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To keep profits growing in these days of flat revenues, manufacturers are paying more attention to the advice of Poor Richard (a.k.a. Benjamin Franklin): A penny saved is a penny earned. Read more…
Our approach to assisting companies has always been to focus on reducing lead time throughout the value chain by eliminating waste, based on the Toyota Production System. Six Sigma and the success associated with these tools have generated a lot of awareness. We recognized several years ago that Lean principles integrate very well with the techniques deployed in Six Sigma when applied in a planned, coordinated method. Read more…
It is a common misconception that the difference between Six Sigma and LeanSigma rests on a single word. Both terms contain sigma, the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet that also refers to standard deviation. After that, one is six and the other’s got Lean; what’s the difference? Recently, a team at an automotive supplier plant in Indiana discovered the distinction in a Sigma Kaizen event. Read more…
An engineer called me recently about a problem he was having. In his mind, LeanSigma was a tool kit he could rent from us to attack a few key projects at his company. He looked at the range of issues he faced – lead time, market share, materials replenishment, personnel retention – and saw his quality problems as isolated dilemmas. Why not just buy consulting from a LeanSigma black-belt for a few weeks, attack the issues and move on to the next crisis? Read more…
A case study is usually a simple thing: a few numbers on a sheet of paper showing
the parameters of a project’s beginning and end. Rarely do those numbers reveal the full story, like the personal breakthroughs and the sweat that went into the final outcome. This time, we will
concentrate on the story behind the numbers in a recent LeanSigma project and offer an illustration of the Phung Mai Technique. Read more…
Beneath the snowy hills and fields of northern Minnesota waits the raw material of Cold Spring Granite’s industry. Raw material that has formed over millions of years is perfect, they like to say at Cold Spring, because Mother Nature is their supplier. When stone doesn’t come out right, blame the human processing – quarrying, slabbing and polishing. In this case, they were certain that the problem was the shot saw. Read more…
You want to be lean, agile, the best in your field. To do that, you need to focus special attention on quality issues. Does that mean your lean journey will suffer? When any organization pursues multiple improvement programs, there can be confusion in priorities and shortages in resources. Read more…