Category Archives: Six sigma

3M CEO on Six Sigma

Posted on February 8, 2007 by John Hunter

3M in building spree to end capacity constraints 3M should complete the first of an 18-factory build-out in the third quarter, said its chief executive late Tuesday, as it makes up for years of underinvestment on the factory floor – even in its well-known household products. “Our major challenge will be getting all these plants launched,” said 3M CEO George Buckley at a Lehman Brothers conference. Buckley, who joined the St. Paul, Minn. company just over a year ago, has … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Manufacturing, quote, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment

Why Use Designed Factorial Experiments?

Posted on November 28, 2006 by John Hunter

One-Factor-at-a-Time Versus Designed Experiments (site broke link so I removed it -when will people learn how to manage web content?) by Veronica Czitrom: The advantages of designed experiments over [One Factor at a Time] OFAT experiments are illustrated using three real engineering OFAT experiments, and showing how in each case a designed experiment would have been better. This topic is important because many scientists and engineers continue to perform OFAT experiments. I still remember, as a child, asking what my … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Six sigma | 1 Comment

Investing in Six Sigma

Posted on November 5, 2006 by John Hunter

Bank of America: Investing in Six Sigma [the broken link was removed] by Thomas Hoffman: To help the bank’s IT organization align more strategically with its businesses, Desoer has challenged her IT staff to learn more about the bank’s external customers and their needs. “The voice of the customer is what you start with when you embark on a Six Sigma piece of work,” she says. I think in reality there are several things needed at the starting block but … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management, Six sigma, Software Development | Tagged ,

Lean is Harmony

Posted on September 30, 2006 by John Hunter

In Mike Wroblewski’s capstone, to his posts on his tour of lean manufacturing in Japan, he states: My lean manufacturing epiphany is quite simple, LEAN IS HARMONY. … The lean principles are helping us develop and promote harmony by removing barriers, rocks, and conflicts that disrupt flow in our business. Yes, lean is about eliminating waste and using great lean tools to improve our business but that is all we seem to focus on in the US. Lean principles are … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma, Systems thinking

Management Improvement History and Health Care

Posted on September 17, 2006 by John Hunter

Squeezing the fat from health care [the broken link was removed] by Hanah Cho is another article on lean healthcare. This one provides a better view of the overall picture – especially compared to all those claiming to be one of the first lean thinking effort in healthcare. A good sign was that the author referenced, Going Lean in Health Care, a great report by IHI (James Womack and others). It is nice to see a recognition of management history … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Six Sigma in Sales

Posted on September 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Can Six Sigma Work in a Sales and Marketing Environment? [the broken link was removed] by Paul Selden: The more systematic view demystifies sales…. As such, that system can be subjected to objective analysis using tools common to Six Sigma and other well-grounded disciplines. Sales is often an area that is treated as though it were separate from the company. That leads to all sorts of problems. Sales needs to be seen as part of the system of the organization … Continue reading →

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

Army Lean Six Sigma

Posted on July 21, 2006 by John Hunter

Lean Six Sigma eases fiscal constraint challenges [the broken link was removed] by Beth Reece, Army News Service: During fiscal 2005, the Army Material Command saw $110 million in savings and cost avoidance by implementing Lean Six Sigma practices. By removing waste and better controlling output, for example, Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., reduced costs by $11.9 million in Patriot air defense missile system recapitalization. And Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., reduced repair cycle time by 90 percent and increased its production … Continue reading →

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

New Rules for Management? No!

Posted on July 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Fortune recently published an article talking about the “new rules” for management using Jack Welch (GE six sigma) as the focus of the old rules. It seems to me there is nothing new here (once again). “New” rule: “Agile is best, being big can bite you” Yeah. Does anyone think this is new. Do they really believe Jack Welch thought agile was not a good thing? Yes, Jack Welch wanted to be number 1 or number 2 in the field … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Popular, Six sigma | 8 Comments

Six Sigma Theory?

Posted on July 2, 2006 by John Hunter

Can we develop theory around Six Sigma? Should we care? [the broken link was removed] by Suzanne de Treville, Norman M. Edelson, Anilkumar N. Kharkar and Benjamin Avanzi. An interesting paper exploring what six sigma means and what it mean that what it means depends on who you ask. The ideas explored provide good information for most management improvement programs as most share common tools and concepts but vary significantly between implementations. Why examine the question of six sigma theory? … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged

Microsoft CMMI

Posted on June 7, 2006 by John Hunter

Microsoft webcast [the broken link was removed] on Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI is the process developed by the Software Engineering Institute that was heavily influenced by Quality Management) and the approach taken for continuous improvement – mapping to concepts like Six Sigma and Kaizen. Each webcast with David Anderson, is an hour long.Program information: presentation to CMMI appraisers [the broken link was removed] on the Microsoft Solutions Framework for CMMI Process Improvement. Previous David Anderson CMMI Webcast Stretching Agile … Continue reading →

Posted in Six sigma, Software Development

Lean, Mean, Six Sigma Machines

Posted on June 3, 2006 by John Hunter

Lean, mean, Six Sigma machines [the broken link was removed] by Tam Harbert: Without exception, each company is healthier now than it was five years ago. Three of them have turned profitable, and the fourth – Celestica – is close to turning the corner… The question is how much credit for their progress goes to Lean Six [Sigma]. Yes that is indeed a good question. What management claims as the reason for results is not necessarily actually the reason (and … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Six Sigma Spells Success in India

Posted on May 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Six Sigma spells success for BPOs by Pradeep Kapur: However, while Six Sigma’s pedigree can indeed be traced to TQM, it is differentiated from these earlier approaches by the bottom-line focus and intensity of its application. Experience has shown that Six Sigma works and if applied appropriately, it can be the key to enhance customer experience by adding to the bottom line. This can provide you a winning edge. Related: Six Sigma Won’t Fix Bad Management? Curious Cat Six Sigma … Continue reading →

Posted in India, Management, Management Articles, Six sigma

Six Sigma and Process Drift

Posted on May 8, 2006 by John Hunter

Quality Quandaries: Six Sigma, Process Drift, Capability Indices, and Feedback Adjustment by George Box and Alberto Luceno. This article is for the more statistically inclined. The Six Sigma specification makes an allowance of 1.5 standard deviations for process drift. Simple ways in which a major part of such drift can be removed are given. These employ feedback adjustment methods specifically designed for SPC applications. Feedback adjustment can be dangerous: tampering. In fact, I would say attempting it is likely to … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , ,

Seduce Them With Six Sigma Success

Posted on April 6, 2006 by John Hunter

Seduce Them With Success [the broken link was removed – sadly ASQ continues to increase their impeding of the access to material on quality management, in direct conflict with their professed mission] by Jay Arthur: Instead the change agents are going around talking to operational managers, learning their problems and offering to help solve them. Then, using the tools of Six Sigma, they find remarkable, unexpected solutions that reduce costs and increase speed and profitability. Oddly enough, the people on … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged

Using Design of Experiments

Posted on March 17, 2006 by John Hunter

How to Institute DOE in Your Company (link broken – removed) by Davis Balestracci: DOE works, but I don’t need to sell that to the readers of this newsletter. But as certain as we all are, no one can deny that design of experiments faces resistance even in environments where it is a proven tool. Every research scientist or engineer who has had a major success from DOE can tell you story after story of how management still wanted problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Quality tools, Six sigma | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Six Sigma Won’t Fix Bad Management?

Posted on March 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Re: Six Sigma won’t cure bad management [the broken link was removed 🙁 ] I believe Six Sigma can be an effective management improvement strategy. It is not the most effective, in my opinion, but still effective. In my opinion, if Six Sigma isn’t making a significant impact on fixing bad management then it isn’t a very effective six sigma effort. Like most management concepts how it is applied varies tremendously. If one just uses some tools that are part … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | Tagged | 5 Comments