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Six Sigma Academy has begun offering Gold Belt training for advanced Black Belts. Each participant’s program is tailored in collaboration with corporate sponsors and designed to fit with the strategic goals of his or her organization. By the end of the training, SSA Gold Belts will have completed…
The Sheraton Miramar Resort, which recently implemented Six Sigma, was chosen by its parent company as the chain’s Hotel of the Year. The Sheraton Miramar Resort had the highest overall performance in 2004 of all of Starwood Resorts’ hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its financial…
The first Lean Accounting Summit will take place Sept. 22–23 in Dearborn, Michigan. The event, planned to take place annually, will feature more than 20 leaders in the lean accounting sector. Presenters include Tom Johnson, professor of business administration at Portland State University; Brian…
The fourth annual Manufacturing Excellence Conference will be held June 20–23 in St. Louis. The event will bring together lean, Six Sigma and quality professionals, and will feature strategies for manufacturing organizations to increase profits and improve efficiencies. Speakers include Ross Robson…
MoreSteam.com has expanded its course offerings to include training for Lean Six Sigma Black Belts. The training includes the following topics: value-stream mapping, spaghetti diagrams, continuous flow & Little’s Law, level-loaded processing, quick changeovers, pull-scheduling systems, 5Ss,…
Leading manufacturing principles are no longer for manufacturing processes alone, according to executives from a variety of service industries using lean principles to dramatically improve administrative, professional and service value streams. The Lean Enterprise Institute will host a summit June…
Cummins Inc., a global designer and manufacturer of service engines and related technologies, recently celebrated its success with Six Sigma with a day-long expo of its projects and a presentation of employee awards. Cummins reports that it has completed more than 3,000 Six Sigma projects since it…
Infor Global Solutions will host a Webinar to address the increasing use of lean to improve the delivery of automotive components. Currently, the global automotive industry spends $3.8 trillion on logistics to move parts and supplies from source to final product. Vast amounts of materials are in…
Decisioneering Inc. recently released a sped-up version of its Crystal Ball software, version 7.1. Crystal Ball 7.1 Extreme Speed allows user to run simulations 100-times faster than previous versions. In creating the solution, Decisioneering partnered with Frontline Systems Inc., developer of the…
Six Sigma has had dramatic effects on many of the companies that have implemented it, but understanding the methodology is often difficult for those just starting the process. A new book, Six Sigma for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), details the process in lay terms for easy understanding.…
MoreSteam.com recently pledged to donate $250,000 in lean Six Sigma training to Starfish Family Services, a Detroit-area social services agency. The training will allow the agency to become more efficient with the use of its funds and other resources, says Bill Hathaway, MoreSteam.com president. “I…
Voltaix Inc., a manufacturer of chemicals and gases for the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries, recently announced that 15 of its employees recently received Green Belt certification. Voltaix provided the employee training to invest in customer support relationships and improve product…
Canadian real estate companies are reportedly finding Six Sigma a useful tool to reduce data errors. The Canadian newspaper, Globe and Mail reports that although the industry has been slow to fully adopt the methodology, an increasing number of companies are using it to drive the decision-making…
Rath & Strong recently released a new pocket guide for practitioners of GE Work-Out, a methodology that helps improve Six Sigma and lean projects. GE Work-Out was developed by General Electric as a companion to already-established quality improvement programs. It creates a method to deal with…
One of the oldest chapters of the Association for Operations Management (APICS) and the Harrington Institute recently made a formal agreement to offer Six Sigma, process improvement and project management certification to APICS members around the world. Founded in 1960, the Golden Gate Chapter of…
SigmaXL recently released a new version of its SigmaXL v. 4.0 software. The solution is an add-in for Microsoft Excel.The add-in is designed for statistical and graphical analysis. New features include Recall SigmaXL Dialog, which allows users to recall the last data worksheet they used; run charts…
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which has implemented an aggressive Six Sigma program, recently received one of the nation’s top awards for quality health care. The hospital, located in Chicago, received the 2005 National Quality Health Care Award from the National Committee for Quality Health Care…
WCBF will host a Design for Six Sigma conference June 9–10 in Las Vegas. The conference will feature workshops and user case studies for beginners and more advanced Six Sigma practitioners; specific tracks focused on design for product development, and design for transactional processes and…
6 Sigma Technology Group recently released GateKeeper 2.0, a software program designed to manage the security of technical, construction and facility projects in secure buildings. The company specializes in software that combines Six Sigma and application development. GateKeeper 2.0 automates end-…
Larry R. Smith has been appointed senior vice president of design and innovation of the Juran Institute.Smith worked for Ford Motor Co. for 27 years. Most recently, he was quality coach for Ford’s Heritage Team, which was responsible for revitalizing one of its manufacturing facilities. He was…
Pelion Systems Inc. and the Lean Learning Center recently formed a partnership to provide lean curriculum and consulting to manufacturing clients that are implementing lean processes. The companies will combine their areas of expertise to provide the services. Pelion Systems will offer the solution…
PowerSteering has acquired Breakthrough Management Group Inc.’s software assets. The two companies have entered into an agreement in which BMG will offer its project tracking software along with the complete suite of PowerSteering software. BMG will continue to provide Six Sigma solutions worldwide…
Excel Partnership Inc. will offer a Six Sigma training course for professionals who want to become familiarized with the methodology. Green Belts are defined as practitioners who spend 5–20 percent of their working hours in support of Black Belt or Six Sigma projects of their own. Course…
Software developer iGrafx recently released Process for Six Sigma, its new suite for practitioners of the popular methodology.The solution includes features customized to Six Sigma, including design of experiments, data fitting, lean tools and value-stream mapping, hierarchical process maps and…
Food & Drug Law Weekly recently reported that one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands is using Six Sigma to improve its management of clinical trials. The Atrium Medical Center currently conducts about 70 clinical trials per year for major pharmaceutical companies. Its new system will…