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Leaders of the United States Air Force recently reported that the success of existing lean programs will spur the organization to expand lean’s use. The Air Force has implemented extensive lean programs at its Materiel Command air logistics centers, and will implement the methodology at…
STAT-A-MATRIX’s latest white paper, “Achieving Lean Success: A Pathway for Implementation,” presents a road map that unites lean concepts with specific tools and techniques in a straightforward manner. Taken individually, lean approaches and tools can seem simple, but when looked at…
Some companies focus on product innovation for competitive advantage, others on operational innovations. For breakthrough advances, both approaches might be wrong. According to a new report by Diamond Management & Consultants Inc., companies that bet solely on one innovation strategy…
Participants at “One Day to Lean” will learn to identify and eliminate the seven deadly wastes as demonstrated by Taiichi Ohno, who developed the Toyota Production System. The event will be hosted by Tefen USA, an operations management consulting firm. Tefen estimates that 95 percent of…
George Eckes, who is widely credited with helping to formulate and clarify Six Sigma’s use in varied industries, recently joined the faculty of Villanova University’s online Six Sigma program. Eckes, founder and president of Eckes & Associates Inc., has more than 20 years of…
The implementation of Six Sigma in financial services is the topic of a new book written by two leading consultants. Six Sigma for Financial Services: How Leading Companies are Driving Results Using Lean, Six Sigma and Process Management (McGraw-Hill, 2007), by Roland Hayler and Michael…
Oriel Inc. recently published “Achieving Lean Success: A Pathway for Implementation,” which unites lean concepts with specific tools and techniques in a manner designed to make it easy to implement lean throughout an organization. The paper includes an “Ask an Expert” feature that’s…
iSixSigma magazine recently named software from PowerSteering Software Inc. as the top solution for project tracking. The magazine cited PowerSteering’s best-in-class home page, multiple methodology support capabilities and feature-search capability as key performance indicators in the…
Mikel J. Harry, founder of Six Sigma Academy in 1994 and one of the world’s leading authorities on the methodology, is rejoining the company as chief knowledge officer and vice chairman.
“We are delighted that Mike is joining us. We love that he has chosen to return to his company,” says Scott…
While more than 50 percent of respondents in a new report indicated that they had implemented Six Sigma programs, only 16 percent of the programs meet the methodology’s core requirements. The survey, performed by the Aberdeen Group, also found that the 16 percent of programs that…
Conference organizer WCBF will host a conference for Six Sigma professionals in the software and information technology industries Nov. 7–9 in San Francisco. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Gateway Hotel. The conference is designed to blend real-world examples with practical advice,…
Valley Baptist Health System recently selected Six Sigma software from Streamline Health Solutions Inc. to manage its document management and workflow solutions. Hospital representatives report that they expect better operational efficiencies that will result in higher-quality care for…
The Society of Women Engineers announced on Oct. 11 that Siddika Demir is the recipient of its 2006 Emerging Leaders Award for her leadership in quality assurance. Demir is the manager of corporate services and Six Sigma for Bechtel Corp. She is charged with setting Six Sigma strategy for…
Vice presidents, directors and managers from leading companies convened at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in St. Louis for the Global Benchmarking Council’s third-quarter conference last month. “Unleashing Success through Breakthroughs in Lean Sigma and Quality” was attended by hundreds of Six…
SFR, the second-largest telecommunications provider in France, has selected PowerSteering Software to manage its Six Sigma-based quality improvement program. In an effort to finance new investments, innovate and reinforce its competitive position, SFR has already started several projects…
According to recent research, lean and Six Sigma are destined for eternal togetherness. The Avery Point Group, a national executive search firm that specializes in lean and Six Sigma, conducted a survey in which the desire for Six Sigma skills outpaced that for lean skills by a wide…
A new book offers a 10-step process for applying lean Six Sigma to supply chain management. Lean Six Sigma for Supply Chain Management (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006), by James William Martin, provides a description of the tools, methods and concepts for lean Six Sigma management as…
Rear Adm. Walter Skinner, AIRspeed Command Deployment Champion, will deliver the keynote address at WCBF’s 3rd annual Six Sigma in Service & Transactional Environments Conference. Skinner will present a case study entitled “Achieving Transformation in Service and Transactional…
A recently released book explores four characteristics of highly successful businesses and finds that a major feature of quality and process improvement is the synergy between them. Hoshin Kanri for the Lean Enterprise—Developing Competitive Capabilities and Managing Profit, (…
The incoming associate dean of Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration plans to expand its Six Sigma offerings to students. Monica Holmes, a Six Sigma Black Belt, is a big believer in Six Sigma for college students and MBA candidates. She reports that she will…
Students enrolled in the International Society of Six Sigma Certifications’ Green Belt courses can now simultaneously earn their Green Belts and attain certified manager process improvement status. The dual certification ability also applies to ISSSC’s Black Belt courses. The Harrington…
The American Society for Quality will host a roundtable on Six Sigma next year in Phoenix. The event will be held Feb. 12–13 at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort and will feature a large selection of case studies, answers to organizational challenges, applications, results, best…
Do you want to use Six Sigma concepts, but you’re frustrated by the complex mathematical equations involved?An upcoming book addresses this issue, outlining nonmathematical presentations of the statistical topics that Green Belts must master. Statistics for Six Sigma Green Belts with…
Employees of Mercury Marine recently completed their 1,000th lean Six Sigma project. Mercury Marine, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of marine propulsion systems, began using Six Sigma and lean concepts in its manufacturing processes in 2003. Since then, it has trained almost 700 management…
Professionals in the software and information technology industries will learn to implement Six Sigma at a WCBF Inc. conference Nov. 8 and 9 in San Francisco. The event has been designed to provide attendees with proven approaches to common problems that they can implement immediately. It…