Lean Six Sigma
Smart Manufacturing and Lean Six Sigma
What is Smart Manufacturing? And how is it related to Lean Six Sigma? Also called Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Cyber-Physical Systems, Smart Manufacturing has been the topic of conversation for several years among manufacturing experts, strategists and thought leaders. What does this mean to Lean Six Sigma Practitioners? Can we leverage … Read more
Adding Rigor to VOC & VOB: Quality Function Deployment
All LSS practitioners understand the importance of the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Voice of the Business (VOB). Determining the VOC and VOB during the Define Phase is critical to project success in the DMAIC Process. Most GBs and BBs spend little time on this activity and use basic approaches for gathering and understanding … Read more
Better Facility Design Using DMAIC
Author: Rodney Reddic The greatest opportunity to eliminate and/or reduce waste in a production facility is the upfront design and planning of the facility. From a construction cost standpoint, it is about as inexpensive to construct a well-planned facility as to implement a poorly planned one. Decisions made during the factory planning and design stage … Read more
Six Questions, Six Green Belts
TMAC is always seeking a better understanding of our Voice of the Customer (VOC). More specifically, we want to learn more about the viewpoint of our students. After some debate we settled on just three questions about two major areas – classroom training and project work. That is, a total of Six Questions. In addition … Read more
The Checklist Manifesto
Several years ago a man was admitted to a hospital in San Francisco after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. His prognosis was good as the cancer had been caught early and the man was in good health otherwise. The surgery was going well, the cancer had been removed. Suddenly the heart-rate monitor went flat-line. No … Read more
The 7 Habits Revisited – Part 2
In Part 1 of this blog I wrote about the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Written by Stephen R. Covey (1932-2012) in 1989, this extremely popular self-help book has sold more than 25 million copies. I feel strongly that Covey’s ideas can be adapted by Lean Six Sigma practitioners at all levels … Read more
The 7 Habits Revisited – Part 1
It has been five years since the untimely passing of Stephen R. Covey (1932-2012). Author, teacher, and businessman, Covey is best known for his 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This extremely popular self-help book has sold more than 25 million copies, and it was the first audiobook to sell more than … Read more
Kata! Lean Six Sigma!
Author: Pat Boutier – Shingo Prize award-winning co-author of The 7 Kata: Toyota Kata, TWI, and Lean Training (2012) What is a kata? And what does it have to do with Lean Six Sigma? Unlike many Japanese words used in LSS such as muda and kaizen, kata is a relatively new concept. But the idea … Read more
Risk Management – Part 2: Project Delays
Co-Authored by Alberto Yáñez-Moreno, Ph.D. and Russ Aikman, MBB In last month’s blog we discussed Risk Management as a key activity for successful Project Management. We made the case that effective LSS practitioners set aside time to identify risks. They also take appropriate action to be proactive in mitigating risk. [Click here to read Part … Read more
