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Articles

Image: Essential Guide to Hoshin Kanri

Essential Guide to Hoshin Kanri. Achieve Peak Performance with Strategic Planning and Execution

In my experience as a Lean Six Sigma consultant, I’ve seen many organizations struggle to effectively translate their strategic vision into tangible operational results.  Too often, a well-crafted strategy fails to cascade down through the organization, leaving frontline employees unsure of how their day-to-day work supports the company’s broader objectives. This is where the Japanese […]

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Jidoka – Toyota Production System. A Complete Guide (2024)

Jidoka, often referred to as “autonomation” or “intelligent automation,” is a fundamental principle of the renowned Toyota Production System (TPS) and a cornerstone of lean manufacturing. This powerful quality control concept empowers workers to detect defects, stop production, and address quality issues immediately, rather than allowing problems to propagate through the manufacturing process. Key Highlights […]

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Image: Process Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (PFMEA) in Lean Six Sigma

Process Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (PFMEA) in Lean Six Sigma

Even the most well-designed processes can be susceptible to failures, which can lead to defects, delays, and costly consequences. To proactively identify and mitigate potential risks, companies employ a powerful risk assessment tool known as Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA). Quick Overview By conducting a PFMEA, companies can enhance their quality control measures, […]

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3P Lean Methods in Six Sigma. A Definitive Guide (2024)

It is critical to optimize processes for effectiveness and the production of value for customers. To align processes with lean concepts and client objectives, the 3P (Production Preparation Process) methodology offers an organized approach to process design or redesign. Fundamentally, 3P Lean entails cross-functional teams working together to assess the current state, find waste and […]

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lean and agile

Lean and Agile: How Can They Make a Difference to Your Business

Lean vs agile is the quintessential question businesses often find themselves in dilemmas about. Modern organizations have diverse processes that are highly variable. Ideally, businesses should be using both lean and agile approaches in their processes, based on their nature. The combined approach, instead of deciding between lean and agile, is often the most beneficial […]

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six sigma vs lean

Six Sigma vs Lean: Everything You Need to Know

Lean and Six Sigma are two of the most popular optimization approaches that businesses the world over use to deliver greater value to their customers while also increasing their net profits. However, too many people confuse Six Sigma vs Lean, which is understandable considering how much these approaches have in common. That said, there are […]

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lean six sigma principles

Lean Six Sigma Principles: Understanding the Core Elements

Lean Six Sigma combines Lean Management and Six Sigma principles to increase operational efficiency. Lean management focuses on eliminating waste, while Six Sigma focuses on reducing process defects to a negligible level. Combining these principles gives you a business that minimizes waste and delivers high-quality products, leading to increased profits and customer satisfaction. This article […]

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Lean — The 8 Wastes

8 Wastes of lean Taiichi Ohno — a Japanese Industrial Engineer, was known as the father of the Toyota Production System. While searching for better ways for process improvement and to optimize resources, Ohno identified 7 lean wastes (Muda in Japanese) of lean manufacturing (the 8th waste was added in the 90s). The 8 wastes […]

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Understanding Lean and its Benefits

During the 90s, Toyota’s business value was half of General Motors and 2/3rds of Ford. Today, Toyota boasts more than 50% of revenue than General Motors and Ford. An interesting fact to learn here is that Toyota today is valued more than GM, Ford and Honda combined. So, the question arises, what went different? A […]

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lean it

The Importance of Lean IT and Its Benefits

For teams to succeed, whether in manufacturing or information technology (IT), there needs to be continuous improvement. Teams need to focus on small changes that add up to big improvements that, ultimately, lead to customer satisfaction. This is where Lean comes in, with the tool and techniques necessary for teams to improve not only business […]

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4 Lean Methodology Tools Everyone Should Know

Lean methodology is the go-to strategy for reducing waste and improving organizational productivity. Lean techniques help companies improve their efficiency, and they’re often willing to pay top dollar for experts in these techniques. This article will introduce you to the four main Lean methodology tools everyone should know about. Learn more about our Lean training. 1. […]

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lean production

Eliminating Waste Through Lean Production

Making sure the production process is Lean is what many successful organizations do. They use the least amount of resources while maximizing output and ensuring that customers get what they asked for well ahead of time. This might sound expensive or a lot of trouble, but if done right, Lean can save an organization a […]

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Lean Webinars

Lean Webinars: Getting the Fundamentals

As the pandemic has made 2020 a year we could all have done without, it has also shown us that businesses that pivoted did rather well and some even did better. So much better that they even changed the whole dynamic of the industry. We have seen this with companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, […]

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lean six sigma

Lean Six Sigma: The Secret Ingredient Behind It

Regardless of whether you use Lean Six Sigma, there are a couple of “facts” that every gifted business owner knows: Your business runs on two levels — the current processes and preparing for different scenarios of what could happen.      2. The “secret” ingredient is intention. Intention in all that you do This means motion […]

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lean training

Lean Training for the Real World and It’s Virtual!

If you are a doubting Thomas or Tammy and don’t think that you can get real-world training online, well you haven’t seen what we have to offer in our virtual classroom training! Let’s take a look at our Lean Six Sigma training. We offer three levels of Lean training. You can sign up for all […]

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Lean in with Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma: Celebrating the Methodology

When you think about Lean and Six Sigma as separate entities, it is easy to see how they fit together like a glove. Many feel that Lean and Six Sigma are saying the same thing in different ways. No, the similarity that they both share is in that they have the same goal, which is […]

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lean six sigma

Why Not Put More “Lean” Into Your Life?

So what do we mean by this? Well, let’s first break down the general difference between Lean and Six Sigma. Six Sigma focuses on variation reduction and uses more technical means such as data analysis, statistical techniques, and testing based on a working hypothesis or accepted as highly probable with regards to the established facts […]

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5S tool

5S: The Perfect Tool to Organize at Work and at Home

Let’s face it, the workplace is where disorganization is born. With its many incarnations, it is like a bad weed that keeps poking its ugly head. The Lean Six Sigma 5S tool is the best defense against this horrible little villain!   The reason disorganization keeps happening is because you can make everything neat and tidy, […]

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six sigma training

Our Picks for the Top 5 Six Sigma Blog Posts of 2020

This year has been a very eventful year, and has taught us some difficult and valuable  lessons. So we picked the top five blogs we felt were best to reflect or ponder on how we can make sense of them. We lost Jack Welch who gave us Six Sigma — his belief is his secret […]

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dmaic dmadv six sigma

So Which Is It — DMAIC or DMADV?

Many businesses are using this time, with stay-at-home measures in place, to improve their organizations or revamp their business day-to-day processes. This brings us to the Six Sigma DMAIC & DMADV templates. These two templates serve two different but very important functions. Let’s say that your current process is producing a defect in your product. In […]

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