All Features
Praveen Gupta
Companies often have numerous Six Sigma projects in the pipeline, and Six Sigma belts are busy working on projects. However, statistical thinking suggests that not all projects will be equally successful. In fact, the amount of improvement could vary significantly from one project to another. In an…
Praveen Gupta
The Six Sigma initiative starts with an executive’s idea of achieving excellence and superior results. Whether the initiation is based on hearsay or the strategic move, it starts with communication among the executives—or employees. Likewise, throughout the implementation of Six Sigma, constant…
As quality professionals, we frequently report such facts as proportions (percentages), process capability indices, averages and standard deviations as if we know what we’re talking about. But what’s our actual level of confidence? All of our observations and our understanding are based upon data…
”Cause and effect, Chain of events, All of this chaos makes perfect sense” —Joe Diffe Third Rock From the Sun In my recent article, "How to Lead with Six Sigma: What are you solving for?" I discussed the need for leaders to clearly identify just what they’re…
“When, therefore, a man absorbed in the effect which is seen has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation.”
—Frederic Bastiat”That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen,” 1850
“In the South Seas there is a…
Praveen Gupta
If you’re considering opportunities for business improvement, dynamic growth and profitability, “plan,” “do,” “check” and “act” (PDCA) is a leading option. Walter A. Shewhart developed the PDCA cycle in the 1920s and W. Edwards Deming made it famous in the 1980s, even though he modified the PDCA…
Tom Pyzdek
The headlines screamed, “Local Hospital Leads the State in C-Sections!” The gist of the story was that this hospital had more cesarean section births than any other hospital in the state. Indeed, it had led the entire Southwestern region for five years running. It’s well-established that C-…
Praveen Gupta
In layman’s language, Six Sigma means great and fast improvement, which leads to virtual perfection. Another indicator of a successful application of the Six Sigma methodology is the degree of breakthrough. Sometimes, when customers demand zero defects at any cost, suppliers are forced to add an…
Tim Burke
For years, customers and auditors have been preaching to suppliers the need for the FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) to be a “living” document. There are probably several interpretations of what it means to have a living FMEA, but one thing is for sure—the FMEA must be updated whenever real…
Mark Crossley
When we discuss or mention Six Sigma, we almost always hear about getting defect rates down to 3.4 ppm. Consider a light bulb. How would you like to have a defect rate of 3.4 ppm only to find out that the bulb lasted just 20 hours before it burned out? This isn’t good, even though the Cpk was 1.50…
William A. Levinson
“Then the Husaria broke into a wild g allop and the heavy mass of men and horses cascaded over the Turkish ranks, bowling over the first, slicing through the second… The Grand Vizir leapt onto a horse and made his own escape moments before the winged riders thundered up to the tent and the banner…
Praveen Gupta
After launching a corporatewide Six Sigma initiative, leadership must consider how to get Six Sigma institutionalized in the supply chain. After implementing Six Sigma at an organization, its managers must think about continuing the improvement rate through implementing Six Sigma in its supply…
Sarah Fister Gale
In a lean environment, training is the last part of the production process to be transformed by the new approach to efficiency. While smaller work groups are streamlining steps and multitasking to eliminate waste and improve output, individuals continue to be linked to single skills or production…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma was first practiced in product development and manufacturing environments to improve customer satisfaction. There, significant improvements were achieved and sizable savings realized. After successfully implementing Six Sigma in manufacturing, Motorola applied Six Sigma in support…
Praveen Gupta
In simple terms, Six Sigma means quick improvement in a short period of time. Incremental improvement will save a lot of time and money for a company. Breakthrough improvement, therefore, is synonymous with Six Sigma. Breaking rules through innovation is a way to achieve breakthrough improvement.…
Paul Mullenhour
Six Sigma is a powerful tool for effecting change within an organization. Since its development in the late 1980s, it’s helped companies dramatically improve business processes, increase customer satisfaction to new levels and save hundreds of millions of dollars. To say it has the ability to…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma is implemented to affect the bottom line. In a corporation, Six Sigma starts in operations then moves into design and finally supporting areas. Finance and accounting (F/A) functions are involved to monitor the financials, however, they aren’t involved in practicing Six Sigma. At Motorola…
The maintenance problem Too many times, in lean manufacturing and other lean environments, 10- to 40-year-old equipment is re-deployed, moved and organized into lean cells without adequate concern or attention to maintenance reliability. In a lean cell, unscheduled equipment downtime usually costs…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma has been well applied in manufacturing through improving processes that use the DMAIC methodology. Some larger corporations have integrated Six Sigma so well into the corporate culture that it can be considered the DNA of the company. However, even in such companies, the human resources…
Chuck Doyle
Many organizations need answers to some key questions about lean and quality management: Is there a difference between quality and value? Should we have two teams, one for continuous improvement and one for lean? What roles would each have? What are the differences? The source for this…
Jeffrey S. Goss
Six Sigma, the statistical approach focused on increasing profitability by improving efficiency, has been part of the engineering world since the 1980s. Now, new innovative online and on-campus programs at Arizona State University are shaking up the way people all over the globe are…
Praveen Gupta
Launching a Six Sigma initiative starts with a lot of enthusiasm from the “champion” who’s found courage and conviction to persuade management to commit to it. With enough resources, interest, excitement and the help of some consultants, the Six Sigma initiative gets off the ground. After initial…
Mike Micklewright
I’m a huge proponent of both Six Sigma and lean manufacturing. I’ve been teaching the tools used in Six Sigma for more than 15 years, and I make a portion of my living from consulting and training in these areas.
However, Six Sigma and lean manufacturing are business improvement processes that…
Derrell S. James
Six Sigma. Lean. What do these initiatives have to do with the supply chain? The short answer is everything. The origins of these approaches are based, in Six Sigma’s case, on continuous improvements in quality and variation control, and in lean’s case, on production velocity and…
Praveen Gupta
Six Sigma is an expensive initiative with a huge potential for return on investment. However, there are risks associated with it. False starts, lack of commitment or lack of planning may lead to unsatisfactory results. Considering the complexity of the Six Sigma process, one must minimize the risks…