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Management in One Lesson
John Park, the new CEO of Acme Corporation, just heard a brilliant idea for making his numbers this quarter. He needed it. In his conference call with the financial press last month he made certain promises. If he can’t keep these promises, the stock will surely take a hit. And his options will be worth […]
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What is Six Sigma?
For Motorola, the originator of Six Sigma, the answer to the question “Why Six Sigma?” was simple: survival. Motorola came to Six Sigma because it was being consistently beaten in the competitive marketplace by foreign firms that were able to produce higher quality products at a lower cost. When a Japanese firm took over a […]
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Mapping for Business Improvement
In my Six Sigma Leadership Process post I described the leadership process at the highest level, the L-1 level. I mentioned that the Improve phase of leadership required mapping core processes to an actionable level, a level where the Process Excellence Leadership Team–the PELT–could identify the critical to quality drivers in the process. In this […]
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Managing Metrics Madness
The Black Belt proudly displayed a huge spreadsheet printout. “It’s the first time we’ve been able to see all our metrics in a single place,” he announced. “Everyone was surprised at how many we have.” Including me. There were well over 100 metrics on the spreadsheet. I wondered if all of them were important. Even […]
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Why Six Sigma Is Not TQM
My colleagues often tell me that there is no real difference between Six Sigma and TQM. “Show me where Six Sigma involves anything new.” Six Sigma employs some of the same tried-and-true tools and techniques of TQM. Both Six Sigma and TQM emphasize the importance of top-down support and leadership. Both approaches make it clear […]
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How to Create a Pareto Diagram Using MS-Excel
One tool that you will find yourself using several times during your Six Sigma project is Pareto analysis. Pareto analysis is named after the eminent 19th century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. His study of the distribution of income showed that income wasn’t uniformly distributed. A few high-income earners garnered a disproportionately large share of the […]
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The Art of Successful Six Sigma Projects: The Imperative of Management Support
Six Sigma projects are intricately woven tapestries of expertise, dedication, and systematic process improvement. However, their success hinges primarily on a factor often assumed, yet not always understood – management support. As we navigate the challenging yet rewarding journey of a Six Sigma project, it is worth contemplating: Is the support we seek truly what […]
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Comparison of Pyzdek Institute Training and Certification With “Low Cost” Alternatives
The saying “You get what you pay for” applies to Lean Six Sigma training too. So does the saying “If it looks too good to be true, it is.” Be very careful when you shop for your training and certification. The table below will help you judge the value being offered by so-called low cost […]
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Does Normality Really Matter in ANOVA?
I had a spirited discussion with a statistician earlier today on the subject of the normality assumption for one-way ANOVA. In the end, we both agreed that normality of the response variable doesn’t usually matter much, despite the fact that it is an assumption that is usually tested. The truth is, it takes a pretty […]