By William Scherkenbach and Mitchell White09/30/2009
While I have been saying this for decades, and while K’ung Fu-tzu implied it millennia ago when he called for a balance of knowledge and action, it takes a while to sink in. W. Edwards Deming ... [Read More]
We have all had to plan a trip to the airport. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes not so well. One of the problems we have is dealing with the variation in the trip time to the airport. Since I ... [Read More]
Five things to lean my company? In two days? That's pretty quick. Why so quickly?
I can think of two reasons. First, people expect things to be done better and faster each day; and it ... [Read More]
Story update 8/27/2009: An error was spotted and corrected by author in paragraph starting with "The population mean for a six-sided die..."
Mark Twain famously quipped that there were ... [Read More]
Design of experiments (DOE) is a crucial tool in Six Sigma quality management and its application is widespread in Japan; nevertheless, many manufacturing companies in other countries have not ... [Read More]
Pick up any article or book, attend any conference on Six Sigma, or talk with any Black Belt or Master Black Belt and you will hear the Six Sigma gospel about the importance of the voice of the ... [Read More]
Do you hear Six Sigma professionals express frustration that the organization does not support their efforts?
Are there department heads in your life who have complained that their Six ... [Read More]
When someone mentions design for Six Sigma (DFSS), the initial thought usually turns to developing new, innovative products. While DFSS has its roots in product development, individual components ... [Read More]
It is widely known among quality and process improvement practitioners that the lack of a clearly defined scope or charter is perhaps the leading cause for projects not getting started or ... [Read More]
In “The Power of Observation—Part 1,” we learned that a good portion of problem solving should be devoted to a thorough understanding of what’s going on before any corrective action steps ... [Read More]
