Sigma to succeed in a financial services organization, the deployment team and the business need to be able to measure the benefit of the projects. This should occur from both a financial and operational effectiveness perspective.

The beginning of any design or development project should include activities aimed at a deep understanding of likely user behavior. Gathering this information should involve open-ended questions and observation, which will highlight user needs.

A Six Sigma initiative can be wildly successful or it can sadly fail. The reasons are found in 10 major points critical to the success of a Six Sigma deployment. The points also are in the list of the 10 ways that a Six Sigma initiative can fail.

The coaching of software Six Sigma is always a challenge. This top 10 list details common mistakes Green Belts in training make that can cause their projects to fail.

The following case study illustrates how a pharmaceutical company applied selected DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) tools to develop a new recruiting process for sales representatives. Tools and activities are described along the IDOV (Identify, Design, Optimize, Verify) phases, which served as a guiding roadmap through this process design project. Identify The need to completely […]

Roy Madsen, Senior Advisor to the CFO and Lean Six Sigma Champion at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said his organization had long encountered a classic catch-22: “From 5 to 10 percent of our workforce each year are people hired into entry-level examiner positions, the majority who have to move to a […]

In a conversation with iSixSigma, Nick Brownrigg, the chief executive officer of Masterlease Group, offers his views on managing for results through Lean Six Sigma and Line-of-Sight™ strategy deployment. iSixSigma: Tell us about your business and the competitive challenges you face? Mr. Brownrigg: We provide full vehicle leasing services to businesses and public sector organizations […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Beth Savage 800-777-3020 [email protected] Dayton, Ohio (March 12, 2008) – Additional customization options, an added verification event, and an enhanced maintenance section are highlights among new features offered in the latest release of GAGEpack EZ from PQ Systems, Inc. (http://www.pqsystems.com) to render gage calibration easy and accurate. Users […]

To survive in today’s competitive software-development market, organizations need to build their capabilities around delivering the best service within customer-stipulated time frames and costs. Increasing productivity – the rate of output per amount of input – is the factor most likely to give an organization an edge over others. Many software-development organizations have realized the […]

One-agent-at-a-time coaching is the go-to method in call centers for trying to improve center-wide output measures. But it is less valuable than many believe. Through the use of mathematical modeling and simulation, it is possible to see that coaching, even in moderate turnover environments, does not offer a return on investment (ROI). More-effective improvement strategies […]

Some Six Sigma practitioners are concerned about the current method used to calculate Z-scores and express process capability. A proposed modification, based on Berryman’s scorecard, may fill the need for a more intuitive and business savvy metric.

INSTANTIS Unveils EnterpriseTrack 6 and PMO Edition

Oriel Incorporated Announces the Publication of ‘Using Enabling Technology to Maximize Returns from Your Six Sigma Program’

Hertzler Systems Releases Enterprise Dashboard Module in Latest Version of GainSeeker Suite

Here is how to become a Master Black Belt: Attend a one-week training course and earn a certification from a European institute. The institute claims on the web to be officially approved and the course is for open enrollment. To most Six Sigma practitioners this does not make a lot of sense, but it raises […]

Why create a thought map? What are the benefits? What common mistakes occur, or challenges may be faced, if a thought map is not used? Using non-statistical tools as well as more complex statistical techniques such as DOE (design of experiments) and SPC (statistical process control) can improve processes and products. A potential shortcoming in […]

The Quality Group and KEPNERandFOURIE Root Cause Analysis Online

North Carolina State University Teams with MoreSteam.com: Now Offers Online Lean Six Sigma Training

During the life of a Six Sigma project, proper communication is the key to ultimate success. An effective communication plan must be established at the onset of any Six Sigma project. The data that is produced, analyzed, interpreted and distributed (as information) throughout a project can be enormous in volume and depth. Unfortunately, too often […]

For Lt. Col. Harry Yates of the 335th Theater Signal Command and his deployment advisor Capt. George Harris, Lean Six Sigma is having a big impact on the way daily work gets done. The 335th is an Army Reserve command co-located with Fort McPherson in East Point, Georgia. It is responsible for signal operations supporting […]

Basic terminologies of time series and forecasting can be difficult to understand. There are four basic learning points: The definition of forecasting Forecasting as a business and communicative process (not a statistical tool) General definitions used in forecasting (regardless of statistical tool) The statistical/mathematical techniques Becoming Aware of the Broad View of Forecasting: Overview – […]

Many businesses have a process in place to assist with project management and implementation. One opportunity for improvement involves making reasonable estimates of how big a project is and how much it is going to cost. There are many different names for tools used with this process: business needs specification, requirements specification or, simply, business […]

The growth of the Six Sigma DMAIC continuous improvement process in the United States’ more service-oriented economy is not proceeding as fast as it did earlier in the country’s manufacturing industries. DMAIC is a well-proven process, but requires a systematic approach to project selection in transactional environments. When companies are squeezed on cost and drive […]

When initiating process improvement the question often arises which to pursue first – Lean, Agile, Six Sigma or a combination of these tools. There have been case studies surrounding the order of choice – or whether Lean and Six Sigma complement each other at all. Many Six Sigma experts have spent significant time living and […]

Omnex and AIAG Announce Global Training Partnership

Value at the point of production does not necessarily translate into value at the point of consumption. Likewise, Lean Six Sigma initiatives focused on the factory floor do not ensure that the end user is receiving that value. As a product moves through the distribution system there are many factors that can diminish its value. […]

GE Healthcare’s Consulting Group Reveals Emergency Department Strategies

Instantis Announces Record Sales Performance

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” With those words, President Kennedy launched the program that has become the stereotypical example of multi-generation project planning. At the time, multi-generation project planning (MGPP) was not a popular tool, […]

Organizations often have a strategy and process improvement program in place, but eventually start seeing signs of waning momentum. The organizations experience a familiar realization that it is difficult to sustain improvements. Organizations including hospitals and health systems have encountered similar challenges. It is not easy to launch a major change initiative in healthcare, and […]

When plotting data from an improvement project, the difference between a start-based or end-based time series plot can be substantial. Understanding and accounting for this difference will avoid incorrect conclusions and lead to to better results.

Alternative dispute resolution has become a popular way to identify the root cause of a problem and to build a solution strategy – both in and out of the business world. In some environments this is accomplished by a mediator or arbitrator. Mediators act as neutrals to reconcile differences before proceeding to arbitration or litigation. […]

Forecasting is an integral part of business management. The better the forecast, the better management will be able to plan for the future. Although there are many methods for making forecasts, some are better suited than others for particular situations. For short-term forecasting, Black Belts can benefit from analyzing production trends and looking for special […]

Lean Six Sigma, a process-driven program to reduce defects, relies heavily on a decidedly process-free emotion: passion. A motivated, driven team can make the difference between success and failure. I know about the power of motivation – I learned to walk again with braces and crutches after a 55-foot fall that left me as a […]

Six Sigma leaders from three of America’s premier healthcare institutions – The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic and New York-Presbyterian Hospital – recently shared their experiences with Six Sigma. These institutions are applying the method in order to improve operations and, ultimately, patient care. They offered the following advice for hospitals considering deployments of their […]

There are many stories written about successful top-down change, but few about successful middle-out change – probably because the latter is much more difficult to achieve than the former. Sometimes, however, middle-out change is the only option – and with the right leader, success is possible. The following story, which took place at a North […]

It can be challenging at first to find the connections between Six Sigma and Agile; a number of obstacles stand in the way of reaching an integrated view. But there is some untapped leverage that, if explored, may ease the use of the two methods. It is often more interesting to find the intersections that […]

Instantis Reports Record First Quarter Sales

Instantis Publishes Enterprise Portfolio Management Vision

Projects are the core of every Six Sigma initiative. Identifying the right projects, having skilled people on board, and providing a proper environment for project execution determines whether the intended process and business results can be achieved and whether Six Sigma will be perceived as a powerful approach to contribute to business success. A relatively […]

Many Six Sigma practitioners have asked how the Supply-Chain Operations Reference model, or SCOR®, relate to Six Sigma and Lean. However, perhaps a more relevant question should be, “How can Six Sigma and Lean make a SCOR model more effective?” SCOR, a trademark of the Supply-Chain Council, consists of several hierarchal levels. These are shown […]

Six Sigma Directory

iSixSigma Announces Alliance with Global Provider of Six Sigma Conferences

Coaching software Six Sigma is always a challenge. Coaches must help to get concepts taught and ingrained, to find the right projects to provide the broadest experience, and to balance the participants’ “real job” with Six Sigma study and work.

In many Six Sigma projects, practitioners use traditional voice-of-the-customer techniques to find the specifications clients seek. But to get the full picture, they should also try a set of data-gathering methods known as corporate ethnography.

Despite a new lab, Ephrata Community Hospital faced the challenge of meeting the goal of a 60-minute turnaround time for all stat labs. Thus the lab management team chose to learn to use the Lean methodology to improve its lab processes.

In order to successfully deliver service to customers, satisfy them and increase the likelihood of future business, transactional companies can make good use of the 5S tool as a basic framework to manage workplace dynamics.