Articles

Promising Careers in Lean Six Sigma

If you’re looking for a job – any job – in the Six Sigma field, stop and look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a career – a real Six Sigma career – then by all means aim high! When you do find a position that will enable you to apply Lean Six Sigma principles and be part of […]

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Kaizen Events: Are They Any Good for the Non-manufacturing Sector?

Kaizen is a Japanese management tradition that roughly translates to ‘becoming better through change’. It’s a management philosophy that believes in continuous vigilance regarding all the aspects of a production system, and making changes based on this observation so that the system always remains at the peak of its productive efficiency. And one most effective […]

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Map Your Value Stream: Cut out Waste Visually

Value Stream Mapping is a visual imaging technique developed by the Toyota version of Lean Manufacturing. It is a paper and pencil tool that helps to visualize and figure out the flow of materials and information as a product or service courses through the value stream. It helps to understand and improve work processes using […]

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Good Housekeeping with 5S Implementation

If your business needs a good house cleaning, then consider 5S Implementation. This Lean Office concept originated in Japan and is a method by which a business can get organized and stay organized. The 5S’s are: Seiri – this is a general sorting of the business processes, throwing away what does not work and keeping what […]

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What is Six Sigma Deployment

In the implementation of Six Sigma, an effective infrastructure lays the foundation for success. An effective infrastructure for your Six Sigma or Lean Flow change initiative in an organization requires a clear strategy and comprehensive planning. Strategizing and Planning The planning stage of a Six Sigma deployment is where you can gain valuable traction. A […]

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Shedding off the Fat

Even the powerful need to lose some fat. Close to two years ago, a report was published online about an award that was given at Hanscom Air Force Base to a Mr. Harvey Dershin, Vice President of Aon/Rath & Strong. Presenting the award was Major General Arthur J. Rooney, Vice Commander of the Electronic Systems Center […]

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Military Order of the Day: Transformation

We’ll clarify that: it’s transformation through Lean Six Sigma (LSS). No less than the Secretary of the US Navy has initiated a three-year LSS action plan. This piece of news comes straight from the Pentagon and was published today, May 8, 2008. Serving as a backdrop to this initiative, we have: Fact # 1: the US Navy […]

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How the Public Sector Benefits from Lean Six Sigma

Taking a Peek into the Public Sector One might be tempted to ask, “Does the public sector really need to integrate Lean Six Sigma into their training requirements considering that they’re a non-profit service-oriented outfit?” While that’s a legitimate question, a more appropriate question should be, “How can the public sector use Lean Six Sigma […]

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Benefits of a Lean Office: Is it for you?

Lean is no longer the propriety process and quality management mantra for manufacturing units. The success of Lean management in manufacturing units was bound to percolate to non-manufacturing processes sooner or later. Needless to add, success stories about Lean Office abound with many organizations proactively adapting this technique to cut down wastage (also referred to […]

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Bringing Toyota Close to Home

Your company need not be in the automotive industry to benefit from the principles of the Toyota Production System. Whether you’re running a critical care unit, overseeing cross-country trucking operations or opening an art school, you can learn valuable lessons from the Toyota Production System. We’ll apply TPS in certain situations to bring some principles into […]

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Design for Six Sigma

Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is the application of Six Sigma principles to the design of products and their manufacturing and support processes. Whereas Six Sigma by definition focuses on the production phase of a product, DFSS focuses on research, design, and development phases. DFSS combines many of the tools that are used to improve […]

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Value Stream Mapping

Reaping the Benefits of Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a proven tool. Well suited for a broad range of industries and processes, VSM is ideal for creating positive organizational changes, developing efficient future states, and producing system-wide benefits in cost, quality, and flexibility. In short, it helps eliminate waste. But like any tool, VSM must be applied properly. That […]

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What is Lean Six Sigma Training Certification

What is Lean Six Sigma? Lean Six Sigma combines the quality improvements that come from using Six Sigma with the speed improvements that come from using Lean manufacturing principles. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process – from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service. Lean manufacturing […]

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Business Process Management 101: BPM Defined

Lean enterprise and business process improvement, business optimization, cost cutting TQM, quality, Six Sigma, business reengineering and other such-like initiatives, falls within the cadre of business process management. It forms the cradle, feeding ground and impetus for making sense of, improving and capitalizing on the intricacies, dynamic elements and events that occur in our planning, […]

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Business Process Management 101

Business corporations are now facing one of the most competitive eras ever. With globalization and technology, businesses need to identify various areas for improvement in order to stay relevant. Although increasing revenue and profits year on year are essential, rising costs and escalating customer demands have developed a need for corporations to improve internal processes, […]

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Integrating Six Sigma with Business Process Management

The concept of Six Sigma was first developed by Motorola Corporation as an approach to address the high defect rates within the company’s manufacturing processes. With the success of Six Sigma, Motorola has registered the Six Sigma brand name to the corporation. The concept of Six Sigma advocates that data be collected from processes to […]

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The Marriage of BPM and Six Sigma

Companies are just discovering the benefits of combining BPM and Six Sigma. Ideal for enhancing the long-term performance of business processes, the BPM/Six Sigma union helps companies better characterize, understand, and manage entire value chains. It also helps companies improve control and predictability of corporate business processes and generate sustainable enterprise improvements in performance levels. […]

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Business Process Management and 6 Sigma

Six Sigma is powered by principles which are governed by continuous improvement. In pure terms, Six Sigma helps manufacturing organizations reduce the number of errors or reduce the number of defective products manufactured by them. This is achieved by a regular sharpening of the process and constant monitoring on processes and how they can be […]

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Business Process Management and Web Services

Today’s IT executives want the best software available. With business process management that means finding solutions that provide key benefits. In addition to facilitating system integration, these solutions must minimize costs, protect software investments, and increase corporate flexibility—all while generating a quick return on investment (ROI). Previously, IT executives had an option. They could either […]

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Connections: Business Process Management and Six Sigma

One of the most powerful ways to improve business processes is combining business process management (BPM) strategies with Six Sigma strategies. BPM strategies emphasize process improvements and automation to drive performance, while Six Sigma uses statistical analysis to drive quality improvements. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive, however, and many companies have discovered that […]

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