2019 Year in Review

Hard to believe but another year is almost gone. We’d like to share some of our activities and recognize those who helped make it such a fun, interesting, and productive year. January got off to a good start with the 3rd Annual LSS Champion Roundtable. We had 47 participants from 18 companies, some coming from … Read more

Stability vs. Disruption

Disruption is a very trendy word. Articles about disruptive products, technologies, and services are increasingly common in business magazines. This is especially true in some industries such as consumer electronics and entertainment. Recently I even saw a Linkedin profile of an individual who described himself as a ‘disruptive change agent’. Makes you wonder how he … Read more

Balancing Old and New

Earlier this month I attended two different conferences in which I got a glimpse of the future. The fi­­rst was the Minitab Insights Conference, held in Leesburg, VA (Oct 10-11). Many presenters covered topics that would be familiar to all Green Belts and Black Belts – Design of Experiments, Measurement System Analysis, and Sampling. Other … Read more

Process Capability: A Critical Management Tool (Part 3)

In the previous blogs we covered the basics of process capability and its use as a Management tool. Part 1 addressed process capability for continuous, normally distributed data. Part 2 covered Short Term vs. Long Term capability, plus capability analysis when the target is not centered between the spec limits. You can read those blogs … Read more

Getting Lean Right: 10 Factors for Success

Based on a Lean article written by Jamie Flinchbaugh Several years ago I came across an excellent article about deploying a Lean Program. Written by Jamie Flinchbaugh, co-author of The Hitchhikers Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road (2005), this article first came out in January 2004. Although it has been 15 years since he … Read more

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

The most interesting business book I read last year was Daniel Pink’s When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Riverhead Books, 2018). Based on research on a wide series of topics, the common theme is that of time – and timing – and how it affects your chances for success in all sorts of endeavors. … Read more

Financial Impact of Completed Projects – Part 1

Updated 2018 From its origins manufacturing in the 1990s, more and more companies have embraced Lean Six Sigma including service oriented businesses, health care organizations, cities and municipalities. To be successful these companies need to be aware of the investment required, most notably in terms of developing the skills and knowledge of their people. As … Read more

Leader Standard Work

A common challenge faced by all Lean Six Sigma practitioners is sustainability. That is, how to sustain a solution once it has been implemented. Some LSS practitioners are taking a new approach: Leader Standard Work. Before discussing LSW it is important to review the idea of standard work for front-line staff. One definition of standard … Read more

5S in the Office? Yes, Please!

Co-Authored by Chris Meeks, MBB and Russ Aikman, MBB Many LSS companies embrace the principles of 5S in their operations. Increasingly this is true even in non-manufacturing industries such as health care. And many excel at their 5S implementation – in operations. The benefits are obvious to all: Better organization, clearer communications, improved safety, fewer … Read more

Keys to a Successful LSS Project: Part 1 of 3: Project Selection

The process of selecting projects can sometimes seem daunting – especially when there are many problems which need to be solved.  Here are five guidelines compiled by TMAC staff through years of reviewing literally hundreds of Lean Six Sigma projects. 1. Strategic AlignmentProjects should be one that is of strategic importance to the organization.  In … Read more