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Guide to Value Stream Mapping

Step-By-Step Guide to VSM – Value Stream Mapping

When people that don’t fully grasp process optimization systems think about the topic, they often mistakenly pay the most attention to cutting out the unneeded parts. Obviously this is a gross oversimplification when it comes to methodologies like Lean Six Sigma, and it places the emphasis on the wrong indicator. The most important goal of […]

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Essential to the Improve phase of DMAIC, PDCA is the primary gauge of improvement rollout success.

Six Sigma and DMAIC in Focus: I – Improve Your Six Sigma Project

This article is the fourth part in our series on the principles of Six Sigma, focusing on Improve within the DMAIC framework. You can find the rest of our series here. Day four now sees us approaching the end of our DMAIC in focus series. Today, we will be looking at how to improve ourselves, and our projects, […]

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Six Sigma Motivation

What is Behind Motivation?

What makes us love our jobs? For the amount of time we spend at work and actually doing our job, it really does make it easier if we were to love what we do. In a Gallup report performed in 2013, State of the American Workplace, only 30% out of 150,000 full and part-time employees surveyed said […]

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Eternal Sunshine for the Changing Minds

Eternal Sunshine For The Changing Minds

Peter F Drucker, the father of modern management said, ‘‘everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that is like death and taxes. It should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are […]

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All Quiet on the change front

All Quiet on the Change Front

Change Management and its importance cannot be dismissed. Even the human resources who are the foundation of change management cannot be dismissed as well. Lack of human resources would result in lack of execution that damages the purpose of change management. It is important for the management to understand that human resource must be well […]

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US Army Adopting Lean Six Sigma

US Army Adopting Lean Six Sigma

US army is building the principles of business transformation into its workforce introduced by Lean Six Sigma (LSS). The US army is doing this to make available resources for the personnel engaged in military operations along with providing the soldiers with necessary equipment quickly. Around 1,400 leaders in the US army have received training for […]

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Pied Pipers

The Pied Pipers of Change Management

Back in the thirteenth century, in the German town of Hamelin, when the Pied Piper played his pipe, all within hearing range chose to follow him, no matter where he chose to go, or so the legend goes. So, too, effective leaders must possess, a Pied Piper-like ”magic”, that enables them to call the tune […]

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culture, leadership, six sigma, lean six sigma, 6sigma.us

Culture: Creating An Environment of Sustainment

Is it the culture of your organization that is blocking sustainment? Most will tell you that one of the biggest challenges in implementing a 5S strategy is capturing the elusive element of Sustain. An effective 5S process is built around the elements of Sort, Set In Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. Quality leaders are typically very […]

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Six Sigma Leadership

Six Sigma Leadership – The Efficient Way

Six Sigma Leadership Six Sigma is a strategy used in business management and is extensively applied in many industrial sectors across the globe. Motorola is the original creator of Six Sigma. It has achieved great repute for the ability to produce tremendous performance improvements. In terms of implementation, a few firms understand its advantages. Over […]

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innovation, value, quality, 6sigma.us

Innovation: Where Is The Value?

Where is the value of innovation? If you ask business leaders to define value, you are going to get a dizzying variety of answers. Why is it so hard to define the term? Value means different things to different people. The definition depends on what they see as value in their organization. Finding value is […]

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Game Plan

What’s the Game Plan?

Browse through any management book these days and you’ll be amazed at the number of concepts that have appeared in the last decade: SWOT analysis, business process re-engineering, CRM, competitive advantage, analysis tools, fix-it tools and measuring tools. One frequently used (and overused) term is strategic planning. Look at any mid-size to large corporation, and […]

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conflict resolution, lean six sigma, 6sigma.us

Conflict: Managing At The Top

Conflict is a natural human condition. That conflict naturally occurs in the business environment. Just like in personal relationships, conflict in business relationships can become a destructive force. This is especially destructive when that conflict occurs between top leaders or the founders of an organization. That negative energy and environment can take a wildly successful […]

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Lean Six Sigma Tools

What are the different Lean Six Sigma Tools?

Tools play a very important role in Lean Six Sigma, as their use help in obtaining cost, speed as well as leaps in quality. Very much like Six Sigma, the DMAIC model is used to make improvements. Today we will look into the tools used in Lean Six Sigma: SIPOC: The full form of this […]

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Quality Function Development, QFD, lean six sigma, lean six sigma tools, 6sigma.us

Quality Function Development (QFD): Translating Customer Demands

Can you get a better understanding of customer demands using the Quality Function Development (QFD) process? Understanding the true needs of the customer can be a touchy process. Typically, business tends to focus on the negatives. Their operational focus is like putting out fires, responding to negative feedback and complaints. Wouldn’t it be nice to […]

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The Cold Shoulder

The Cold Shoulder

Back in the good old days, companies that were persistently conservative and resisted change were handsomely rewarded. Stalwarts like General Motors, Procter and Gamble and Sears Roebuck were empires unto themselves; they tapped their resources to ward off change or to avoid it altogether. This strategy used to work. Not anymore. Change – like death […]

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lean six sigma training, lean six sigma, training, development, career, 6sigma.us

Lean Six Sigma Training: Continuous Building, Continuous Training

Are you getting it right with Lean Six Sigma training? No matter where you are at in your professional development, you can never stop! Success is about continuous improvement through continuous building. Look around you and you will see that people who are achieving high levels of success are continuously and deliberately working on self-development […]

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The More Things Change

The More Things Change…

“…the more things remain the same.” As they gathered around the salad bar, one employee said, “that must be the umpteenth announcement this month.” One of the senior employees smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s all talk. There’s never any follow-through. Trust me, I’ve been here long enough. Things will NEVER change around here.” We remembered conversations […]

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ISO 9000

Process Change? Think ISO 9000!

In their haste to implement changes, a few companies fail to consider ISO 9000. They think that it is a technical standard to be reckoned with and that only certain industries must comply. But for the experienced, the Switzerland-based International Standards Organization (ISO) must occupy a prominent place in company policy and strategy, especially when […]

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gantt chart, lean six sigma, lean, six sigma, lean six sigma tools, leadership, tools, 6sigma.us

Gantt Chart: Charting a Path to Success

Understanding the value of Lean Six Sigma tools is crucial to a practitioner. With a busy practice, keeping up with and accurately tracking the exact location and status of projects is crucial. The Gantt Chart is traditionally display as a bar chart. It shows the tasks of a project, when each must take place and how […]

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