• Losing the Race in the Last Mile: Why Many Lean/Six Sigma Initiatives Fail (and What to Do About It)

    Losing the Race in the Last Mile: Why Many Lean/Six Sigma Initiatives Fail (and What to Do About It)

    Why do Lean/Six Sigma initiatives fail? What can be done to resurrect them? This was the topic of a recent article by Bill Wilder, published in Industry Week. According to Wilder, a common source of failure with Lean/Six Sigma initiatives is not quite doing enough to make the changes stick. Old habits die hard, Wilder…

  • All About Six Sigma – The NY Times Version

    All About Six Sigma – The NY Times Version

    Six Sigma – The NY Times Version has been a long-time favorite of business journalists, business consultants, and executives looking for a rational, proven process for cutting costs. How it Works: Six Sigma is a statistical quality control method that combines statistics and some engineering to reduce error rates in processes. The sigma part of…

  • Internal Learning Systems: Allowing Staff to Lead Quality Improvement Efforts

    Internal Learning Systems: Allowing Staff to Lead Quality Improvement Efforts

    Embarking upon improving quality within large companies is an overwhelming task. While turning to consultants, implementing support software programs, or looking to management may be the initial impulse, recent efforts have shown that turning to staff for leadership in quality improvement endeavors may be the better option. Letting Hospital Staff Lead Quality Improvement Efforts One…

  • Opinions Vary on the Subject of How Many Experts are Needed to Embark on a Lean Journey

    Opinions Vary on the Subject of How Many Experts are Needed to Embark on a Lean Journey

    Perhaps your company is ready to make the commitment toward excellence. Excellence in policies, excellence in operations, excellence in revenues. But to make this commitment, the question, how many experts are needed to embark on a Lean journey, is commonly asked with varying opinions on many sides. Lean Six Sigma training leads to becoming either…

  • A Flashback to the Early Days of Lean

    A Flashback to the Early Days of Lean

    Lean operations or lean manufacturing (often referred to simply as lean) has become a buzzword in the last 15-20 years to describe the goal of continuously improving operations, primarily by minimizing waste. But how did the movement start? Let’s delve a bit deeper into this area and take a look back at the early days…

  • Benefits of Lean Accounting in the Supply Chain

    Benefits of Lean Accounting in the Supply Chain

    Lean accounting is one of the forerunners in a typically two-faced accounting technique pool. Because accrual and cash accounting can create excess inventory issues and accelerated costs of supply, lean accounting has come forth in an effort to reduce the amount of waste that older methods of accounting can create. Lean accounting allows for a…

  • Communication and Documentation as a Way To Improve Outpatient Care When Quality Falls Short

    Communication and Documentation as a Way To Improve Outpatient Care When Quality Falls Short

    In recent years there has been a rise in outpatient malpractice lawsuits and awards. According to the American Medical Association from June the 15th study, over 10,000 malpractice claims were filed, and 43% of the applications were from outpatient care. Since the 2009 study, the number of reported incidents has increased. Which begs the question…

  • Cyclical Action Learning: The Key to Developing an Effective Continuous Improvement Culture

    Cyclical Action Learning: The Key to Developing an Effective Continuous Improvement Culture

    Even the best intentions and methods for continuous improvement culture can easily fail if you fail to consider and understand how adults in your organization learn. Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the field of adult learning, identified several principles that are critical to all adult learning: Simply stated, adults learn best when they can see…

  • Pyzdek Institute Black Belt’s Book Clarifies Confusing Concepts in Statistics

    I’ve taught the Six Sigma process quality methods to many students over the years. Invariably, it’s the statistics that confuses people the most. There has been a real need for a book that clears up this confusion. Now, a graduate of the Pyzdek Institute Black Belt program has done something about that. Andrew A. Jawlik…

  • Making the Case for Reshoring

    Making the Case for Reshoring

    Reshoring is the term relating to bringing manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas back to the United States. In essence, the opposite of offshoring. The process of bringing manufacturing jobs back to America is already underway. According to an article in a recent issue of Consumer Reports, domestic manufacturing in the United States has increased…

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