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Lean Six Sigma Lives On After It Disappears
A while ago I was asked by a colleague to recommend a Lean Six Sigma benchmark partner for a large aerospace firm that had been using Six Sigma for quite some time. Upon calling some of my favorite clients I learned that their Lean Six Sigma initiatives had been phased out. I was dismayed to…
10 Reasons Why Six Sigma is Fading
The only acceptable reason for not using Six Sigma to improve operations is one that I don’t think is true, at least not yet: A better way to achieve process excellence has been discovered. If there is a better approach to achieving operational excellence, I don’t know what it might be. If you have any…
How to Run a Meeting
In today’s business world people spend a lot of time in meetings. As time goes by, it is likely that even more time will be spent in meetings. Meetings can be made more productive by following a few simple rules:
American Kaizen
In the 1980s it was much in fashion to compare America to Japan. One of the key differences between the two nation’s approaches was that Japanese were much more likely to embrace a strategy of gradual, continuous improvement. Americans more-or-less lurched forward. We would start out with a sizable lead in some area, then wait…
Getting Your First Six Sigma Gig
Since I started teaching students online a year ago I’ve encountered something new: students trying to get into Six Sigma for the first time. This obviously wasn’t a problem when I was training clients whose employers were getting them trained specifically to use the approach in their organizations. I write this for those of you…
Jumping to Statistical Conclusions
Have you attributed your results to the right base data? It may come as a surprise that the biggest challenge facing black belts and master black belts is usually not in selecting the best statistical technique for analyzing a particular data set. Most statistical techniques work fairly well even if the underlying assumptions are not…
Project Selection – Getting a good one!
Project selection is critical to project success. To insure you have the right project let me give you nine areas that you should think about and if any you do not have then I’d find another that has all nine as they ALL are important. Well I hope that is help. Good luck! Let us…
Design of Experiments and Baseball
A Black Belt steps up to the plate with Six Sigma confidence. Bill had a problem. His company’s baseball team wasn’t doing that well, and he was part of the reason. Bill was in a long slump. Frankly, he stunk at the plate. But Bill is a Six Sigma Black Belt. He decided to approach…
Six Sigma, Lean, and Lean Six Sigma
Which process improvement approach is right for you and your needs? People sometimes ask me to explain the difference between lean production and six sigma. The question is usually phrased something like, “Should I use six sigma or lean production methods to improve my operations?” Before I tell you my answer, let me provide a…
What is a Six Sigma Black Belt?
Who are they and what do they do? I’m often asked about the term “Black Belt” as it relates to Six Sigma. What, precisely, is a Black Belt? Where did the term originate? For that matter, where did the term “Six Sigma” originate? And, while we’re on the subject, what’s a Green Belt or Master…