Guidelines & Tips for Successful Lean Six Sigma Projects
The following are guidelines and tips that I have found over the years to aid in deploying a Lean Six Sigma initiative. Lean Six Sigma is a management strategy and, like any process, needs to have the necessary resources and commitment allocated to make it successful. Top Management Develop and implement a steering committee to oversee the progress of your lean six sigma...
Read MoreUse A Charter To Define Your Project
The charter is one of the most critical documents in conducting a lean six sigma project or kaizen event. It serves as a blueprint and forces you to think about what you want and how you want to do it. A clear and concise charter increases the likelihood of reaching the goals and ensures that the team knows what to do. It will also allow you and the team to determine whether the plan has been...
Read MoreExecutive Leadership Role In Lean Six Sigma
Leaders contemplating starting a Lean Six Sigma program may ask, “What level of participation and involvement do we need from our executive leadership in deploying our initiative? and “What should their training consist of?” First, executive leadership should create a vision for their organization for three years, five years, and ten years. They need to determine a strong rationale for why...
Read MoreCreate A Powerful Toolset By Combining Lean and Six Sigma
There still seems to be an ongoing debate about the benefits of combining Lean and Six Sigma and whether organizations should consider doing so. Both methodologies focus on the customer. Lean declares a “war on waste,” while Six Sigma declares a “war on variation.” Lean and Six Sigma empower people to create process stability and a culture of continuous improvement. Problem identification...
Read MoreSome Things I’ve Learned Being A Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
Having been a Master Black Belt for almost 20 years and instructing hundreds of students has been very rewarding. I enjoy teaching people new tools and techniques that make their lives and jobs more manageable and the coaching required to make their projects successful and help improve their organizations. Watching people make their processes more efficient, eliminate waste and variation, and...
Read MoreTips To Ensure Your Kaizen Event Is Successful
Kaizen events are meant to be focused, short in length, low risk, and low cost. The idea is to try something, see if it works, then try something else. Kaizen events are a means of continually making improvements, identify waste and eliminate it adding more value as each new improvement is made. They are not intended to be a one-time event. The kaizen event must be planned and structured. ...
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