Defining Six Sigma For Your Business Or Organization
What is Six Sigma? Why do we need Six Sigma? Explaining Six Sigma is no easy task, but as a Quality professional we are expected to clearly articulate the benefits and necessity. If you can't, you risk...
View ArticleBuilding the Foundation for Successful Change
As the filter coffee and leftover chocolate cookies are being gathered from across the vast boardroom table, the CEO leans back in his leather chair, stretches, lets out a sigh and purrs to his...
View ArticleIdeas for Achieving Higher Reliability in Healthcare
As startling as the 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine was – estimating that medical errors may cause 98,000 deaths annually – a new national study indicates the problem may actually be much...
View ArticleWays to Shorten the Trip Through the ‘Valley of Despair’
A predictable pattern in the life of a European Black Belt project pertains to the morale of the Black Belt as project leader. It highlights the importance of the sponsor’s role in the success of any...
View ArticleThe Elements of Success When Starting Up Six Sigma
Thinking of starting a Six Sigma initiative this year or next year? For any adventure, the first few steps can set the mood for the rest of the journey. The same is true for a Six Sigma deployment, in...
View ArticleLeading Geographically Scattered Six Sigma Project Team
Leading a Six Sigma project team can have many challenges no matter the industry – manufacturing or services – and no matter the location from New York in the United States to New Delhi in India. But...
View ArticleDispelling Several Myths About Leadership for Change
It is widely recognized that successfully implementing Six Sigma requires leading and managing change effectively. Today’s manager lives in the paradoxical world of having to simultaneously control...
View ArticleStart Now with 10 Keys to Successful Transformation
There is no need for another survey to confirm what healthcare professionals already know – healthcare delivery is overdue for a major renovation. New management models and strategies must be adopted...
View ArticleHow to Avoid Deep-sixing a New Six Sigma Program
As he pushed out from Fairfield, Conn., USA, the king of CEOs left us all holding the Six Sigma bag. In it, a host of tools, techniques, potential and promise clank against one another. It is a nice...
View Article7 Keys to a Change Deployment Process
There is plenty of variation to be found among adopters of change programs – from widely successful to not so much. Most likely, your success lies somewhere in between. To move closer to wildly...
View ArticleSustaining Results From Six Sigma
Now, more than ever, Corporate America is suffering from a growing lack of commitment, loyalty, creativity and ideas from its own employees. Called employee engagement, this unseen, unquantifiable and...
View ArticleWhat Keeps Six Sigma Practitioners Up At Night?
What causes Six Sigma projects to fail to produce desired results, and what would most help to improve Six Sigma project results? This article presents survey results from Six Sigma professionals and...
View ArticleA-Gift from Quality
Quality tool books are full of terms, acronyms and charts that can make a non-quality professional faint of heart (some quality professionals as well). Here is how to change the “policing” perception...
View ArticleHow to Develop a Lean Six Sigma Deployment Plan [VIDEO] – With Gary Cone
Starting a Lean or Six Sigma initiative at your organization is no easy task. The task is easier, however, when you build a comprehensive deployment plan. In this video, you will learn everything you...
View ArticleFLEXcon: Lean for the Long Run
The following are selected highlights of a corporate leadership profile of FLEXcon. The complete article – with more details about Lean application and how the company avoided layoffs during the...
View ArticleTri-State Industries Grows with Lean Manufacturing
Tri-State Industries was founded by Don Keller in 1980 as a manufacturer of industrial pipe guides and slides. In the 1990s, the company adopted the principles and practices of Lean manufacturing....
View ArticleThe Lean Six Sigma Deployment in Tyler, Texas
In 2008, Susan Guthrie was the communications manager of the City of Tyler, Texas, (current interim city manager) and a General Electric-trained Green Belt. She approached the assistant city manager at...
View ArticleSix Steps to Effectively Plan for Lean Six Sigma Efforts
Some of the complaints commonly levied against continuous improvement deployments is that they focus on the wrong issues, and that projects take too long or require too much investment (time, training...
View ArticleQuick Wins Can Successfully Launch Operational Excellence in Healthcare
If the Mayo Clinic can do it, so can you! Let this case study at the medical organization's Phoenix Transplant Center be your guide to operational excellence in healthcare settings. The post Quick Wins...
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