• How to Revive a Sagging Lean Six Sigma Program

    February 28, 2011. ASQ Lean Six Sigma Conference, Phoenix, Arizona. Conference keynote speaker D. Lynn Kelley, Vice President of Operational Excellence at Textron, Inc. told the audience of Lean Six Sigma professionals that the key to keeping a process excellence effort exciting is to be sure that it is linked to the leadership’s goals for…

  • Pyzdek’s Pyramid of Success

    PCI take a “no bull” approach to Six Sigma. We believe that you take Six Sigma seriously, and so do we. We bring professionals to your organization, not cowboys who claim to know more about your business than you do. Our approach is based on a deep understanding Six Sigma gleaned from the lessons we’ve…

  • Standard Diabetes Treatment Makes Things Worse

    Ready-Fire-Aim. Once again the healthcare profession finally gets around to looking at data, only to discover that it is actually harming patients by treating them. The Los Angeles Times reports that a major nationwide trial called ACCORD released Sunday show that lowering either blood pressure or cholesterol levels below current guidelines do not provide additional benefit…

  • 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…

  • What Is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt?

    Over the years the bodies of knowledge used to certify Lean Six Sigma Black Belts and Lean Six Sigma Green Belts has become relatively standardized and stable. To be sure, there is still a good deal of variability, but it is decreasing. The same can not be said for Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt…

  • City Uses Six Sigma to Promote Efficiency

    Spokesman.com | City adds job to promote efficiency | May 27, 2009. Spokane, Washington has acted to be smart in its cost-cutting efforts by hiring a full time change agent to look at how Lean Six Sigma can help them make smart cuts. Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that has proven itself in countless…

  • Tough Times and Lean Six Sigma

    Although I’ve spent my entire career working in the quality and process improvement fields, my undergraduate degree is in economics. I learned that economic cycles are normal, although that’s not to say that they’re uncaused or that the pain created during economic downturns isn’t real. Economic downturns result when there is an imbalance of some…

  • 21 Soft Skills All Six Sigma Belts Need

    One of my most popular articles is 101 Things a Six Sigma Black Belt Should Know. Of course, the list is primarily a list of technical tools and skills needed, but anyone who has worked as a change agent knows that there’s more to it than that. Soft skills are at least as important, if…

  • Cargo Cult Six Sigma

    Cargo Cult Six Sigma

    In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a…

  • Is Six Sigma the Next Step in Quality Enhancement?

    Is Six Sigma the Next Step in Quality Enhancement?

    Understanding the distinctions between Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM) In my previous post, ‘Why Six Sigma Is Not TQM‘, I proposed that Six Sigma is inherently distinct from Total Quality Management (TQM) in numerous ways. This assertion evoked diverse responses from many readers, some disagreeing with certain points I put forth. While I…