Pyzdek Institute

Six Sigma Comes to Hollywood

In March of 2014, according to The New York Times, more than 40 executives at Universal Studios met with Bob Wright Chairman NBC Universal, a Division of General Electric, now the parent company of Universal Studios. General Electric is one of the large-scale pioneers in Six Sigma management. Among the topics they conferred about was…
Continuous Improvement Myths

There seems to be a lot of mystery associated with how companies that make continuous quality improvement work actually do it. In his article Ten Common Misconceptions About Toyota Stewart Anderson sets the record straight about how Toyota actually works its magic. The gist of the article is that Toyota doesn’t follow some rigid set…
5 Signs Your Workers Are Scared Of You and How to Correct The Problem

While fear can easily take hold in a work environment, trust can also be reestablished, as long as there is an honest desire to see it happen. Don’t be afraid; be the first one to step up and take a chance. As the boss, it’s your job.
Minitab’s Quality Companion 3 Worth a Closer Look

One of the big problems facing many new Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts is staying organized when dealing with the complexity of their projects. Experienced Six Sigma Belts face a different problem: when several projects are in work simultaneously keeping track of everything can quickly become unmanageable. Minitab’s Quality Companion 3…
Six Sigma: 3 Ways a Manufacturing Quality Tool Applies to the Insurance Industry

Insurance industry insiders will readily admit that their industry has a 3-4% error rate. Compared with other industries, this is very high and can be costly. When an error is made, insurance providers must spend considerable time and money to fix the original error, address any side-effects, and mitigate any spillover errors to clients and…
Confronting Data

What are data, and why do people care so much about data? Assuming the data are from a ratio or interval scale (scale data), data are merely numbers attached to things we are interested in. Normally we have no interest in the numbers per se. We are interested in making better decisions or choices, which…
Why the Call Center Nation Needs to Turn its Lonely Eyes to Ed Deming

Call Center quality is abysmal. If this is news to you, you have not had to call for tech support recently. There are a stack of reasons why call center quality is so bad. Pick the top call driver, ask what the Required Call Components (specs) are…what the agents need to do in their systems…
What is it like being a Lean Six Sigma Belt?

So you want to be a Lean Six Sigma Black belt (or Yellow Belt or Green Belt,) have you ever wondered about what your life will be like when you finally get that dream job? Here’s a sneak peek. Working on the system versus working within the system Organizations are made up of management hierarchies…
How to Involve Suppliers in Your Lean Six Sigma Initiatives

If your business has made a commitment to process improvement, you may be wondering when and how to get your suppliers on board with your lean six sigma initiatives. After all, you are only as good as your suppliers, right? Certainly some percentage of product defects can be traced to supplier components, so your company’s…
Lean Six Sigma: Would You Consider a Contract Position?

They started out as a healthcare staffing firm in Norwalk, Conn., more than a dozen years ago. According to an article from InsuranceNewsNet, Lisa and Howard Chubinsky — the founders of Staff Providers, LLC — eventually turned their focus to placing Lean Six Sigma black belt candidates and others who had gained quality certifications in…