Category Archives: Six sigma

Highlights from Recent George Box Speech

Posted on November 16, 2009 by John Hunter

The JMP blog has posted some highlights from George Box’s presentation at Discovery 2009 [the broken link was removed] Infusing his entire presentation with humor and fascinating tales of his memories, Box focused on sequential design of experiments. He attributed much of what he knows about DOE [design of experiments] to Ronald A. Fisher. Box explained that Fisher couldn’t find the things he was looking for in his data, “and he was right. Even if he had had the fastest … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Finding Savings with Six Sigma

Posted on September 19, 2009 by John Hunter

I don’t see any evidence six sigma is making a comeback but magazines like to talk about new ideas rather than just explore what continues. They like to discuss common cause variation as though it were special cause. Six Sigma Makes a Comeback Unlike in the 1990s, when such executives as General Electric’s Jack Welch embraced Six Sigma with missionary zeal, consultants say today’s converts generally are looking for a fast way to save money. How sad. Six sigma has … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Process improvement, Six sigma | Tagged

Best Places to Work for Six Sigma Professionals

Posted on November 3, 2008 by John Hunter

iSixSigma has created a list of the Best Places to Work for Six Sigma Professionals. To be eligible to participate, companies must have been actively engaged in using Six Sigma for at least two years and must employ a minimum of 30 full-time Six Sigma practitioners in either Black Belt, Master Black Belt or Deployment Leader roles. Sixteen companies met all the entry requirements and completed a two-part online survey. The senior Six Sigma leader submitted answers to an employer … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Management, Six sigma | Tagged , ,

Six Sigma v. Common Sense

Posted on October 20, 2008 by John Hunter

Response to LinkedIn question [the broken link was removed]: “Whether Six Sigma as a quality tool really delivers the benefits ? How does it makes difference from a common sense approach ? (Where the process wastes and the required solution is known / can be easily identified just by applying common sense)” Six sigma (or another management improvement method) can help in several ways. First, lots of things that are sensible are not done. A method to assure that more … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Quality tools, quote, Six sigma | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Department of Defense Lean Six Sigma

Posted on June 5, 2008 by John Hunter

Gordon England, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, signed a directive establishing policy and assigning responsibilities to institutionalize the effort throughout DoD. See a webcast of his speech [the broken link was removed] on lean six sigma to a DoD conference on continuous process improvement. Leading Business Transformation the “Lean” Way [the broken link was removed] Since it began employing LSS, the Department of the Navy (DON) has completed 1,700 Black Belt/Green Belt projects and over 2,000 Kaizen events (i.e., action-oriented … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Public Sector, Six sigma | Tagged , , , ,

Six Sigma In New York Local Government

Posted on January 3, 2008 by John Hunter

New Erie County Government Executive, Chris Collins, discusses the director of six sigma position that will drive their new six sigma efforts. Related: Six Sigma for Erie County Government – Public Sector Management Improvement Site – Posts on improving management in the Public Sector – management webcasts

Posted in Management, Public Sector, Six sigma, webcast | 2 Comments

3M Cuts Back on Six Sigma for Research and Development

Posted on November 14, 2007 by John Hunter

3M Shelves Six Sigma in R&D For the past two years, 3M Corp. has been giving back freedom and decision-making to its researchers following four years of Six Sigma mania under former CEO and Chairman W. James McNerney Jr. Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology and associated toolset for eliminating process defects. … Under McNerney’s successor, 3M CEO George Buckley has de-emphasized Six Sigma in R&D. At the same time, R&D spending in 2007 has been increased by 11 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | 2 Comments

Six Sigma for Erie County Government

Posted on November 12, 2007 by John Hunter

Chris Collins proposed bringing six sigma to Erie County government in his campaign for county executive. He won the election. From his web site: In business, you satisfy your customers or you fail. But in Erie County government, if you fail taxpayers who are your customer, nothing happens. Under Chris Collins, that will change. As County Executive, Chris Collins will reform county government to make sure it serves its customers: the taxpayers. He will implement new management techniques – Total … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Public Sector, Six sigma | 1 Comment

Six Sigma and Innovation

Posted on September 1, 2007 by John Hunter

Peter Pande adds his thoughts on how six sigma and innovation can work together. In his podcast, Innovation vs. Efficiency, he makes the argument that innovation and efficiency can work together. As I have stated many times, while bad six sigma efforts may harm innovation but there is no reason good six sigma efforts would. In fact good six sigma efforts help innovation. Related: Six Sigma Outdated? No. – Fast Company Interview: Jeff Immelt – Better and Different – New … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Six sigma, webcast

Six Sigma in Software Development

Posted on August 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Six Sigma makes inroads in software development organizations “A lot of big companies are developing their own software engineering variance of Six Sigma training,” said Siviy, “putting software-specific examples into the normal Six Sigma curriculum.” However, she said, it’s early in the adoption curve. “In the software world there is a real lack of case studies that show applications of Six Sigma in software engineering,” she said. And those that use Six Sigma in software are often reluctant to share … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, IT, Management, Six sigma, Software Development

Six Sigma Outdated? No.

Posted on June 1, 2007 by John Hunter

Here is another of those articles that promotes the idea that oversimplifies six sigma and then declares that mindset is outdated because innovation is needed nowadays – Six Sigma: So Yesterday? [the link Business Week broke was removed]. The discipline was developed as a systematic way to improve quality, but the reason it caught fire was its effectiveness in cutting costs and improving profitability. That makes it a powerful tool—if those are a company’s goals. But as innovation becomes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | Tagged | 1 Comment

Six Sigma at Cummins

Posted on May 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Six Sigma winning supply-chain converts [the broken link was removed] “More and more of our decisions are made after data is collected and analysis done. It’s less of a gut feel and more data-based.” On any given day, Cummins has 2,500 active Six Sigma projects involving 10,000 of its 34,000 employees, Strodtbeck said. Next year, senior managers at Cummins will be required to have Six Sigma certification before they can switch jobs or be promoted. “Six Sigma is headed toward … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged | 1 Comment

Find Good Management Improvement Jobs

Posted on May 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Peter Abilla (shmula blog) is hiring a Manager for Process Improvement [the broken link was removed] to work with him at eBay. It is a great opportunity, in my opinion. Here are some highlights of what he is looking for: Experience implementing Lean and Six Sigma in transactional environments (non-manufacturing). Experience with Value-stream Mapping (current- and future-state), Lean Consumption and Lean Provisioning Experience with Lean beyond just book knowledge — I’m looking for hands-on implementation of Lean. You can explain … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Process improvement, Six sigma | Tagged

Toyota, Lean, Consultants…

Posted on May 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota’s success pleases proponents of ‘lean’ The publicity about Toyota becoming No. 1 will create another burst of energy to lean, even though a survey by management consulting firm Bain shows that just 19% of companies that have tried it are happy with the results, says Mark Gottfredson, Bain’s head of performance improvement. More evidence that lean works will result in interest in lean – that seems true. And then those that have an interest will be disappointed in their … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Six Sigma City Government

Posted on February 28, 2007 by John Hunter

A recent report from the Brookings Institution, Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities [the broken link was removed], has some good words on the efforts of Fort Wayne, Indiana: In a short time, the city reduced water main replacement costs by 18 percent, cut pothole response time by 86 percent, and slashed the waiting time for building permits from 51 days to 12 days. And because the Six Sigma process permeates all functions of the city’s government, these productivity enhancements have piled … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Sector, Six sigma | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Lean Six Sigma Efforts

Posted on February 10, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean/Six Sigma: The quest for efficiency in manufacturing [the broken link was removed]: After years of working with lean and Six Sigma principles, many companies realize that, to continue improving, they need to get suppliers and even customers involved — such as happened with Toyota. Good idea, but there is no good reason a six sigma effort didn’t do that from the start. Rather than laying off factory staff as processes have become more efficient, the firm has expanded its … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment