LearnSigma

Six Sigma metrics overview

2012-01-27T07:59:00.000Z

Six Sigma uses a number of specialized measures (metrics). The most fundamental is the Defects Per Million Opportunities (DOMO) measure. The aim of six sigma is to achieve less than 3.4 DPMO. A process that gives 3.4 DPMO has achieved 'six sigma'.

The Rolled Throughput Yield (RTY) is a key tool in achieving this. The individual yields at each process step might look, at first site, quite good, but the First Pass Yield might be significantly lower. Even when the First Pass Yield at each process step looks satisfactory the overall or Rolled throughput Yield may be low.

The sigma metric is an alternative to the traditional process capability and process performance measures used in Statistical Process Control.

Defects per Million Opportunities
Defects per Unit
DPMO
DPU
First Pass Yield
Rolled Throughput Yield
Sigma
Sigma Level
Yield

Can Lean and ISO 9001 be integrated?

2012-01-20T18:00:00.001Z

In a word: yes. However, you must take care; from Wikipedia:

"ISO 9000 guidelines provide a comprehensive model for quality management systems that can make any company competitive."
"A survey by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance indicated ISO 9000 increased net profit... Another Deloitte-Touche survey reported that the costs of registration were recovered in three years."
"Good business judgment is needed to determine its proper role for a company."
"The ISO registration process has become a mountain of paperwork. Opponents claim that it is only for documentation. Proponents believe that if a company has documented its quality systems, then most of the paperwork has already been completed."
"Registration... unfortunately has become a vehicle to increase consulting services... Studies show that the majority of certifications derive from customer demands, such as a vendor qualification checklist, instead of internal needs to improve quality."
"Is certification itself important to the marketing plans of the company? If not, do not rush to certification."
"Even without certification, companies should utilize the ISO 9000 model as a benchmark to assess the adequacy of its quality programs."

Properly implemented ISO9001 provides for the success of Lean programs with provisions for:

Management vision, direction, authorization and involvement
Resource evaluation and application, inclusive of personnel qualification and training, processes, etc.
Planning functions
Qualification and control of designs, technologies, processes, materials, products and services
Review and analysis of results, application of decision-making processes and initiation of needed changes.

The intent of ISO 9001 is to improve business processes. Lean tools are process-focused and provide the means to remove non-value activities from both the manufacturing and transactional processes. It helps improve the efficiency of the organization, its operations and its economic performance as well as the quality of its products and services. ISO 9001:2000 item 8.5.1, continual improvement, states that; "organizations shall continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system." A key requirement to comply with this clause, the organization must develop a process to measure, monitor and continually reduce process and product variation (evaluated by process sigma levels). Kaizen” translates into “Continual Improvement” and by reduces waste and non-value added activities. Infact, Pheng argues that the integration of ISO 9001:2000 requirements with 5-S would lead towards TQM (PHENG, L.S. (2001) Towards TQM: integrating Japanese 5-S principles with ISO 9001:2000 requirements. TQM Magazine. Vol 13, No 5. pp.334-340.).

Has your implementation of ISO9001 helped your Lean efforts?

QFD and Kansei Engineering: Can they be integrated?

2012-01-20T18:00:00.000Z

In Japan, Kansei Engineering is often considered as an independent product development philosophy, which typically is carried out in concurrent engineering processes. However, since the methodology is little known in European industry, is it possible to pinpoint possible entry points for Kansei Engineering into a company's product development processes?

In practice this means may mean a way of identifying product development methods such as QFD etc., which are suitable for transferring Kansei Engineering results into conventional product development.

Integrating Kansei Engineering Data in QFD
Image via Wikipedia
Many companies use standardised methods for the translation of customer wants and needs into product and process properties. One of the most common methods is QFD.

Kansei Engineering data can be used to identify customer needs and determine their importance, facilitating the setting of target values for technical data and perform benchmarking between different products and brands and quantify the relationships in the relationship matrix in a more exact way:

In the relationship matrix the customer's needs are linked to the technical responses. The strength of the relationships is determined by more or less qualified guesses of experts distinguishing between strong, medium and weak relationships. Further refinement of the scale complicates the decision process and as a consequence increases the evaluation time.

However, in some cases more detailed information is desirable. Kansei Engineering can quantify those relationships by building mathematical models of the customer's Kansei. Moreover, statistics allow examination of whether different customer group have different opinions which in turn and lead to the development of alternative product concepts.

In QFD the customer needs are collected using focus group interviews, activity analysis etc. The data gathered is evaluated and interpreted by i.e. Voice of customer tables, etc. Those tools try to grasp even implicit needs and wants and link them to product parameters.

However, interpreting the customers' statements is very difficult and requires much experience. Kansei Engineering is designed for valuating the unconscious wants and needs, and delivers statistical mathematical values for the connection between a need and its technical response. Regarding furniture the customer may describe her home as ‘elegant'.

One way is to treat this statement with VOCT, and feed it into the ‘House of Quality'. An alternative way is to make a Kansei Engineering evaluation and get an exact translation into product properties with only minor influence from the researcher. In the following step within the QFD procedure, customer needs are ranked after their importance. QFD offers a number of different tools, based on (subjective) expert knowledge. Kansei Engineering offers the opportunity to collect the customer's attitude about the particular importance of the different product properties.

Kansei Engineering can be used in the QFD process is the setting of the target values for the product properties. For every customer need, a number of product properties can be identified. Collecting additional information about what the ideal product should feel like, gives a clear indication about in which direction the Kansei Score of the certain Kansei Word has to be adjusted to suit the customers' needs in a better way. Since it is known how and in which way the product properties are connected to the certain word, it becomes clear how the Kansei can e adjusted. As a result Kansei Engineering can help to set target values for the technical specifications.

Success in international markets does not only require a customer-focused design, but also knowledge about the competition situation in the specific market segment. QFD provides a product comparison where different products within the same segment are compared regarding the degree of fulfilment of a specific customer need. By comparing the results of Kansei Engineering studies made for different competing products, a benchmarking profile can be developed and integrated into the ‘House of Quality'. Such a combination of the House of Quality' and Kansei Engineering allows a special profiling of the products expressed Kansei.

Zen & Art of The Toyota Way

2012-01-13T17:30:00.001Z

She came trotting by with her watering pot between those two doors, going from the corridor to her office, and she said, "I hope you are teaching Quality to your students." This in a la?de?da, singsong voice of a lady in her final year before retirement about to water her plants. That was the moment it all started. That was the seed crystal. The Narrator, p. 175, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This is a post which extracts a tiny bit of the wisdom (more to follow) contained in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and merges it with the philosophy behind The Toyota Way.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974 and uses a long motorcycle trip to frame a prolonged exploration of the world of ideas, about life and how best to live it. It references perspectives from Western and Eastern Civilizations as it explores the central question of the how to pursue technology so that human life is enriched rather than degraded.

In summary, how to come to terms with the mysteries of why we exist and how best to live.

The Toyota Way

[Check out my comprehnsive summary of The Toyota Way]

The 14 Principles of the The Toyota Way is a management philosophy used by the Toyota corporation that includes the Toyota Production System. The main ideas are to base management decisions on a "philosophical sense of purpose" and think long term, to have a process for solving problems, to add value to the organization by developing its people, and to recognize that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning.

Both persue how to achieve quality based on deep understanding of underlying philosophies and as such there are many parallels, if you look at them from the correct perspective. So my first tiny bit of wisdom is based around screws ....

According to Pirsig, at the cutting edge of experience is Quality. This is the mass of sensory perceptions that we take in. When we become stuck with a problem, we may be forced to re-evaluate our entire perception as our experience shifts due to a different level of understanding:

"Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding."

Pirsig talks about a screw which has become sheared so that you cannot remove it when you are trying to fix your bike.

"Normally screws are so cheap and small and simple you think of them as unimportant. But now, as your Quality awareness becomes stronger, you realise that the screw actually has the same value as the whole motorcycle."

In other words, break out of normal ways of thought and force us to come up with new ideas. We need to rethink things because the world is in a continual state of flux - Quality. We need to look deeper than merely on the surface of things and think about what they are really worth.

How do you attain these new experiences?

Go to the workplace and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (genchi genbutsu), while reflecting on what you have leanred (hansei) and practicing continuous improvement (kaizen). Attentive receptivity is to be cultivated. This practice is uncomfortable at first, but with practice and with successful experiences of what this attentive receptivity brings, it becomes an accepted and welcome modality leading to useful results.

Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean Book Review

2012-01-13T17:30:00.000Z

Jeff Hajek’s Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean? Building the bridge from job satisfaction to corporate profit" is written for the people at the sharp-end of the Lean transformation process. Hajek says the main goals of the book are to:

1) increase the collaboration between overwhelmed employees and overburdened managers and
2) help the frontline workforce find job satisfaction in highly productive, fast-paced, rapidly changing workplaces.

For me the book was a refreshing read and it more than achieves both of these aims.

Although it covers managing the Lean process, anticipating and proactively responding to resistance to Lean and, most critically, obtaining buy-in the book would also be of enormous benefit to any worker who hate Monday morning or those people affected by change and/or continuous improvement processes. So perhaps the title is slightly misleading?

Most business books are written for managers which is why I think this makes Hajek's book unique as it is very clearly written for the "doers" and "implementers" in very practical and down-to-earth language. It provides an excellent format to answer many questions that people have at the start of a lean journey beginning with WIIFM (what's in it for me?). I believe this is important as often employees don't ask basic questions for fear that they look our sound stupid.

Chapters 1-5 provide an introduction to Lean and how it benefits both the individual and the company. Just by reading these chapters the doer will hopefully become motivated to embrace lean. Chapters 6-11 present the psychological and cultural concerns people have during change.

Generally, chapters are written in a problem / solution style; "Strategies", "Problems," "How this affects you," "Action to take" and "Why this works." The clear layout of the book means that you don’t have to read it in chapter order: you can just turn to the section which describes the solution of the problem that you are currently struggling with.

"Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean" is a must read for anyone engaged in the lean implementation process. I highly recommend this book.

Jeff Hajek the founder of Velaction Continuous Improvement, LLC. Please visit his website at http://www.velaction.com/ for more information.

Related books

Kansei Engineering: affection + emotion into design

2012-01-06T20:00:00.001Z

Kansei is a Japanese term where the syllable kan means sensitivity and sei means sensibility, together it addresses the psychological feeling or image of a product. It is used to express the quality of an object for producing pleasure through its use taking into account subjective issues (emotion, affect, perceptions, sensations...) in user experience. It is sometimes referred to as "sensory engineering" or even "emotional usability."

The method was invented in the 1970s by Professor Mitsuo Nagamachi (Dean of Hiroshima International University). He recognized that companies often want to assess the customer’s impression of their products. Kansei Engineering can "measure" the feelings and shows the relationship to certain product properties. Consequently, products can be designed to incorporate the intended feeling. But, which parameters influence these impressions? Kansei Engineering can show to what extent factors have an effect on these impressions. Moreover, target values can be derived.

The word of Kansei engineering was used for the first time in America by Mazda motor company. The Kansei engineering began with sensory or sensitivity engineering at the starting point. However, current Kansei engineering is the trans-disciplinary engineering that extends over the humanities, social science and natural science. Kansei engineering has a purpose, a structure and a function. Namely, the purpose is realization of rich society, the structure is a network of social elements joined with pipes each other and the function is the mutual recognition between elements and the formation of interrelationship.

Using the process
The process starts with a set of products sufficiently diverse to provoke a wide range of different emotional responses. These subjective responses can be assessed using sets of bipolar attribute rating scales. A typical bipolar attribute rating scale uses a pair of opposed terms, such as simple vs. complex or enticing vs. repulsive, placed on a continuum represented as a line. Participants are asked to place a mark on that line to indicate where they think a product falls relative to the two attributes in question.

Each product is rated on each attribute scale, and these ratings are statistically compared to provide a distribution of products across the different rating criteria. Analyzing all products rated highly on a particular characteristic allows you to draw conclusions about which perceptual elements are responsible for eliciting this subjective judgment.

What can I apply it to?
Any product that is intended to communicate a specific user experience by means of visual, auditory, or tactile features. For best effect, Kansei engineering must be applied at a point in the development cycle where sufficient flexibility exists to make decisions concerning the visual, auditory or tactile format of the product. Kansei engineering has been applied with great success in the automotive industry (the Mazda Miata being a notable example) and is being extended to other product domains including consumer products and software systems.

Case Study

Mazda learned of Kansei Engineering from the project team members who frequented the ergonomics laboratory at Hiroshima University where Kansei Engineering research began some 30 years ago.When the car manufacturer decided to develop a brand new sports car with the young adult market in mind, the project team followed the Kansei Engineering processes and began by video taping as well as taking pictures of young drivers maneuvering, steering, and controlling cars. This is based on the psychological observation that human feelings often reveal themselves in people's attitude and behavior.

Based on the video recording and pictures, the project team extracted young drivers' behaviors, Mazda Miata sports car, an example of Kansei Engineering productsdescribing each behavior on a card, assigning a keyword to it, and then grouping the cards in a tree structure. Some of the similarities identified in this process were transformed into the design specifications that became physical characteristics.

For instance, one card said "my own way of controlling" - a typical feeling expressed by young drivers. This Kansei was examined in an ergonomic experiment in which subjects (young drivers) were asked to evaluate which length of a shift lever best fit this Kansei feeling. Using a 10-point scale, Mazda subjects concluded 9.5 cm as the best fit for "my own way of controlling."

For the feeling of "runs fast," it was determined that the engine response time was the most important factor that embodied this Kansei. This meant the timing of combustion following the push of the accelerator must be as short as possible. This led to a redesign of the engine.

The Kansei process also uncovered young drivers' love for a particular sound of engine thrust. For this requirement, Mazda's project team made a computer simulation of the engine sound and conducted an evaluation of "thrust sound". They found that the low frequency sound with odd cycle combustion noise had a very close relationship with this Kansei. This finding led to the development of an exhaust pipe fitting that produced this engine characteristic. Finally, the new sports car was named "Miata".

On Leadership

2012-01-06T20:00:00.000Z

Being a good leader can be a crucial part of the success of your company. Find out how you can nurture that part of your personal development.

Critical Moments in Leadership: Changing the Rules. This panel discussion hosted by Professor Laura Cardinal examines the way effective leaders respond during critical moments that can affect the future of a business.
Colin Turner - Entrepreneurial Leadership. Turner speaks on the importance of entrepreneurs to deliver leadership and value in business.
Business Education & Mentoring -What type of leader are you?. Decide how you want to lead when you see these two types side-by-side.
Scott Blanchard - Two Types of Leadership. This video teaches about strategic and operational leadership and how they affect a business.
Ram Charan Corporate Keynote Lecture. Ram Charan discusses tips on what makes a great leader in the field of business.
Principles of Leadership. The best people to learn from are those already successful as leaders. Hear what a few have to say here.
Business Management During Economic Downturn - Bloomberg. The chairman and CEO of Union Pacific shares tips on how to wisely manage a business during challenging economic times.
The Importance of Urgency. John Kotter explains his theory of urgency and why leaders should incorporate it.
Leadership Interviews. Watch as several entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay area discuss what they believe makes a leader successful.
Apprentice 4 - Business Tips Part 1. Get leadership and business tips from Donald Trump from season four of The Apprentice condensed into this video.

Related books:

Takt Time Demystified!

2011-12-30T18:00:00.001Z

Takt time can be defined as the maximum time allowed to produce a product in order to meet demand. Here's the lowdown on how you can apply it.

It is derived from the German word taktzeit which translates to clock cycle. The pace of production flow would then be set based on this takt time. Product flow is expected to fall within a pace that is less than or equal to the takt time. In a lean manufacturing environment, the pace time is set equal to the takt time. A similar but alternative definition can be found here

How is Takt Time established?

What is Takt Time?
The customers buying rate establishes Takt Time. It's the rate at which the customer buys your product. It is calculated as the net available production time (the amount of time available for work to be done. This excludes break times and any expected stoppage time) divided by customer demand. It provides the heartbeat of a lean production system.

Improving Takt Time

Takt time isn’t “improved.” Cycle time is improved. Takt time is the amount of time “allowed” to complete a work sequence. Cycle time is what is “required” to complete a work sequence. We can reduce the Cycle Time and the content of the work involved in that Cycle, such as reducing or eliminating waste and non-value added steps, thereby influencing the Takt Time, or overall beat of the line. Specifically, we can do the following:

Reduce Variation

Reduce Idle Time

Reduce set-up time

Reduce or eliminate waste

Better manage constraints

Demand Flow Technology: learnsigma.com

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: leanlean manufacturingtakttoyotatps)

Related articles

Toyota Production System Quiz
Lean does not equal Tools
Actual Takt Time is Planned Takt Time, Actually
Taking Changeover Time into Account for Takt Time Calculation
Embrace Change
Waiting: A Necessary Part of Life
Lean not just for the kitchen - it can save your business and increase profits
[Sponsored] How lean is your supply chain?
The Four Pillars of Built in Quality (gembapantarei.com)
Three Things to Check During a Gemba Walk (gembapantarei.com)
The Four Pillars of Built in Quality (gembapantarei.com)
Three Things to Check During a Gemba Walk (gembapantarei.com)

The Joy of Stats

2011-12-30T18:00:00.000Z

Tuesday 07 December 21:00 on BBC Four

Documentary which takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power thay have to change our understanding of the world, presented by superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding and funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend.

Rosling is a man who revels in the glorious nerdiness of statistics, and here he entertainingly explores their history, how they work mathematically and how they can be used in today's computer age to see the world as it really is, not just as we imagine it to be.

Rosling's lectures use huge quantities of public data to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. Now he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes.

The film also explores cutting-edge examples of statistics in action today. In San Francisco, a new app mashes up police department data with the city's street map to show what crime is being reported street by street, house by house, in near real-time. Every citizen can use it and the hidden patterns of their city are starkly revealed. Meanwhile, at Google HQ the machine translation project tries to translate between 57 languages, using lots of statistics and no linguists.

Despite its light and witty touch, the film nonetheless has a serious message - without statistics we are cast adrift on an ocean of confusion, but armed with stats we can take control of our lives, hold our rulers to account and see the world as it really is. What's more, Hans concludes, we can now collect and analyse such huge quantities of data and at such speeds that scientific method itself seems to be changing.

The Most Complicated Sign Ever?

2011-12-23T06:30:00.001Z

Visual control is a technique employed in many places and contexts whereby control of an activity or process is made easier or more effective by deliberate use of visual signals. These signals can be of many forms, from different coloured clothing for different teams, to focusing measures upon the size of the problem and not the size of the activity, to kanban and heijunka boxes and many other diverse examples. Visual control communicates very effectively the information needed for decision making.

Is this a great example of how not to do it?

Related books:

The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something

2011-12-23T06:30:00.000Z

This is a guest post from the Zen Habits network of blogs.

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” - Albert Einstein

Post written by Leo Babauta.

: Image via Wikipedia

Very often you’ll see blog posts or books teaching you to “master” a skill in only 10 days, or 3 days … in fact, it used to be 30 days but the time frame to master something seems to be shrinking rapidly.

I’ve even seen tutorials claiming to teach a skill in just a few hours. Pretty soon we’ll be demanding to know how to do something in seconds.

Instant mastery of skills and knowledge! Hey presto!

Unfortunately, the reality is something a little less magical. Or maybe that’s a fortunate thing.

There’s only one way to become good at something:

First, you must learn it by reading or listening to others who know how to do it, but most especially by doing.
Then do some more. At this point, you’ll start to understand it, but you’ll suck. This stage could take months.
Do some more. After a couple of years, you’ll get good at it.
Do some more. If you learn from mistakes, and aren’t afraid to make mistakes in the first place, you’ll go from good to great.

It takes anywhere from 6-10 years to get great at something, depending on how often and how much you do it. Some estimate that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, but I think it varies from person to person and depends on the skill and other factors.

Want to be a great writer? It’s possible to be great within a few years, if you have the God-given talent of Fitzgerald or Shakespeare, but most of us toil for over a decade and are still trying to get better. We’re still learning, to this day, and if we look back on our first few years of writing — of any kind — we’ll tell you we sucked (for the most part) back then.

Want to be a great blogger? Same deal. I’ve been doing it for almost three years, and I’m still only competent. Gruber’s been doing it for, like, 7 years and he’s still only … well, he’s pretty great by now. You have to do it, make mistakes, learn, really begin to understand it, and someday, if you stick with it, you’ll be great.

Want to be a Lean Sensei? Lean aims to make the work simple enough to understand, do and manage. To achieve these three goals at once there is a belief held by some that Toyota's mentoring process (loosely called Senpai and Kohai), is one of the best ways to foster Lean Thinking up and down the organizational structure. This is the process undertaken by Toyota as it helps its suppliers improve their own production. The closest equivalent to Toyota's mentoring process is the concept of "Lean Sensei", which encourages companies, organizations, and teams to seek outside, third-party experts, who can provide unbiased advice and coaching, (see Womack et al., Lean Thinking, 1998).

There’s no one who is great at his profession who hasn’t been doing it for at least 6 years — no designer, no programmer, no carpenter, no architect, no surgeon, no teacher, no musician, no artist … you get the point. I dare you to name one. Most have been doing it for over a decade, and are still looking to improve.

It takes desire, it takes drive, it takes lots and lots of doing.

So here’s the thing: don’t get discouraged if you’re just starting out. Have fun, like we all did in the beginning. If you have fun, you’ll learn to love it, and THAT’S when it clicks. When you love something, you’ll want to do it all the time, sometimes late at night and often, you’ll jump out of bed and want to do it before you move your morning bowels.

THAT’S how you get great. By loving it so much your morning bowel movement takes second seat.

“Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.” - George Lucas

Find that desire. Do it, don’t just read about it. Don’t buy a single product or book or magazine that claims to teach you something in minutes, hours, days. They’re lying to your face, with a hand in your pocket at the same time.

Do it, keep doing it, then keep doing it some more. It’s the only way to get great, but the good news: anyone can do it. It just takes some time and some doing. Hey presto.

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown

Related articles:

Akio Toyoda's Testimony (leanblog.org)
leanblog.org "10 Lean Things Not to Say" (theleanthinker.com)
A New Critical Japanese Lean Term: oushikuso (evolvingexcellence.com)
Re-visiting Chapter 2 of Out of the Crisis (Part 1) (leanblog.org)

Related books:

Top 3 six-sigma critical success factors

2011-12-16T16:00:00.001Z

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;tag=qualitas-21&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;link_code=btl&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;camp=213689&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;creative=392969&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;search-alias=aps&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;field-keywords=six%20sigma"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Search Amazon.com for six sigma&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=qualitas-21&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;l=btl&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;camp=213689&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;creative=392969&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;o=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;a=" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>
Search Amazon.com for six sigma

Senior Management Commitment
Implementation of Six Sigma represents a long term commitment. The success of Six Sigma projects depends substantially on the level of commitment by the senior management. General Electric’s success with Six Sigma is due in large part to the role that Jack Welch (former CEO) played in relentlessly advocating Six Sigma and integrating it into the core of the company’s strategy.

Initial Questions to ask before Adopting Six Sigma

Does the company’s leadership understand and completely behind implementing Six Sigma?
Is the company open and ready to change?
Is the company hungry to learn?
Is the company willing to commit resources, including people and money, to implement this initiative?

Selecting and Training The Right People

It is necessary to attract the best people to be involved in the company’s Six Sigma initiative and motivate them by compensation, rewards, recognition and promotion which are linked to performance.
Training programs should focus on statistical, analytical, problem-solving skills and leadership skills that help to remove barriers and create initial momentum.
Furthermore, getting people excited and motivated about the Six Sigma initiative should be done through training and communication. Everyone in the company should understand how Six Sigma will benefit themselves as well as the company.

Selecting Six Sigma projects

Primarily, Six Sigma projects should focus on key problem areas with strategic alignment in terms of high customer satisfaction impact and critical to business success in terms of faster or larger financial return (higher revenues, lower cost, etc.).
Selecting Six Sigma projects at the beginning is very important and therefore plays a key role in the success of Six Sigma projects. The company should carefully consider the expected impact of the project as well as if there may be easier ways of solving the problem, other than a Six Sigma project.

Related books

Toyotas innovative coal powered car excites consultants

2011-12-16T16:00:00.000Z

All consultants love Toyota. Why? Because they:

sell the no-waste business regimen known as lean manufacturing, a regimen that is popular due almost entirely to Toyota’s success, despite recent quality problems.

Clearly we all know that lean is a just a crazy fad dreamed-up by these despicable consultants as:

a survey by management consulting firm Bain shows that just 19 percent of companies that have tried it are happy with the results

And these consultants just jump between industries in search for bigger and bigger pay-rises:

Those willing to jump from manufacturing companies to hospitals or banks are getting pay raises of 30 percent to 40 percent, compared with 20 percent raises moving from one manufacturing company to another.

Just think if Toyota had created a new hybrid car as well - perhaps profits would have been even higher (see photo above - the coal fired car!). But at least one article eventually concludes what I knew all along, that six sigma and innovation can work together as six sigma is exploitative while innovation is explorative:

smart companies separate the more ambitious efforts at innovation from ongoing efforts at continuous improvement. That allows for different processes, structure, and cultures to emerge within the same company.

these were:

successful 90% of the time

The rules for success were:

Separate the efforts.
Appoint an ambidextrous senior manager to oversee both efforts.
Support both teams appropriately.

Hopefully, this is the start of moving away from the mindset which gives rise to comment like these:

The more you hard-wire a company on total quality management, [the more] it is going to hurt breakthrough innovation

Just remember to strike a balance between effort and documentation in six sigma projects though!

Related book

How Many Belts Spoil The Broth?

2011-12-09T22:30:00.001Z

What proportion of a company's workforce should be Belts?

I do not believe that any recommendation should really exist. It is dependent on the company, its requirements and its targets. I think a minimum break-even point would be interesting, although I dont know the best way of calculating that. The GE global guideline of 1% of the workforce being assigned as Black Belts (100% dedication), works well. In a transactional environment, where companies have more white-collar workers as opposed to blue-collar workers, it is said that a higher percentage will do a company a lot of good In comparing service companies to their industrial counterparts, I would also suggest to consider having more Green Belts and fewer Black Belts, for ease of deployment.

The 1% BB came from GE data study collected in 1989. 10% of all GE employees’ fall into management roles and 1% top leadership roles and Jack Welsh wanted all his leaders to be BB skilled. Jack Welsh also wanted 50% of the employee make-up that he called DNA to be Green Belt skilled. Many businesses would run from a training/coaching consulting proposal for 50% GB, so the number is usually stated as 3-6% of employee base. Guess, GE believed there was a business gain for having 50% GB DNA - and since they are still doing great, I’d have to say Jack was probably right again.

[link, link]

Shortest Employee Handbook - Ever?

2011-12-09T22:30:00.000Z

Image via Wikipedia

For years, Nordstrom’s Employee Handbook was a single 5×8” gray card containing these 75 words:

Welcome to Nordstrom
We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

During this time, Nordstrom had the highest sales per square foot performance in the retail industry – by almost double.

However, new hire orientations now provide this card along with a full handbook of other more specific rules and legal regulations, as the way Nordstrom operates has changed.

Is this a good change or not? What do you think?

Preventative Action - what's that then?

2011-12-02T07:30:00.000Z

Preventative Action often confuses many people: see these threads

Preventive actions are of a pro active nature. They do not wait for nonconformances to occur. This is what wikipedia says:

A preventive action is a change implemented to address a weakness in a management system that is not yet responsible for causing nonconforming product or service.

Candidates for preventive action generally result from suggestions from customers or participants in the process but preventive action is a proactive process to identify opportunities for improvement rather than a simple reaction to identified problems or complaints. Apart from the review of the operational procedures, the preventive action might involve analysis of data, including trend and risk analyses and proficiency-testing results.

The focus for preventive actions is to avoid creating nonconformances, but also commonly includes improvements in efficiency. Preventive actions can address technical requirements related to the product or service supplied or to the internal management system.

Many organizations require that when opportunities to improve are identified or if preventive action is required, action plans are developed, implemented and monitored to reduce the likelihood of nonconformities and to take advantage of the opportunities for improvement. Additionally, a thorough preventive action process will include the application of controls to ensure that they the preventive actions are effective.

Still confused? This (pdf file) is the FDAs take on CAPAs.

Related articles

Hoshin Kanri - in widespread use?

2011-12-02T07:26:00.000Z

The discipline of Hoshin Kanri is intended to help an organization:

Focus on a single goal
Communicate that goal to all leaders
Involve all leaders in planning to achieve the goal
Hold participants accountable for achieving the goals.

[link]

Translations of this Japanese phrase vary widely; its most accurate expression appears to be "HoShin Kanri," which may be translated approximately to "control of direction" ("ho" – "method"; "shin" – "compass"; and "kanri" – "control"). "Hoshin Kanri" is a method of strategic planning that focuses on "vertical alignment" – i.e., ensuring that the business's vision, objectives, performance standards, and review processes are communicated thoroughly to and understood by all members of an organization, from top to bottom, via the constant repetition of a four-stage process:

Defining and establishing a specific, limited number of policy and strategic objectives that will further the business's mission;
"deployment" of (i.e., communication and setting into motion of) these objectives throughout all levels of the corporate hierarchy;
Implementation of the objectives and the changes they require, by making them an integral part of daily activities; and
Review of performance and results; each of these steps occurs both up and down the corporate hierarachy, in a continuous process of input/refinement/feedback traded among all employees at all levels, known as "catchball."

In the West, often called "hoshin planning" or "QPD" (quality policy deployment"), although some experts regard "hoshin kanri" as referring to the combination of both long-range "hoshin planning" and its dailycounterpart, known as "nijiro kanri."

How wide spread is the use of Hoshin Kanri? Anyone know?

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Law Science mind florida

Design for Six Sigma - the basics

2011-11-25T07:30:00.000Z

In this post I'll be referring to the discipline known as Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): A systematic methodology using tools, training, and measurements to enable the design of products, services, and processes that meet customer expectations at Six Sigma quality levels. DFSS optimizes your design process to achieve six sigma performance and integrates characteristics of Six Sigma at the outset of new product development with a disciplined set of tools. Although I've already discussed DFSS before in these posts it's an important part of Six Sigma success and worth mentioning again.

Robert G. Cooper states in Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to Launch,

"only about 60% of new products launched are actually a success and that for every seven new product ideas, only four make it to development— and then only one succeeds."

What’s wrong with this picture?

The concept of Six Sigma is to eliminate defects. Six sigma is the goal, but it’s less important than the objective of pursuing continuing process improvement. Sometimes the Six Sigma implementation team needs to set more realistic goals, depending on customer requirements and expectations and the complexity of the product or service. Smart managers know that the six sigma quality level is an idea; what’s real is the focus on identifying defects and eliminating their root causes.

The new product cycle is definitely not operating at a six sigma level. In fact, it’s closer to the average four sigma quality level at which many companies operate today. Plus, even as manufacturing problems are corrected by deploying Six Sigma methods, newly developed products often are the source of new problems. So, an organization practicing the methodology in various functional areas and attaining Six Sigma status may well be far below that level in developing new products or services.

Once you’ve mastered the essentials of Six Sigma, you may well be ready for the essentials of DFSS, to carry that improvement into the development and design of your new products. DFSS is based on the notion that when you design quality right at the outset of new product development, it’s probable that you’ll sustain that gain as customers accept that product.

By incorporating DFSS, you’re virtually assured that the product or service you’re launching will perform dependably in the marketplace, thus setting it up for very positive acceptance. Like its parent Six Sigma initiative, DFSS uses a disciplined set of tools to bring high quality to launches. It begins by conducting a gap analysis of your entire product development system. A gap analysis, finds the gaps in your processes that are negatively affecting new product performance. It also addresses a highly significant factor, the voice of the customer (VOC). Every new product decision must be driven by the VOC; otherwise, what basis do you have for introducing it? By learning how to identify that voice and respond to it, you're in a far better position to deliver a new product or service that customers actually want!

Once the gap analysis is done and the VOC is identified, DFSS goes to work with its own version of the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) of Six Sigma, a five-step process, known by the acronym PIDOV:

Plan—enable the team to succeed with the project by mapping all vital steps
Identify—hear the voice of the customer to select the best product concept
Design—build a thorough knowledge base about the product and its processes
Optimize—achieve a balance of quality, cost, and time to market
Validate—demonstrate with data that the voice of the customer has been heard and that customer expectations have been satisfied.

Some Six Sigma people equate DFSS with another five-step process—DMADV:

Define—determine the project goals and the requirements of customers (external and internal)
Measure—assess customer needs and specifications
Analyze—examine process options to meet customer requirements
Design—develop the process to meet the customer requirements
Verify—check the design to ensure that it’s meeting customer requirements

Others use only the IDOV steps listed above. Design for Six Sigma is relatively new, so we can naturally expect some inconsistencies and evolution of the models as companies and consultants apply them.

The success of this Six Sigma offshoot requires the active participation of management. You and upper management must monitor its progress regularly to keep it on course. DFSS can be a very useful tool to companies as they get comfortable with Six Sigma and look to grow its benefits in other areas. Ultimately, DFSS is not that different from the Six Sigma work you’re undertaking. In fact, it’s a natural progression to continually—and relentlessly—root out defects and route hidden dollars to the bottom line.

Because of the similarities between Six Sigma and DFSS, people frequently talk about DFSS as the logical extension of Six Sigma at the manufacturing and service level, DMAIC. This may be true, but it’s important to realize the initiatives are tremendously different. Here are the basic differences between the Six Sigma DMAIC and DFSS:

DMAIC is more focused on reacting, on detecting and resolving problems, while DFSS tends to be more proactive, a means of preventing problems.
DMAIC is for products or services that the organization offers currently; DFSS is for the design of new products or services and processes.
DMAIC is based on manufacturing or transactional processes and DFSS is focused on marketing, R&D, and design.
Dollar benefits obtained from DMAIC can be quantified rather quickly, while the benefits from DFSS are more difficult to quantify and tend to be much more long-term. It can take six to 12 months after the launch of the new product before you will obtain proper accounting on the impact of a DFSS initiative.
DFSS involves greater cultural change than DMAIC, because for many organizations DFSS represents a huge change in roles. The DFSS team is cross-functional: it’s key for the entire team to be involved in all aspects of the design process, from market research to product launch.

Related books

How to select a six-sigma black belt

2011-11-25T07:10:00.000Z

When looking at a Black Belt candidate, a holistic approach is often best. This recognizes that an individual's diversity, not simply his or her technical skills, can help create a powerful team. Focusing on only one attribute can create an imbalance that could hinder personal development. Depending on your organization's circumstances, you might want to bring in individuals who exhibit strength in more than one area. The intent is to create a balance. If an individual has one strong aspect, then the development of weaker aspects should be encouraged.

It's often asked if there are differences between a Black Belt from a manufacturing background and one from a transactional organization. There doesn't need to be if the candidate is process-oriented. The biggest transition that many manufacturing candidates must make is recognizing that transactional organizations have fewer documented processes, and that most of their data tend to be discrete. Such a candidate must have strong skills in discrete data analysis. The other primary difference is that many transactional organizations tend to have a relationship orientation rather than a project orientation, and the cultural aspect tends to be more important in the hiring process.

Deming 101

2011-11-18T19:50:00.001Z

: Image via Wikipedia

The Deming System of Profound Knowledge

"The prevailing style of management must undergo transformation. A system cannot understand itself. The transformation requires a view from outside. The aim of this chapter is to provide an outside view—a lens—that I call a system of profound knowledge. It provides a map of theory by which to understand the organizations that we work in.

"The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people.

"Once the individual understands the system of profound knowledge, he will apply its principles in every kind of relationship with other people. He will have a basis for judgment of his own decisions and for transformation of the organizations that he belongs to. The individual, once transformed, will:

Set an example;
Be a good listener, but will not compromise;
Continually teach other people; and
Help people to pull away from their current practices and beliefs and move into the new philosophy without a feeling of guilt about the past."

Deming advocated that all managers need to have what he called a System of Profound Knowledge, consisting of four parts:

Appreciation of a system: understanding the overall processes involving suppliers, producers, and customers (or recipients) of goods and services (explained below);
Knowledge of variation: the range and causes of variation in quality, and use of statistical sampling in measurements;
Theory of knowledge: the concepts explaining knowledge and the limits of what can be known;
Knowledge of psychology: concepts of human nature.

Deming explained, "One need not be eminent in any part nor in all four parts in order to understand it and to apply it. The 14 points for management in industry, education, and government follow naturally as application of this outside knowledge, for transformation from the present style of Western management to one of optimization."

"The various segments of the system of profound knowledge proposed here cannot be separated. They interact with each other. Thus, knowledge of psychology is incomplete without knowledge of variation.

"A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people. He needs to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in, the responsibility of management. A psychologist that possesses even a crude understanding of variation as will be learned in the experiment with the Red Beads (Ch. 7) could no longer participate in refinement of a plan for ranking people."

The Appreciation of a system involves understanding how interactions (i.e., feedback) between the elements of a system can result in internal restrictions that force the system to behave as a single organism that automatically seeks a steady state. It is this steady state that determines the output of the system rather than the individual elements. Thus it is the structure of the organization rather than the employees, alone, which holds the key to improving the quality of output.

The Knowledge of variation involves understanding that everything measured consists of both "normal" variation due to the flexibility of the system and of "special causes" that create defects. Quality involves recognizing the difference to eliminate "special causes" while controlling normal variation. Deming taught that making changes in response to "normal" variation would only make the system perform worse. Understanding variation includes the mathematical certainty that variation will normally occur within six standard deviations of the mean.

The System of Profound Knowledge is the basis for application of Deming's famous 14 Points for Management, described below.

W. Edwards Deming's 14 points

Deming offered fourteen key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness. The points were first presented in his book Out of the Crisis. (p. 23-24)

Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and stay in business, and to provide jobs.
Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the product in the first place.
End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
Institute training on the job.
Institute leadership (see Point 12 and Ch. 8 of "Out of the Crisis"). The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. (See Ch. 3 of "Out of the Crisis")
Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.
Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia," abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective (See Ch. 3 of "Out of the Crisis").
Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

"Massive training is required to instill the courage to break with tradition. Every activity and every job is a part of the process."

Seven Deadly Diseases

The "Seven Deadly Diseases" include

Lack of constancy of purpose
Emphasis on short-term profits
Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance
Mobility of management
Running a company on visible figures alone
Excessive medical costs
Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees

"A Lesser Category of Obstacles" includes

Neglecting long-range planning
Relying on technology to solve problems
Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions
Excuses, such as "Our problems are different"
Obsolescence in school that management skill can be taught in classes
Reliance on quality control department rather than management, supervisors, managers of purchasing, and production workers
Placing blames on workforces who only responsible for 15% of mistake where the system desired by management is responsible for 85% of the unintended consequences
Relying on quality inspection rather than improve product qualit

Understanding Psychology: Slogans - Risky Tools (management.curiouscatblog.net)
Change from Inside or Outside of the System (leanblog.org)
Personal leadership: Answer the moral challenge of our age (flowingmotion.wordpress.com)
The Achilles Heel of Process Improvement (kevineikenberry.com)
Q&A with Adam Zak on Lean Leadership (leanblog.org)
10 Things I Wish Lean Practitioners Wouldn't Say in 2010 (leanblog.org)
The First Steps of The Lean Journey (theleanthinker.com)
Undercover Boss - Will They Really Change? (management.curiouscatblog.net)
Process Variation - the Enemy! (learnsigma.com)
Just how original is Six Sigma? (learnsigma.com)
An Introduction to Deming's Management Ideas by Peter Scholtes (webcast) (management.curiouscatblog.net)
Rapid Lean Six Sigma.Short Version For Web (slideshare.net)

Made in China - no thanks!

2011-11-18T19:50:00.000Z

Image by flickr.Marcus via Flickr

From Who Sucks:

With high-profile incidents involving dangerous goods imported from China, the American media has finally begun to warn consumers about the dangers of cheaply producing goods in a country hardly known for its strict safety regulations. After spending some time digging through product recall press releases, we’ve found that the mainstream media is still only reporting the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dangerous products imported from China. Here’s a timeline we’ve created, which shows the huge amount of faulty/dangerous Chinese product scandals so far this year:

The list is truly shocking. My "favorites" include:

Razor Blades For Kids: Tri Star International recently recalled a made-in-China children’s stationary, which contained a dangerous razor blade.
Lead Paint On Baby Toys: Stuffed Fun Balls, which were sold at dollar stores and other discount stores from June 2006 until March 2007, were recalled because the paint used by the Chinese manufacturer of the baby toy contained dangerous levels of lead.
Toxic Fish: It is believed that imported Chinese monkfish was actually deadly puffer fish, a labeling disaster that lead to the hospitalization of at least one person in America.
Poisonous Toothpaste: The FDA recently found that several low-priced toothpastes imported from China contained diethylene glycol, which poisons the liver and kidneys and depresses the central nervous system.

Whilst it's bad for us in the West consider Chinese consumers who are at the mercy of what the Chinese government decides to make of any situation. The Chinese government has announced that it would rewrite food safety regulations, introduce a national recall system and overhaul the nation’s top drug watchdog. It's also sentenced a former top drug safety official to death.

Is killing people hitting root-cause? Read more of my thoughts about China here.

How to be a leader

2011-11-11T17:29:00.001Z

Image via Wikipedia

Here I present 21 leadership tips and leadership types: which one are you!

[link]

Leadership Tips
#L1 Fix The Problem, Not The Blame.
#L2 Tell People What You Want, Not How To Do It.
#L3 Manage the function, not the paperwork.
#L4 Don't DO Anything.
#L5 You never have to make up for a good start.
#L6 Get out of your office.
#L7 Lead by example.
#L8 Delegate the easy stuff.
#L9 Don't get caught up in looking good.
#L10 Quality is just conformance to requirements.
#L11 Learn from the mistakes of others.
#L12 Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals.
#L13 Set an example.
#L14 Know Your GPM.
#L15 Train Your Supervisors.
#L16 You Can't Listen With Your Mouth Open.
#L17 Practice what you preach.
#L18 Leaders create change.
#L19 Don't Limit Yourself.
#L20 Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters.
#L21 You have to make a difference.

Types of leadership styles

The bureaucratic leader (Weber, 1905) is very structured and follows the procedures as they have been established. This type of leadership has no space to explore new ways to solve problems and is usually slow paced to ensure adherence to the ladders stated by the company. Leaders ensure that all the steps have been followed prior to sending it to the next level of authority. Universities, hospitals, banks and government usually require this type of leader in their organizations to ensure quality, increase security and decrease corruption. Leaders who try to speed up the process will experience frustration and anxiety.

The charismatic leader (Weber, 1905) leads by infusing energy and eagerness into their team members. This type of leader has to be committed to the organization for the long run. If the success of the division or project is attributed to the leader and not the team, charismatic leaders may become a risk for the company by deciding to resign for advanced opportunities. It takes the company time and hard work to gain the employees' confidence back with other type of leadership after they have committed themselves to the magnetism of a charismatic leader.

The autocratic leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939) is given the power to make decisions alone, having total authority. This leadership style is good for employees that need close supervision to perform certain tasks.

The democratic leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939) This style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it). However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness, rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect.

This is normally used when you have part of the information, and your employees have other parts. Note that a leader is not expected to know everything -- this is why you employ knowledgeable and skillful employees. Using this style is of mutual benefit -- it allows them to become part of the team and allows you to make better decisions.

The laissez-faire ("let do") leader (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939) In this style, the leader allows the employees to make the decisions. However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. You cannot do everything! You must set priorities and delegate certain tasks. This is not a style to use so that you can blame others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you fully trust and confidence in the people below you. Do not be afraid to use it, however, use it wisely!

The people-oriented leader (Fiedler, 1967) is the one who, in order to comply with effectiveness and efficiency, supports, trains and develops his personnel, increasing job satisfaction and genuine interest to do a good job.

The task-oriented leader (Fiedler, 1967) focuses on the job, and concentrates on the specific tasks assigned to each employee to reach goal accomplishment. This leadership style suffers the same motivation issues as autocratic leadership, showing no involvement in the teams needs. It requires close supervision and control to achieve expected results. Another name for this is deal maker (Rowley & Roevens, 1999)^[4] and is linked to a first phase in managing Change, enhance, according to the Organize with Chaos approach.

The servant leader (Greenleaf, 1977) facilitates goal accomplishment by giving its team members what they need in order to be productive. This leader is an instrument employees use to reach the goal rather than a commanding voice that moves to change. This leadership style, in a manner similar to democratic leadership, tends to achieve the results in a slower time frame than other styles, although employee engagement is higher.

The transaction leader (Burns, 1978) is given power to perform certain tasks and reward or punish for the team’s performance. It gives the opportunity to the manager to lead the group and the group agrees to follow his lead to accomplish a predetermined goal in exchange for something else. Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates when productivity is not up to the desired level and reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached.

The transformation leader (Burns, 1978) motivates its team to be effective and efficient. Communication is the base for goal achievement focusing the group on the final desired outcome or goal attainment. This leader is highly visible and uses chain of command to get the job done. Transformational leaders focus on the big picture, needing to be surrounded by people who take care of the details. The leader is always looking for ideas that move the organization to reach the company’s vision.

The environment leader ( Carmazzi, 2005) is the one who nurtures group or organizational environment to affect the emotional and psychological perception of an individual’s place in that group or organization. An understanding and application of group psychology and dynamics is essential for this style to be effective. The leader uses organizational culture to inspire individuals and develop leaders at all levels. This leadership style relies on creating an education matrix where groups interactively learn the fundamental psychology of group dynamics and culture from each other. The leader uses this psychology, and complementary language, to influence direction through the members of the inspired group to do what is required for the benefit of all.

Related books

Related articles

8 Steps to Charismatic Leadership
SciAm Mind: The New Psychology of Leadership
PPT on Leadership (slideshare.net)
Sharing Leadership to Maximize Talent (blogs.hbr.org)
Coaching for managers (slideshare.net)
Organizational Leadership Styles - New Organizational Tips (slideshare.net)
Authentic Leadership Development~ Part I (psipsychologytutor.org)
World Class Leadership (slideshare.net)
Fighting the Cult of Leadership? (laf.ee)

The problem isn't Facebook, it's apathy

2011-11-11T17:29:00.000Z

Image via CrunchBase

Banning employees from using networking websites such as Facebook, as an estimated 70% of UK employers have done, is hopelessly naive. The reality is that wherever you have large offices, state-run or private, you will have people finding innovative ways to waste time. Banning Facebook will simply lead to a revival of other quaint time-fillers, such as the fictional dentist appointment.

The real issue is that most people either hate or are indifferent to their jobs.
According to Gallup, one in five workers is actively disengaged from their job and a further three in five are described as sleepwalking through their day. Confronting this apathy requires a huge shift away from mass employment in large offices towards entrepreneurship and self-employment. A global survey by the Career Innovation Group reported a significantly higher level of job satisfaction among the self-employed. The work itself may be identical, but people feel a closer connection with their output and have an incentive to make their business work.

In other words, they are paid for being productive, not for turning up.

Lean -v- six sigma

2011-11-04T18:05:00.000Z

Lean and Six Sigma are both planned change initiatives with objectives to reduce or eliminate waste but there the similarity ends.

Both are often referred to as programs, but that is not accurate. Six Sigma may be a program but lean is a philosophy. As a program, Six Sigma uses a methodology called DMAIC (determine, measure, analyze, implement, and control) to identify and eliminate waste. As a philosophy, lean is about continuous improvement through the elimination of waste.

Compare these videos:

Lean

Six sigma

People
Six Sigma is about exclusion. A Six Sigma team is identified for a specific area or project. The team may include several Green Belts led by either a Black Belt or Master Black Belt. The team may disappear for several days of extensive training in DMAIC, team building, communication, and so forth, before they start plotting and gathering data for their "six sigma" project. Because of the complexity of Six Sigma, it does not make business sense to train everyone, or assign all employees to projects.

There is great excitement within the Six Sigma project team: learning, participating, and contributing. But everyone else becomes a bystander, waiting for change that may or may not have included his or her participation.

Countless stories tell of huge successes and cost savings from six sigma projects. Testimonials abound as trade publications provide articles on Six Sigma. I have even witnessed and led some of these successes in accounting, material management, and manufacturing.

However, generally, only the manufacturing people know about the manufacturing projects; only the accounting staff knows about the accounting projects; and only the materials group is aware of the materials management project. There is little or no participation beyond the project team. While organizations realize huge cost reductions, there is no effect on the culture or the organization as a whole.

What happens at the end of the project? Unfortunately, some six sigma projects become personality driven. When team leader goes on to another project, the team members fade away. Only recently in the spotlight, getting attention and recognition, they now may feel no one remembers them. Has there been a permanent behavior change? When the project loses visibility, will improvement be sustained?

Lean is inclusive. Lean teaches us that success is achieved when the entire value stream improves, not when one discrete element of it does. In a successful lean implementation, the entire organization may be involved in improving the value stream. All systems must be aligned. Purchasing, scheduling, manufacturing, engineering, accounting, and human resources must all be active believers and participants in the lean journey.

Without 100% inclusion, the effort will stall when it reaches the excluded part of the organization. The lean organization educates, engages, and empowers the entire workforce to identify and eliminate waste throughout the value stream

Approach to Change
Transformational change and change management are two approaches to effective implementation of planned changes. As change management, Six Sigma tends to focus on cost, quality, and schedule. This narrow focus is apparent even in the names of project teams: inventory reduction team, accounts receivable cycle time team, manufacturing scrap reduction team, etc.

Lean is a transformational change, one that moves the organization to a planned state. It involves the business strategy, organizational design, structure, culture, and processes of the entire value stream. It creates and reinforces the concept of continual change through the elimination of waste, improving the entire value stream's effectiveness. A lean change transfers knowledge and creates a learning organization.

Improvement Philosophy
Six sigma is aimed at specific targets in the value stream. The objective is to realize a level of improvement using the structured approach offered by DMAIC. The project teams keep the group focused on specific goals and objectives.

The teams work hard to identify root causes, test hypotheses, validate their analysis, implement their recommendations, and monitor them to ensure expected results are attained. When the projects are complete, the group celebrates, disbands, and the individuals return to their previous jobs. At best, they leave metrics or control charts to prevent rollback.

Control charts, however, only encourage maintaining the status quo. Now before the statisticians get alarmed, remember that for a process to be in control there should be an expected deviation around the average. Processes that show a number of points above or below the centerline are considered "out-of-control." Unfortunately, even if the trend is positive, indicating continuous improvement, statistical thinking will still consider it out of control. The negative implication can make the typical human being flinch after having made a large investment in time and energy in a Six Sigma project.

Lean is all about continuous improvement. The philosophy says there will always be waste to be extracted from the value stream. Lean is an ongoing celebration of waste removal, a never-ending process. In the transformed learning organization, members are continually building skills and improving, making lean a daily part of their lives.

Summary
The differences between lean and six sigma are greater then the similarities. When the differences are recognized, returns can be maximized by knowing when lean or six sigma is the right choice.

Related books

SMED summary

2011-11-04T08:15:00.000Z

Revolution in Manufacturing: Single-minute Exchange of Die System

Content: [rating:4.5/5]
Ease of Reading: [rating:4/5]
Technical Knowledge: [rating:5/5]
Overall: [rating:overall]

“The slower but consistent tortoise causes less waste and is much more desirable than the speedy hare that races ahead and then stops occasionally to doze. The Toyota Production System can be realized only when all the workers become tortoises.

- Ohno, 1988 -

From Wikipedia:

Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is one of the many lean production methods for reducing waste in a manufacturing process. It provides a rapid and efficient way of converting a manufacturing process from running the current product to running the next product. It is also often referred to as Quick Changeover (QCO). It is a concept that says all changeovers (and startups) can and should take less than 10 minutes ... hence the phrase Single Minute. Closely associated is an advanced concept of One-Touch Exchange of Die, (OTED), which says changeovers can and should take less than 100 seconds.

For best results, SMED techniques should only be targeted at bottleneck areas within the process.

Firstly ensure that 5S action has been taken beforehand to improve working area layout and tool accessibility and eliminate wasteful changeover movements.
Next, identify and separate internal set-up activities (An internal activity is one that can only be done with the machine stopped, an external activity is anything that can be done before or after the set up without stopping the machine) from external set-up activities.
Identify whether any of the internal set up operations could be performed as external operations i.e. outside the cycle time of the machine. e.g. moulds normally preheated on the machine itself could be preheated in advance in a small off-line oven.
Finally, re-design tooling or changeover equipment fixtures for quick release and insertion/removal, incorporating caddies or tool carriers for off-line set up.
If changeover procedures are not already standardised, a procedures or operations manual should be created and then developed to incorporate subsequent improvements in the changeover methods used.

Attaining Quick Changeovers are a critical prerequisite for Heijunka - a Japanese term that refers to a system of production smoothing designed to achieve a more even and consistent flow of work.

In summary:

Eliminate: The first thing I look for is elements that can be eliminated. There is no point in improving something that should not be done at all...
Externalize: All elements that can be done prior to line shut down should be done ahead of time or "externally" to the changeover time.
Simplify: Once all possible elements have been eliminated and externalized, it is time to begin improving the remaining elements. Simplification covers two major areas:
Measurability: If the machine is adjusted correctly at the beginning, no fine tuning after restart will be necessary. If possible, adjustments should be eliminated. If this is not feasible, adjustments need to be measurable and repeatable.
Tool elimination: For example, the replacement of nuts and bolts with handknobs and levers. Other useful devices are toggle clamps, pins and cams.

People who are to do the changeover should be thoroughly trained in what they are to do and when. They must also be trained in what they are not to do.

Quick Changeover and SMED can be applied to transactional processes as well or non-manufacturing processes.

Related books

LearnSigma

Six Sigma metrics overview

Related articles

Can Lean and ISO 9001 be integrated?

QFD and Kansei Engineering: Can they be integrated?

Related articles

Zen & Art of The Toyota Way

Related articles

Whaddaya Mean I Gotta Be Lean Book Review

Kansei Engineering: affection + emotion into design

On Leadership

Takt Time Demystified!

How is Takt Time established?

The Joy of Stats

Related articles

The Most Complicated Sign Ever?

The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something

This is a guest post from the Zen Habits network of blogs.

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Top 3 six-sigma critical success factors

Related articles

Toyotas innovative coal powered car excites consultants

How Many Belts Spoil The Broth?

Related articles

Shortest Employee Handbook - Ever?

Related articles

Preventative Action - what's that then?

Hoshin Kanri - in widespread use?

Design for Six Sigma - the basics

How to select a six-sigma black belt

Deming 101

The Deming System of Profound Knowledge

W. Edwards Deming's 14 points

Seven Deadly Diseases

Related articles

Made in China - no thanks!

Related articles

How to be a leader

Types of leadership styles

The problem isn't Facebook, it's apathy

Related articles by Zemanta

Lean -v- six sigma

SMED summary

Related articles