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A Lesson for Quality Professionals from The Pandemic
Our quality professions – quality/process improvement/Six Sigma/Lean – is long on anticipation and short on resilience. Merriam-Webster defines anticipation as a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action or the act of looking forward. Anticipation requires accurate forecasting. The pandemic has taught us that forecasting is usually wrong, often so wrong […]
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A Lean Process FMEA
In 1949, the US Military issued MIL-STD-1629, titled Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis. It was reissued and reprinted numerous times thereafter. In practice, people refer to the method described in the MIL Standard as FMEA, often with a prefix: DFMEA for Design FMEA, PFMEA for Process FMEA and the like. […]
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How to Conduct a One-Way ANOVA Using Excel
One method of analyzing the difference between group means is analysis of variance. The ANOVA procedure follows the classical, statistical hypothesis, inference-testing format. First, state the null and alternative hypotheses. The ANOVA procedure creates a table that tests the null hypothesis of equal means against the alternative hypothesis that at least two groups have different […]
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The Crucial Intersection: INTJ Personality and Six Sigma Black Belts
If you’ve ever come across the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), you’ve probably stumbled on the INTJ (Introversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Judgment) personality type. This distinct personality type encompasses independence of thought, individualism, creativity, and an inherent desire for efficiency. And, interestingly enough, it’s a personality type that aligns perfectly with the characteristics we commonly see in […]
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Healthcare Waste
According to New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch, Americans may be wasting half of the $3.6 trillion spent annually on healthcare. Researchers identified six studies, published from 2008 to 2019, in which components of our national medical waste were analyzed, and estimated the costs associated with each. Category Amount ($ billions) Excessive prices $169 […]
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Reducing Medicare Patient Readmission Rates with Six Sigma in Healthcare
The Reality of Medicare Patient Readmissions A shocking study featured in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that one in five Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged, and one in three return within 90 days. These alarming numbers are primarily due to patients lacking a primary care […]
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Actual Six Sigma Project Ideas – 03
More actual Lean Six Sigma project proposal examples. Project Name Problem Statement Business Case AGC Phosphate Line Punch Sticking Cold forming rings that we phosphate for AGC are sticking when they go to cold form. The customers processing time is the main impact as the parts have to be returned to us for reprocessing which […]
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Actual Six Sigma Project Ideas – 02
More actual Lean Six Sigma project proposal examples. Project Name Problem Statement Business Case Increase basecap throughput on X56 From the basecap 16 cavity mold that runs in X56, 5 cavities in average are being scrapped due to dimensions out of specifications from the beginning of the year. Throughput of the press is reduced 31%, […]
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Manual Reviews of Medicaid Claims
Background Our business provides administrative services to dental practices. One service is to process insurance claims for Medicaid patients. Processing involves adjudication of claims to determine eligibility. The bulk of all claims are adjudicated via an automated system. However, when this is not possible the claims are sent for manual review. Recognizing an Opportunity Manually […]
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Actual Six Sigma Project Ideas
No doubt about it, “the project” is the most intimidating part of becoming certified as a Lean Six Sigma Belt. And, in my opinion, it’s also the most important part. It reminds me of learning math versus being able to use math to solve actual problems. I can recall studying algebra and feeling certain that […]