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I have been thinking a lot lately about how the Toyota Production System was developed. Unlike those of us who have books, websites, and training programs in abundance, Toyota engineers took their process of assembly-line manufacture of automobiles and created, in incremental steps, the methodology that’s now known as Lean. It took shape over a […]

“Perhaps what you measure is what you get. More likely, what you measure is all you’ll get. What you don’t (or can’t) measure is lost” – H. Thomas Johnson Those of you who are Deming fans may liken this quote to Deming’s admonition that “the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown […]

This is just for fun and to win a real prize you need to have been very good all year and have a generous expense account. Good old Santa wants to give you a Christmas present. He’s checked if you have been naughty or nice and the news is not good, so you have to […]

Well, it’s time for my annual Christmas Blog! With apologies to Charles Dickens, here is my adapted version of his “Ghost Story of Christmas” (first published in 1843). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stave 1: Muda’s Ghost The workers at the Shusendo & Muda Company are very busy being highly productive. The boss, Ebenezer Shusendo, only gives performance bonuses […]

I got this from a friend and decided to share it with my friends at Six Sigma. I thought this might represent the process many use when they don’t plan. Just get the job done. Don’t worry about process or structure or planning. Just do it. Hm…. You think a value stream map would help? […]

Last year iSixSigma Magazine ran a cover story on PointRoll and the beginnings of their Six Sigma initiative. PointRoll, a leading online ad agency, is a small company by Fortune 500 revenue standards (less than 100 million in revenue) and even smaller Six Sigma company by Six Sigma standards (1 Black Belt and 7 Green […]

We’ve all seen the “resistance curve” where a few people are innovators, some are early adopters, early and late majorities, and a few are laggards, or skeptics, or what-have-you (from the work of Everett Rogersand other researchers). One way to get almost everyone to be an early adopter is to offer something of value – […]

NewPage Corp. is the cover story in the November/December 2008 issue of iSixSigma Magazine. “From its inception three years ago, NewPage planned to make Lean Six Sigma an integral part of how the company was run. The paper producer is using the methodology to connect its amalgam of mills in a common culture and to […]

Six Sigma, which is beginning to acquire some grey around the temples, has now advanced to the stage where the basic requirements for success of the program are fairly well known. That doesn’t stop it from being screwed up in about 95% of installations, but no one can say that’s due to a lack of […]

iSixSigma Live Summit ’09 Update – Reception & Keynote Trump International Beach Resort Miami, Florida 5:30-7:30 P.M., Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Six Sigma Wine Tasting and Welcome Reception Hosted by Six Sigma Winery Open to All Summit Attendees 11:30 A.M., Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Mr. Kaj Ahlmann Keynote: “Six Sigma and Wine: Art or Science?” […]

iSixSigma Live! has announced the finalists for the awards that will be given at the Miami Summit in January. The top three finalists for the award, Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up Program, are: Betfair, NewPage Corp., and Unlimited Technology Inc. Finalists for the award, Most Successful Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program, are: United Services […]

I used to work in the IT business and we were always on the look-out for the next “big thing” to cash in on. It was things like moving from mainframes to open systems and onto Microsoft Windows, relational databases, business intelligence systems, OLAP reporting and CRM systems. Sowhile I was travelling home from Sydney […]

I’ve spent a good part of this past summer travelling for business. In the past, I might have flown a few times a year for conferences, but this year I’ve earned quite a few “miles,” Now, I know that some of you are already experienced Road Warriors, and you are probably already laughing at me, […]

Webster’s defines delight as “extreme satisfaction.” It is what gets your customers to say WOW!

You invest 4 months of your life. You work in close co-operation with the operational teams. You gain buy-in and agreement on an innovative solution to enhance business performance. You build sustainability into the solution. You identify clear benefits in terms of financial, process, people and customer. It’s a text-book project. So return in 6 […]

  The Best Places to Work Competition has wrapped up and the top ten finalists have emerged. Now we’re not going to tell you where the No. 1 place for Six Sigma professionals to work is yet… or what the order of the top ten is…. We’re saving that for the awards ceremony in January. […]

Winning isn’t everything; in fact, many times a “win” is in finishing the race or improving the score, whether that means fewer defects, decreased cycle time and/or improved customer satisfaction. But there are times when a win is a win and calls for more attention than is usually given to the everyday job well done. […]

When I started in continuous improvement (CI) four years ago it was via the traditional Six Sigma DMAIC route. I was indoctrinated into the Six Sigma world and have earned my ASQ CSSBB and can do impressive stuff with statistics. Lean was not even on the radar for me, it was just another approach that […]

Lincoln Electric, a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of welding equipment, improves operational efficiency through Six Sigma AND fosters innovation at the same time. Looks like we’ve got some benchmarking to do. “In the last three years, Chairman, President and CEO John M. Stropki has led his team through eight acquisitions and […]

It’s time again for iSixSigma to gather salary data for the6th annual Global Six Sigma Salary Survey. This survey is a little different that our traditional kind. To gather data we go to the iSixSigma Job Shop database where thousands of Six Sigma professionals have uploaded their resumes. Along with uploading a resume, we ask […]

Good enough is just not good enough anymore and has not been for a long time.

Six Sigma is an amazingly persistent program. I was left off the list for the official birth announcement, but someone should probably be planning ahead for a thirtieth birthday party in the next few years. That’s remarkable longevity for trumped up flavor-of-the-month program. I think Six Sigma is utterly absurd in many respects. Even if […]

Erie County’s Six Sigma initiative is set to save 1.5 million dollars by year end. Almost a half million more than the initial goal. Below is the news reporting the story. Interviews with Al Hammonds, Deputy County Executive and former Six Sigma Director as well as the new Six Sigma Director Bill Carey. http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61254&provider=gnews Yet […]

Barq’s isn’t the only thing with bite. At Dominion, it’s Six Sigma that gives data teeth. Director of travel and corporate services, Donna Kelliher, said in a recent Travel Procurement cover story article: “You can do those quick analyses, but when you put Six Sigma behind it, you’re using statistical tools and people will buy […]

I recently bought some registry cleaning software on the internet using PayPal. My mistake, it was a scam. I made contact with the PayPal Dispute Resolution team to see if I could get my money back. Followed the highly efficient process (no human interaction) and made repeated attempts to contact the supplier before escalating to […]

I can’t help but wonder if banking and finance has an administrative concept equal or similar to lean process strategic planning. As accounting goes I suspect that efficiency, correct mathematical computation and balanced accounts all are considered important and of value to the banking customer. But what is the value added to high or irresponsible […]

Jeannine Hall and I returned home from the wild night out in Denver last night. The Social and Networking Party in downtown Denver was a success: people met, mingled, ate, drank and made new friends. Over 100 Denver-ites registered for this event, and we hope to have even more the next time. Thanks to our […]

That would be “Leadership.” I’ve been given a definition of leadershipthat I’d like to discuss with you and ask your opinion about. The question that was posed to me was, “What is a leader?” I gave what I thought was a pretty good response – about having a vision, bringing people along in the direction […]

It is funny how such a small gesture can make a big difference. Just the fact that I am talking about it four days later lets you know what an impression it made (net promoter score will be high on this one).

Here’s some news you may not have heard yet… iSixSigma will be serving up some sweet awards at a breakfast ceremony during the iSixSigma Live! Miami conference. All the details on each award can be found at: http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html The iSixSigma MVP awards are my favorites… We’re looking for the: Most prolific poster on iSixSigma discussion […]

If you live in the Denver, Colorado, area or are planning to be in town next Thursday, 9/25, be sure to make your way over to the Tabor Center for the iSixSigma Live! Social and Networking Party in Denver. Only 2 RSVP spots remain, so don’t delay — sign up today. Our first Social and […]

I have the privilege this semester of teaching a “Professional Practice” class for college seniors in Clinical Laboratory Science. These arethe folks who will be doing (among other things) any blood tests that you may have drawn in a doctor’s office, hospital, or health fair. Since I had input into the curriculum, I decided to […]

There’s been quite a bit of Six Sigma laundering going on these days…Gianna’s post, Dirty Socks, Ron Pereira’s posts, Laundy Kaizen and How to Fold a T-Shirt in Two Motions, and now we have this video segment from MSNBC. Northeast Laundromat owners Leonard and Jennifer Cooperman, in St. Petersburg Florida, were the recipients of MSNBC’s […]

One of the central problems all organizations face is balancing long term thinking with short terms needs. It is clear that time and resources need to be devoted to both; companies that live moment to moment don’t survive very long, while those that focus on the big picture without worrying about the details usually don’t […]

If you haven’t had a chance to view our latest video of the iSixSigma Live! Social and Networking Party in Seattle, here’s your chance: If you attended, be sure to forward this page to your friends and ask them to see if they can spot you! 🙂 The photo gallery fromiSixSigma Live! Seattle is also available.

For a hobby last year I started making cider (hard cider in the US). Below are some of the demijohns of apple juice I fermented. I cracked open a finished bottle and it looked & smelt great, but the taste…. it was insipid, slightly acidic and low in alcohol. Not good. Being in the business […]

After reading my last post, 5S Your Email Inbox, a couple of colleagues asked whether they could apply 5S to sending emails as well. Here are the guidelines that I use – I’m sure others have their methods, too, so feel free to share your own best practices! SORT 1. Ask yourself, does the recipient really […]

There will be a Lean and Six Sigma meeting in Houston, TX, on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 5:30 PM. Tom Tatevasion of Cameron will host the event. Tom will provide an overview of the group, a tour of the Cameron Compression Systems facility, and discuss their Lean Six Sigma program. If you live in […]

I love to open my business email inbox in the morning, don’t you? Especially if you’ve been practicing good work-life balance and haven’t peeked at it since the end of business the day before. When I go on vacation, it’s a special treat. Here’s a 5S strategy that I have used to keep up with […]

An arbitrary and statistically flawed tie-breaking rule cost Nastia Liukin of the United States the gold medal in the women’s uneven bars competition at the Olympics earlier this month, according to Dr. Prasad Raje, CEO of Instantis. After looking at the tied scores of gymnasts Liukin and He Kexin of China, Raje figures that Liukin […]

Whichprioritized projects would Peter Piper pick? I’ve been asked to speak about project selection at an upcoming symposium. In doing research for this,I’ve reviewed articlesfrom iSixSigma and other sources, from both the Six Sigma “ranked project hopper” perspective and the Lean A3 – strategic deployment perspective. And I’ve done some project-picking in my time, too, […]