Articles

Guide to Value Stream Mapping

Step-By-Step Guide to VSM – Value Stream Mapping

When people that don’t fully grasp process optimization systems think about the topic, they often mistakenly pay the most attention to cutting out the unneeded parts. Obviously this is a gross oversimplification when it comes to methodologies like Lean Six Sigma, and it places the emphasis on the wrong indicator. The most important goal of […]

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Successfully approach 5S in Lean Six Sigma

How to successfully approach 5S in Lean Six Sigma

5S and Lean Six Sigma are all part of a process to improve the workplace. There are numerous steps to both of these processes, but once you have a full understanding of them you will have a business that is constantly growing and improving. The main factor to remember about both of these methods, as […]

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Image: DMAIC Measure - How to measure the impact of your Six Sigma Project

Six Sigma and DMAIC in Focus: M – Measure Your Six Sigma Project

This article is the second part in our series on the principles of Six Sigma, focusing on Measure within the DMAIC framework. You can find the rest of our series here. Yesterday we started our series on DMAIC in focus with a deep-dive into Define. Today we take a more measured approach and will give you […]

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Define Your Problem with DMAIC

Six Sigma and DMAIC in Focus: D – Define Your Six Sigma Project

This article is the first part in our series on the principles of Six Sigma, focusing on Define within the DMAIC framework. You can find the rest of our series here.   Working in Six Sigma, one of the first things you will hear about is DMAIC. It’s as much a part of the landscape […]

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Happy Holidays, 6sigma.us

A Holiday Story For You

Papa Panov put on a special pot of coffee for his Christmas breakfast, took down the shutters and looked out of the window. The street was deserted, no one was stirring yet. No one except the road sweeper. He looked as miserable and dirty as ever, and well he might! Whoever wanted to work on […]

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Eternal Sunshine for the Changing Minds

Eternal Sunshine For The Changing Minds

Peter F Drucker, the father of modern management said, ‘‘everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that is like death and taxes. It should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are […]

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featured training, six sigma, training, 6sigma.us

Featured Training: Master Black Belt Certification In Florida

We are very proud of our recent graduating class of Master Black Belt (MBB) professionals in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Fourteen (14) Six Sigma professionals gathered for an extensive and comprehensive training program, which led to the award of a Master Black Belt Certification. 6Sigma.us is the preferred source of professional training for organizations such as […]

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outpatient care, healthcare, lean six sigma, healthcare, quality, 6sigma.us

Outpatient Care: Delivery of Quality Care Struggles

The United States has spent more than a decade trying to improve the quality of outpatient healthcare delivery. The industry has tried various initiatives to address the quality of care and the inherent value of services to patients, without significant improvement. They have addressed the issues of unnecessary procedures and implemented alternative payments models to […]

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quality failure, lean six sigma, six sigma tools, lean manufacturing

Quality Failure: What Went Wrong?

When we see business failure, in any form, the immediate reaction is to try and understand what went wrong. That’s how we learn. Understanding mistakes and errors leads to higher levels of success of further endeavors. So, the post-mortem begins in an effort to understand the causes of failure in seemingly successful organizations. We have […]

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Image: All Quiet on the change front

All Quiet on the Change Front

  Change Management and its importance cannot be dismissed. Even the human resources who are the foundation of change management cannot be dismissed as well. Lack of human resources would result in lack of execution that damages the purpose of change management. It is important for the management to understand that human resource must be […]

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capability analysis, six sigma tools, quality, 6sigma.us

Capability Analysis: Understand the Variables

The Capability Analysis offers a method of understanding variables or limitations of process performance. Every project has performance limits and variances that will be acceptable to the customer. Align the process variables to ensure they meet customer expectations to determine the value of the process. The Value of Capability Analysis The true capability of a […]

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US Army Adopting Lean Six Sigma

US Army Adopting Lean Six Sigma

US army is building the principles of business transformation into its workforce introduced by Lean Six Sigma (LSS). The US army is doing this to make available resources for the personnel engaged in military operations along with providing the soldiers with necessary equipment quickly. Around 1,400 leaders in the US army have received training for […]

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Pied Pipers

The Pied Pipers of Change Management

Back in the thirteenth century, in the German town of Hamelin, when the Pied Piper played his pipe, all within hearing range chose to follow him, no matter where he chose to go, or so the legend goes. So, too, effective leaders must possess, a Pied Piper-like ”magic”, that enables them to call the tune […]

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culture, leadership, six sigma, lean six sigma, 6sigma.us

Culture: Creating An Environment of Sustainment

Is it the culture of your organization that is blocking sustainment? Most will tell you that one of the biggest challenges in implementing a 5S strategy is capturing the elusive element of Sustain. An effective 5S process is built around the elements of Sort, Set In Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. Quality leaders are typically very […]

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Six Sigma Leadership

Six Sigma Leadership – The Efficient Way

Six Sigma Leadership Six Sigma is a strategy used in business management and is extensively applied in many industrial sectors across the globe. Motorola is the original creator of Six Sigma. It has achieved great repute for the ability to produce tremendous performance improvements. In terms of implementation, a few firms understand its advantages. Over […]

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innovation, value, quality, 6sigma.us

Innovation: Where Is The Value?

Where is the value of innovation? If you ask business leaders to define value, you are going to get a dizzying variety of answers. Why is it so hard to define the term? Value means different things to different people. The definition depends on what they see as value in their organization. Finding value is […]

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quality improvement, fmea mapping, six sigma, lean six sigma

Quality Improvement: Can EHR Boost FMEA Performance?

Can quality improvement be found through the Electronic Health Record (EHR)? Recent studies are showing that EHR can uncover hidden data overlooked in existing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The FMEA tool is used as a systematic, step-by-step approach to identify and understand all possible failures in a process. The FMEA tool then can […]

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Game Plan

What’s the Game Plan?

Browse through any management book these days and you’ll be amazed at the number of concepts that have appeared in the last decade: SWOT analysis, business process re-engineering, CRM, competitive advantage, analysis tools, fix-it tools and measuring tools. One frequently used (and overused) term is strategic planning. Look at any mid-size to large corporation, and […]

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conflict resolution, lean six sigma, 6sigma.us

Conflict: Managing At The Top

Conflict is a natural human condition. That conflict naturally occurs in the business environment. Just like in personal relationships, conflict in business relationships can become a destructive force. This is especially destructive when that conflict occurs between top leaders or the founders of an organization. That negative energy and environment can take a wildly successful […]

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