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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 solved one-factor-at-a-time.

Design of Experiments (DoE) was developed by R.A. Fisher in the 1920s (related terms: factorial design, multivariate expertness). Six Sigma was the first general management approach that specifically highlighted the use of Designed Experiments for improvement. Still the use of factorial designed experiments is much less than it could be.

A Brief Overview of DOE from the Macomb Intermediate School District (link broken – removed) which has a high school course on the topic.

Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Quality tools, Six sigma | Tagged Data, Design of Experiments, experiments, Process improvement, process thinking, Six sigma, Statistics | 6 Comments

VIP?

Posted on March 16, 2006 by John Hunter

The images shows: I am 64th in line as a VIP. If I were not a VIP I would be 1st in line.

Actually the graphic is mainly just funny. The real broken part is that the system has disconnected me twice and then you have to wait to be readmitted – granted only a minute and a half. CBS is trying live internet video on a scale not attempted before. It is bound to have a level of service less than tried and true methods.

By signing up early (still for free) you could be treated as a VIP. The first time I tried to sign in my VIP status helped. The image for the video is of pretty low quality but still I am satisfied. I would hope in future years the quality will improve. But for now I am happy with this opportunity at all. The biggest failure with the current setup is the do not allow viewing of the game that “is being broadcast” in your area. However right now my station stopped showing the Marquette game and the internet site still doesn’t let me view it. They really should fix this problem.

Posted in Fun | Comments Off

Kaizen Priorities

Posted on March 16, 2006 by John Hunter

Kaizen Priorities by Mike Wroblewski:

Priority 1: Kaizen your bottleneck station first – If you don’t know what is your bottleneck station, find it. There are many ways to find your bottleneck: all the inventory is piled in front of it, people downstream are waiting on it, it has the most overtime, it’s a top maintenance priority, etc.

Another excellent post from Got Boondoggle.

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged continual improvement | Comments Off

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 of the “Six Sigma tool kit” (mostly tools from TQM and the like) then you might improve bad management only marginally.

But if you read the work of Roger Hoerl, Soren Bisgaard, Forrest Breyfogle III… and learn and apply what they talk about as Six Sigma you will definitely have to address bad management practices. Their Six Sigma is definitely a management improvement system (you can’t apply their concepts of Six Sigma without fixing many bad management practices).

Also see my thoughts after a Six Sigma conference in 1999 and more recent posts on Deming and Six Sigma and Has Six Sigma been a failure?.

Posted in Management, Six sigma | Tagged Six sigma | 5 Comments

Customer Focus

Posted on March 15, 2006 by John Hunter

Winning With Service [the broken link was removed] by John Teresko:

“From our viewpoint, machines are increasingly more difficult to differentiate for most applications,” admits Harry C. Moser, president, Agie Charmilles Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill. “There are many good competitors, and while we think our products are the best, for a lot of applications it is getting increasingly hard to prove, and therefore we have chosen to [also] differentiate via service.

Service can be a great differentiator, if you can do it well. Since, so often, service is poor in so many areas those that provide good service can set themselves apart. It is usually difficult for competitors to copy exceptional service.

Posted in Customer focus, Management Articles | Tagged Customer focus, customer service | Comments Off

NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge

Posted on March 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Once again I have created a group on the ESPN NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge for curiouscat basketball fans.

To play, sign in to ESPN [I removed the link] and register, if you need to, or sign into your account (using the link at the very top of the page).

Once you create your entry, you will see a link to “create or join groups.” Click that link. Then enter curiouscat in the find group box. Select the curiouscat group and enter cat as the password.

Posted in curiouscat.com, Fun | Comments Off

Getting Lean Right

Posted on March 13, 2006 by John Hunter

Getting Lean “Right”: 10 Factors to Understand Before Embarking on Your Lean Transformation by Jamie Flinchbaugh:

So how is it that such a low percentage of companies that know about lean can turn it into a success? It’s not because they haven’t heard about continuous flow, or they don’t know how to do the 5S’s, or they’ve never seen a kaizen workshop. It is because the leadership, cultural, organizational and implementation challenges are bigger than most people anticipate.

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Quality tools | Comments Off

Boondoggle Rules

Posted on March 12, 2006 by John Hunter

Easy Lean from Got Boondoggle:

The lean journey is a long, continuous process of learning, experimentation and improvement.
…
Most of you are smart enough not to buy into this branding of lean. However, there are some short-sighted executives that might fall for this slick shortcut to “Easy Lean.” That would be a shame. For those with limited lean enlightenment, I will provide a few short rules to get past the branding of “Easy Lean.”

Lean is not easy
There are NO software solutions in lean.
Always Simplify first, Automate last (and automate only if needed)
If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

Another great post from the great Got Boondoggle blog.

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Comments Off

Mount Rainier National Park Photos

Posted on March 11, 2006 by John Hunter

I have posted, the final destination of my trip last summer to the Pacific Northwest National Parks: Mount Rainier National Park.

Curious Cat Travelogues and Travel Photos

Posted in Travel photos | Tagged Travel photos | Comments Off

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead

Posted on March 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead [the broken link was removed], Business Week. Yoshimi Inaba, who’s driving the Japanese auto maker’s expansion in the Middle Kingdom, discusses the Chinese market and his goals there. Toyota’s market share is just 3.5% in China, compared to 13% in the U.S. and more than 40% at home in Japan.

We’re a minor player in the China market, with a 3.5% share, but we’re one of the few manufacturers where demand exceeds supply. Even though we see big potential for growth, we will make sure we’re not in a position of overcapacity. That will be a very key element. And as long as you retain the quality, treat dealers as partners, and avoid oversupply, the results will come. The race for the Chinese market is just around the first corner.

Posted in China, Management, Manufacturing, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged China, Toyota | 1 Comment