Six Sigma:

Content Related to Six Sigma



• Recipe for Success with Six Sigma in Healthcare As I was waiting for my oil change, I flipped through a magazine and came across a photo of perfectly baked bread made from scratch. It reminded me of my first experience baking bread, and I realized that process was very similar to the process or implementing Six Sigma in healthcare. When I first decided to try to make bread, I was overcome with anxiety, nervousness and fear. When you are new to Six Sigma ....Read more

  Contributor:  Anantha Kollengode Tags: healthcare | six sigma | six sigma for healthcare 01/19/2009  5:54:00 PM EST

• Setting a Standard for Lean Six Sigma Belt Certification Does anyone else find it ironic that Lean Six Sigma—a successful methodology with a history of almost 25 years—still has no widely accepted independent standards to guide professional certification? In the Define phase, we teach the need to turn customer requirements into operational definitions so we can clearly understand, in objective and practical terms, how to meet customer requirem....Read more

  Contributor:  Bill Hathaway Tags: Six Sigma Belt certification | Lean Six Sigma Belt certification | Six Sigma Black Belt certification 03/02/2010  12:00:00 AM EST

• The Next Step in Project Management: How to Form Six Sigma Project Teams In previous columns I discussed a number of aspects of project management, including project initiation, how project management is defined and how to plan. Now I will discuss how to form a Six Sigma project team. And, since I am not an expert in Six Sigma itself, I have asked a colleague of mine to help with this. Let me begin by introducing Tom Ostasiewski, who is a registered engineer, PMP® and a S....Read more

  Contributor:  James Lewis Tags: Six Sigma project | Six Sigma leadership | Six Sigma management 04/27/2009  5:12:00 PM EDT

• You Need More Than Just an Analytical Mind—Four Qualities That Identify a Successful Six Sigma Belt Candidate How do you identify people who will make good Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt training candidates? This is a great question and one that has been discussed time and again. As the president of a consulting firm that educates and certifies many talented young men and women and a fellow practicing certified Black Belt since 1998, I will explore this question and provide some insight as to how one sh....Read more

  Contributor:  Robert Stapp Tags: DMAIC | Six Sigma | Six Sigma Black Belt 08/12/2009  12:00:00 AM EDT

• The Legend of Motorola: Embracing the Next Generation of Process Improvement In the 1980s, Motorola made waves in the business world with the development of its process improvement strategy Six Sigma. Today Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma are widely-upheld methodologies and tools used to reduce variation in a business process by using a statistical process control to measure variance and standard deviation. Tina Huesing, Director of Six Sigma at Motorola, speaks with the Process Exc....Read more

  Contributor:  Tina Huesing Tags: Six Sigma | Lean Six Sigma | Six Sigma Process Improvement 11/17/2008  12:00:00 AM EST

• Finding the Green in Lean Six Sigma In traditional Lean thinking, what is waste? Running across the factory floor to get a tool? Yes. Waiting for someone down the line to finish up their part of the assembly? Definitely. Leaving the lights on in the warehouse? A definite yes! Environmental wastes—including wasted energy—can cost companies thousands of dollars a year. As fuel costs rise and awareness of climate change issue....Read more

  Contributor:  Chris Reed Tags: Lean | Lean Six Sigma | environmental wastes 12/15/2008  12:00:00 AM EST

• Are Your Six Sigma Leaders Really Trained to Lead? I am astounded by what organizations expect from their “trained” Six Sigma project leaders. After just a few days of process improvement project leadership training, and possibly the implementation of a Six Sigma project or two, these “certified” individuals are expected to take the organization’s Six Sigma process forward–to lead it in a manner that results in sustained ....Read more

  Contributor:  Kevin McManus Tags: Six Sigma | cost reduction | team leadership 01/12/2009  5:31:00 PM EST

• Value-Driven Six Sigma Requires New Tools and Views Welcome to the Delivering Customer Value through Six Sigma column, where we will be discussing the third generation of Six Sigma, what it means to the evolution of both Lean and Six Sigma in your organization and the tools you will need to leverage Six Sigma into value-enhancing initiatives for superior business performance. We’ll be talking about the importance of a market focus for your initiatives,....Read more

  Contributor:  Reg Goeke and Eric Reidenbach Tags: Six Sigma | Six Sigma practitioners | critical-to-quality factors 01/21/2009  5:54:00 PM EST

• Six Sigma Failures: Why Does Six Sigma Training Fail? Ineffective Six Sigma TrainingIf I had to pick one systemic flaw that results in Six Sigma training being ineffective—no wait, let’s make that essentially any training for that matter—it's the fact that most training contains too little time for practice. Think about it—what percentage of your training course time is spent on practice versus lecture or large group discussion? What pe....Read more

  Contributor:  Kevin McManus Tags: Six Sigma training | Six Sigma projects | Six Sigma project 03/09/2009  5:23:00 PM EDT

• An Introduction to Six Sigma Management Non-Technical Definitions of Six Sigma Management Editor's note: if you're new to the field of Six Sigma, you might want to consider joining PEX Masters 2012 - an online presentation series that brings you indepth case studies and key skills to help you better manage Six Sigma and process excellence programs/projects. The online event takes place 5-15 November 2012. Six Sigma management u....Read more

  Contributor:  Howard Gitlow Tags: DPMO | increase customer satisfaction | Six Sigma management 11/17/2008  12:00:00 AM EST

• Lean Six Sigma—Not Just for the Big Guys No, Lean Six Sigma is not the new diet you saw late last night on that TV infomercial, and DMAIC is not a type of vitamin. Lean Six Sigma has been working its way into organizations for over half a century; however these difficult economic times provide another opportunity to review this process management theory’s relevancy in today’s business world. A Brief History of the Origins of Si....Read more

  Contributor:  John Blowers Tags: process management theory | Toyota Production System | just-in-time 11/17/2008  12:00:00 AM EST

• Six Sigma Beyond the Factory Floor: Deployment Strategies for Financial Services, Health Care, and the Rest of the Real Economy
  

  By Ron D. Snee, Roger W. HoerlPublished Dec 30, 2008 by FT PressNon-manufacturing organizations are rapidly discovering Six Sigma's immense potential to reduce costs, improve performance, grow revenue, strengthen focus and empower people. To achieve these results in your organization, start right here.Drawing on new case studies, renowned practitioners Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl cover up-front planning and st....Read more
  

  
  Contributor:  Book Review
  Tags: statistical thinking | Six Sigma for manufacturing | GE Six Sigma
  01/07/2009  12:01:00 PM EST

• Strategies for Overcoming Difficult Six Sigma Implementation: An Interview with Anand Tamboli of HSBC Technology and Services In this podcast, Anand Tamboli, Associate Vice President of Change Delivery for HSBC Technology and Services, speaks on the untapped opportunities and difficulties faced in implementing Six Sigma in a large organization. Tamboli discusses:   • Why SIx Sigma tools may not be utilized 100 percent

  Contributor:   Bryan Camoens Tags: implementing Six Sigma | process improvement | Six Sigma tools 04/01/2010  12:00:00 AM EDT

• 	Six Sigma Belt Certification: What You Need to Consider Before Choosing a Training Program Thinking about becoming a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt? Have you done the research on certification training programs, but don’t know how to narrow down your options? Then this Profit through Process podcast may help. Genna Weiss of Six Sigma IQ speaks with Jim Wasiloff,
  Contributor:   Genna Weiss Tags: Six Sigma | Six Sigma training | Lean Six Sigma 01/12/2010  11:04:00 AM EST

• 	Deploying Lean/Six Sigma In Our Turbulent Economy
  Tags: performance measuement | balanced scorecard | cost reduction

• Lean Six Sigma Speeds Testing for Hospital Emergency Rooms More and more healthcare organizations are adopting Lean Six Sigma methodologies to help cut costs and improve patient services. No where is this more true than in hospital laboratories. HCA’s Integrated Regional Laboratories (IRL) manages the clinical laboratory operations of its East Florida Division hospitals and has been applying Lean Six Sigma to improve its operations for more than four years....Read more

  Contributor:  Fred Patton and Janice Pini Tags: Six Sigma hospital | Lean hospital | Fred Patton 07/15/2009  12:00:00 AM EDT

• Change Management Triage for a Six Sigma Career The unfortunate truth in these brutal economic times is that quite a lot of very talented Six Sigma professionals are out of work. Sometimes, regardless of one’s track record you end up in the wrong place at the wrong time and fate gives you a bloody nose. The change in one’s life can be abrupt, profound, and startling.   What the headlines and articles often neglect to mention are thos....Read more

  Contributor:  Jeff Cole Tags: Six Sigma career | Six Sigma job | Six Sigma training 04/12/2010  5:36:00 AM EDT

• Deploying Six Sigma within Health Care: A Roadmap to Success Six Sigma, a process improvement methodology, assists with analyzing and breaking down processes in order to detect specific causes or X’s that may adversely impact a process. In health care, these special causes or inefficiencies tie directly to the quality of patient care and therefore cannot be overlooked. So What about Six Sigma Deployment within Health Care?   If one thinks....Read more

  Contributor:  Antz Joseph Tags: Six Sigma | Six Sigma for healthcare | Six Sigma for health care 08/04/2010  12:00:00 AM EDT

• What is Six Sigma? This article provides an introductory level overview of Six Sigma, which has experienced widespread use and success across both manufacturing and service sectors in recent decades. Six Sigma Defined Six Sigma is a customer centric methodology which focuses upon reducing the extent of variation that exists within manufacturing and/or service processes through rigorous data analysis in order to eliminat....Read more

  Contributor:  James Gauci Tags: what is Six Sigma | Six Sigma methodology | process improvement methodology 06/07/2010  4:30:00 AM EDT

• Key Components of a Six Sigma Deployment Introduction Six Sigma deployments can be one of the most daunting but exciting initiatives ever undertaken by an organization. A well thought-out Six Sigma deployment initiative can reenergize the entire organization and help achieve breakthrough results. On the other hand, an inefficient Six Sigma deployment can have a demoralizing effect on key stakeholders across the entire organization. Some of t....Read more

  Contributor:  Abhash Chandra Tags: Six Sigma deployment | Six Sigma strategy | Six Sigma training 06/09/2010  6:30:00 AM EDT

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