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I have been drawing the Cox-Box cartoons from personal experience and would welcome stories from you. Your personal experiences in the application of Six Sigma methodologies and tools could become a future cartoon. This cartoon came as the first real experience I had creating control charts in Minitab. The only data I had available was […]

William Swanson delivered a high energy keynote address packed with insight into Raytheon Six Sigma. Aside from the details of the tremendous progress they have made since 1999, his advice on leadership was the highlight of his remarks. Bill said there are four qualities of leadership: Confidence: Confidence is knowing your strengths and weaknesses and […]

Daniel Burnham brought Six Sigma to Raytheon from AlliedSignal in 1998.  Their enterprise-wide deployment has prospered and is known as Raytheon Six Sigma.  They follow the unique Raytheon Six Sigma Process, six steps that guide projects to completion: visualize, commit, prioritize, characterize, improve, and achieve. They have also customized the titles they give the Six Sigma workforce: Specialists (Green Belt), Experts […]

This is my first post from the ISSSP 6th Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference. I’ll be attending the four-day event in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA mingling with the Six Sigma community and, of course, blogging. Today, Steve Zinkgraf and Debby Sollenberger of Sigma Breakthrough Technologies (SBTI) delivered a workshop called “Program Revitalization – The Next Evolution […]

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Visteon, steeped in Lean Manufacturing since 1996, began integrating Six Sigma with Leanin2000.Today Visteon continues to leverage the combined strength of the two methodologies.Although the 2003 and 2004 annual reports fail to mention Six Sigma or Lean there is ample evidence thatthe two methodologies are part of the way they do business. Lou Whitlock, the […]

Leslie Behnke, Vice President Six Sigma Business Excellence, is leading the Six Sigma initiative at CIGNA. She joined CIGNA in 2002 from Motorola where she led Six Sigma activities for over a decade. The initiative is called “Six Sigma Business Excellence” and includes the standard DMAIC and DMADV methodologies. CIGNA annual reports do not mention […]

Fortune 500 companies in the Insurance industry using Six Sigma: American International Group, Inc. (AIG) Berkshire Hathaway Allstate Prudential Financial Aetna CIGNA Northwestern Mutual UnitedHealth Group USAA Principal Financial Lincoln National Conseco

Whirlpool started to investigate Six Sigmashortly after GE and at least a full year ahead of Maytag. Named Operational Excellence, the initiative went corporate-wide in 1997 and involves a blend of methodologies. Just like clothes need a washer and dryer to get clean, Whirlpool has been using Six Sigma and Lean to scrub away inefficiencies. […]

The Last Word from the July/August 2005 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, entitled “Designing for Perfection: Six Stories of Innovation with Six Sigma.” One of my pet peeves is when people refer to Six Sigma as a cost-cutting or productivity methodology. That definition tells only half of the story, focusing on the DMAIC improvement methodology and […]

Six Sigma for Dummies has been getting a lot of press lately in the news. I had the chance last week to meet with Craig Gygi, co-author of Six Sigma for Dummies, at his office in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.The only thing difficult about Craig is trying to say his last name, Gygi (pronounced “gee-gee” as […]

American Standard has been using Six Sigma to improve just about everything in the business from reducing energy costs to building a better toilet. Five years into their program Six Sigma has grown to include Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and supplier training. And they are serious about their suppliers getting trained in Six Sigma […]

Jacobs Engineering Group is a diversified provider of professional technical services. They work on construction and engineering projects for the Automotive, Chemical, Petroleum, Pharmaceutical and Technology industries. They also do work for the Aerospace and Defense industry including the US Department of Defense, NASA, and US military operations. Savings and Benefits Jacobs Engineering Group uses […]

Maytag coined the term LeanSigma® and has been utlizing the two methods in tandem since 1998.LeanSigma is a methodology that draws on the symbiotic relationship between Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma to eliminate waste and reduce variation.The dual initiative at Maytag has grown to include their suppliers and Design for LeanSigma (DFLS).The basic tenets of […]

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The International Society of Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP) will host the Sixth Annual Six Sigma Leadership Conference, June 27-30 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. I will be attending this conference and hope to have the opportunity to do some real-time blogging of the events. Conference Highlights Keynote Address: William H. Swanson, Chairman and CEO, Raytheon Company. […]

On Wednesday, I listened to an Industry Week webcast on Six Sigma deployment strategies for small and mid-sized companies. Terence T. Burton, President of The Center for Excellence in Operations, Inc., delivered a well thought-out presentation covering an intro to Six Sigma, the Scaleable Six Sigma approach for small companies and lessons from the trenches. […]

PACCAR has been truckin’ down the Six Sigma highway for nearly eight years.The arrival of Helene Mawyer, a Master Black Belt from GE, jump-started the corporate initiative which was naturally modeled after AlliedSignal and GE.Today, Six Sigma at PACCAR continues to accelerate and includes Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), supplier training, and “High Impact Kaizen […]

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the second largest bank in the US. The leading global financial services firm was built from the successful merger of JPMorgan and Chase Manhattan Bank in December 2000 and the recent merger with Bank One in July 2004. Dr. Alex Balbontin, Vice President of Productivity and Quality and Master Black […]

Albertsons released their First Quarter 2005 Results today. They continue to publicly announce their progress with their corporate-wide Six Sigma initiative: “The number of Six Sigma black belts rose to nearly 100 during the quarter. Currently, 178 projects are underway, providing the potential for significant process improvement and cost savings going forward.”

The following items recur too frequently in my daily activities. I submit them as “pet peeves” to raise awareness of them. OK, let’s be honest – venting helps me too. Pet Peeve 1: People who are more concerned with obtaining a Six Sigma certification than with what the newly acquired skills will allow them to […]

Ford Motor Company started their Consumer Driven Six Sigma initiative in 2000.Today, Six Sigma permeates all business units and brands: Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Ford Credit and Hertz.It is important to note that Six Sigma is not a stand alone initiative at Ford but is an essential piece of a […]

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control and Replicate (DMAICR).Replication is the differentiator in ServiceMaster’s Six Sigma Initiative.Launched in November 2001 with the appointment of John Biedry as Senior Vice President, Continuous Improvement/Six Sigma, ServiceMaster’s Six Sigma initiative focuses on making processes efficient and then replicating the improved processes across thousands of branch locations and franchises.(Sounds like […]

Business Services is a very diversified sector. It consists of the following Fortune 1000 industries: Diversified Outsourcing, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Advertising & Marketing, Temporary Help, and Education. The majority of the companies in these industries are Fortune 501-1000.The Fortune 500 holds a short list of Six Sigma Companies. Cendant Manpower ServiceMaster

I read a great blog post today in Agus Rachman’s Blog. He attended Microsoft’s Enterprise Project Management Solutions Seminar at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. He comments on the Office Solution Accelerator for Six Sigma presentation by Microsoft: “But the third, by Sudimin Mina of Microsoft Indonesia was quite enlightening. He opened his session by […]

Phelps Dodge is one of the world’s leading producers of copper. In 2001 they began an initiative called “Quest for Zero” that involves Lean, Six Sigma and other tools. Today, they continue in their Quest for Zero and have seen significant savings. “Quest for Zero – as in zero accidents, zero production variances, zero environmental […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

Who says Six Sigma isn’t for small companies?This is the smallest company I know of that uses Six Sigma.At five employees and $3 million projected revenue for 2005, Delta Staffing Precision Hiring Systems is a placement services firm in Clarkston, Michigan, USA that uses Six Sigma to streamline the personnel selection process: “Employing Six Sigma, […]

The heart of DuPont’s continued growth lies in its three strategic pathways: integrated science, knowledge intensity and productivity through Six Sigma.DuPont is yet another clear example of Six Sigma complementing a strategic directive.DuPont has been around for a long time and according to this chart (found in the 2004 Annual Report), plans to stay around […]

American Express began their Six Sigma journey with a pilot initiative late in 1998. A small group of Black Belts across disciplines, functions and business units were trained and completed projects. After the initial pilot the program spread slowly to other business units. In 2001, Six Sigma became part of the Global Reengineering initiative and […]

ITT Industries began their Six Sigma program in 2000. It is named Value Based Six Sigma (VBSS) because it is linked to Value Based Management principles. Their Summer 2000 newsletter (PDF) is loaded with information introducing the new initiative: “Value-Based Six Sigma is a new company-wide continuous improvement effort that — according to ITT Industries […]

Fortune 500 Six Sigma companies in the Industrial Sector. Includes Metals and Industrial & Farm Equipment industries: Alcoa American Standard Black & Decker Caterpillar Cummins Deere Eaton Illinois Tool Works ITT Industries Parker Hannifin Phelps Dodge Timken York International

Fortune 500 Six Sigma companies in the Retail Industry: Albertsons Amazon.com Avnet Best Buy Big Lots Circuit City Stores Federated Department Stores Fisher Scientific International Home Depot IKON Office Solutions Ingram Micro Lowe’s May Department Stores Office Depot Radio Shack Sears Roebuck Target Wal-Mart Stores

Richard Weissman “shamelessly promotes” his article “The Pitfalls of Six Sigma” on the SCM Wire blog.The article appears in the May 2005 edition of The Manufacturer. The title of the article is deceptive and lead me to believe it was written from a negative bias, but the opposite is true.The article discusses some of the […]

Supply Chain Management Review – The Next Stage of Supply Chain Excellence. This article does a fine job speaking to how Lean and Six Sigma are helping shape the future of Supply Chain.Six Sigma Companies included in the article: IBM, Dow, 3M, Textron, Lockheed Martin, GlaxoSmithKline and Delphi. The authors, Gregory L. Schlegel and Richard […]

The remaining three iPod Shuffles were given away to three deserving individuals wearing iSixSigma buttons today. We ordered over 500 buttons, and if I hadn’t grabbed a pack of 20 from the box they all would have been given away. Thanks to Frank and Erin (our editors for the iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine, respectively) for […]

Dow began their Six Sigma journey as a pilot initiative in 1998.Early success in a few business units convinced management to deploy Six Sigma corporate-wide in 1999.The annual report their first year introduces their customer-centric Six Sigma philosophy: “We’re centering Six Sigma quality and productivity efforts around one concept—what keeps customers coming back to us […]

After following the market for nearly four years, I decided I needed a place to organize my Six Sigma thoughts as they were crowding my head. I decided to jump on the blogwagon and write about something I knew well…Six Sigma. A few months worth of posts to my blog caught the eye of Michael […]

Air Academy Associates graciously shared their booth with iSixSigma Magazine at the ASQ World Quality Conference, May 16-18. A few customers and alliance partners also displayed iSixSigma Magazine reprints. Thank you to everyone! The process for winner selection was pretty simple: wear a button, win an iPod Shuffle (if we see you wearing your button […]

Dominion is now in its fifth year of an enterprise-wide Six Sigma initiative. Their unique approach encourages the entrepreneurial spirit and has led to $300 million in savings since 2001. Dominion is active in the Six Sigma community, speaking at conferences and sharing best practices on deployment issues. A quick stroll through Dominion’s history and […]

The Energy Sector consists of the Energy and the Utilities: Gas & Electric industries of the Fortune 500. Six Sigma companies in the Energy sector: Constellation Energy Dominion Entergy FPL Group Public Service Enterprise Group TXU Notable Fortune 1000 companies using Six Sigma are: Alliant Energy Allegheny Energy Aquila

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

The article, Lehman Wants More Efficiency, appeared today on Forbes.com. The author, Liz Moyer, writes: “Lehman has quietly put together what it calls a “productivity and process improvement” group. Formed in January, it reports to Chief Administrative Officer David Goldfarb.” Mike Cyger, founder of iSixSigma.com, is quoted in regards to productivity improvement: “There are twice […]

The Cox-Box is Copyright © 2000-2005 iSixSigma LLC and Gary P. Cox – All Rights ReservedReproduction Without Permission Is Prohibited – Request Permission

It’s clear that Six Sigma pays. This issue’s Benchmarking feature (iSixSigma Magazine, May/June 2005) presents a positive picture of the average annual salaries of Six Sigma professionals around the world. Black Belt and Master Black Belt salaries increased 5.4 and 5.3 percent respectively since last year – climbing to $74,000 and $98,000. In the United […]

Larry Johnson, CEO of Albertsons, spoke at the Lehman Brothers Retail Seminar on April 26, 2005. He gave a detailed update on the progress they have made with their Six Sigma deployment. The webcast is available from Albertsons Investor Information until May 17, 2005. The following quotes were transcribed: “All of these initiatives, along with […]

Sun Microsystems started their corporate-wide Six Sigma initiative in the Spring of 2000. “To institutionalize Sun Sigma, Sun has created a training program for all 37,000 Sun employees, beginning with upper-level management. Scott McNealy and the executive staff have already completed Sun Sigma training, which includes two days of training on the Change Acceleration Process […]

Over the years I have enjoyed the many articles that have speculated on the future of Six Sigma.This past month I have read three articles in particular that offered differing opinions on where Six Sigma is headed. According to Thomas Pyzdek, in Cargo Cult Six Sigma. Is the fad fading?: “As someone who follows Six […]

The Construction sector includes the following Fortune 500 industries: Homebuilders – Engineering, Construction – Building Materials, Glass The list is short and includes: Jacobs Engineering Group Owens Corning Notable Fortune 1000 companies include Armstrong Holdings, Vulcan Materials and  Martin Marietta Materials.

Chemical giants Dow and DuPont are the premier Six Sigma examples for the Chemical industry.As the early adopters in 1998, they continue to lead the industry today with innovative Six Sigma projects and deployment approaches.Many of the Fortune 1000 chemical companies employ Six Sigma: Air Products & Chemicals FMC Albemarle Great Lakes Chemical Ashland H.B. […]